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Conflicts over water threaten peace in the world, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, told a gathering in Germany on the banks of the River Danube to mark the end of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).

In the aftermath of an international consultation on the engagement of Christians in ministries of service, relief and development, Cuban theologian Reinerio Arce agreed to be interviewed on the continuing need for “diakonia” as an essential ministry of the ecumenical movement. Dr Arce, president of Matanzas Theological Seminary and moderator of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, was a participant in the Global Consultation on Prophetic Diakonia in Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 13 through 15 December 2010.

Thirty representatives of Orthodox institutions gathered in mid-November 2010 at the Andrei Saguna theological faculty in Sibiu, Romania to reflect on the topic “The Ecumenical Movement in Theological Education and the Life of Orthodox Churches”. This discussion was moderated by Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).

The recently established Network for Ecumenical Learning in Central and Eastern Europe ( NELCEE ) held its first consultation in Prague, 14-17 October.

What does it mean for the church to call for peace in a world where many forms of racism persist? This is one of the questions a World Council of Churches (WCC) conference on racism tried to answer.

An ecumenical church convention which had attracted more than 130'000 participants from the whole of Germany and beyond, 12-16 May, has given a crucial impetus to the ecumenical movement in the country.

As the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag in Germany drew to a close, more than 3000 people gathered on the evening of 15 May for an ecumenical service to pray, sing and celebrate in different languages what “makes us one”.

As nations are spelling out their bargaining positions for the negotiations on a new international climate deal to take place in Copenhagen next month, churches around the world are trying to ring home the message that climate protection is an ethical and spiritual issue.

Religious diversity is an unavoidable reality today – and an opportunity, according to the participants of an interfaith seminar held in July at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey outside Geneva, Switzerland.

A recent international consultation in Bucharest, Romania, saw representatives from 12 Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches debate on the teaching and practice of Orthodox ethics on peace.

By Sara Speicher (*)