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A sermon by WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay delivered at the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, Havana, 17 December 2023.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), in the aftermath of brutal violence where thousands of innocent civilians lost their lives, is calling for a new approach to resolve the conflict in the Holy Land. 

On 27 July 1953 – 70 years ago today – the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed in Panmunjom by senior representatives of the United Nations Command, and military leaders of North Korea (the Korean People's Army) and China (the Chinese People's Volunteer Army).

Between the period of the 13^th of September 1993 (when the Oslo Agreement was signed) and the 31^st of December 2022: Israel demolished 2787 structures in East Jerusalem including 213 donor-funded structures, and it displaced  5093 persons including 2582 children.  These included homes; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities; and agricultural structures. 

Jerusalem, 22 November 2022

Minute on consequences of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war by the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany

"Seeking Justice and Peace for All in the Middle East", statement of the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany

The WCC has supported the State of Israel since its inception in 1948. The council has consistently called for an end to violence, repudiation of all forms of anti-semitism, an end to the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict there.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls on the Palestinian Authority to investigate recent attacks on Christians in the West Bank, and to ensure justice and dignity for all citizens.  The WCC call follows two attacks last week against Christians in Nablus and Bethlehem areas.

A letter signed by 115 organizations, representing five world faith traditions, called on World Trade Organization member countries to act before year’s end to waive Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights rules. 

By the WCC Executive Committee, November 2021.

Recently during the PJP harvest gathering meeting of WCC, at a workshop on revisiting the Seven Weeks for Water – Lenten campaign of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network, Dr Agnes Abuom was asked to reflect on the linkage between the WCC’s water justice campaign and the WCC’s overarching theme of Pilgrimage of  Justice and Peace? Having attended several PJP meetings and Lenten campaigns herself, she responded in a pre-recorded video message. The following is the transcript of her video message.

Als umfassende Vereinigung von Glaubensgemeinschaften aus der ganzen Welt haben wir uns verpflichtet, mit einer Stimme zu sprechen, die die existenzielle Bedrohung der Menschheit durch Atomwaffen ablehnt. Wir bekräftigen erneut, dass das Vorhandensein auch nur einer einzigen Atomwaffe gegen die grundlegenden Prinzipien unserer verschiedenen Glaubenstraditionen verstößt und alles, was uns lieb und teuer ist, durch unvorstellbare Zerstörung bedroht.

As a wide coalition of faith-based communities from around the world, we have committed to speaking
with one voice that rejects the existential threat to humanity that nuclear weapons pose. We reaffirm that the presence of even one nuclear weapon violates the core principles of our different faith traditions and threatens the unimaginable destruction of everything we hold dear.

The World Council of Churches calls for urgent de-escalation of the confrontation on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, where renewed fighting since Sunday 12 July has cost the lives of at least 16 people and resulted in destabilization and increased threats of wider conflict.

One of the foundational moments in the modern ecumenical movement is an encyclical letter issued 100 years ago by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 1 January 1920. As its opening words state, it was addressed “Unto the Churches of Christ everywhere” and sent as a letter to the leaders of key Christian churches. Its first words are an appeal to “Love one another earnestly from the heart,” quoting from 1 Peter 1:22.

WCC general secretary calls Trump-Netanyahu plan for Palestine and Israel an ultimatum, not a path to peace.