South African Council of Churches general secretary, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, released a video message of peace and reassurance as, he notes, more and more voices are reaching out for the word of God.
After the assassination of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, statements and messages of condolences began pouring forth from churches and governments across the world. Maseko was shot in his home in Eswatini on 21 January by unknown attackers.
When Rev. Frank Chikane was leading the South African Council of Churches in calling out injustices of the apartheid system, their work did not stop even after the council’s office building was bombed to the ground in 1980s. Moderating the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches (WCC) since 2016, Rev. Chikane has been engaged in addressing injustices in many parts of the world. WCC Communication asked Rev. Chikane to look back at his term at the commission and the ongoing calling of churches to address injustices in the world today.
With the welcoming sound of South African drums, the 58th meeting of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began this week in Johannesburg, reviewing the work of the commission between two WCC assemblies and discussing the churches’ engagement in critical issues of the world today.
A 12 July statement from the South African Council of Churches notes with deep concern the violence and destruction of property that is engulfing the nation. “This violence is resulting in untold suffering,” the statement reads.
WCC President for Europe Archbishop Emeritus Anders Wejryd has reminded South African church leaders of the importance of the nation’s constitution, speaking at a time of political uncertainty in the country.
With less than a week before hotly contested local elections, church leaders in South Africa have appealed for calm and asked political leaders of all political parties to help contain dissent. The run-up to the elections on 3 August has been marred by recurrent bouts of violence, intimidation and even political assassinations.
Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.
Many people were gathered at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa on 11 June. To remember, to continue the walk never finished on 16 June 1976, when hundreds of young people were killed by apartheid police and soldiers after student uprisings. Today, 40 years later, representatives of the victims and of the conscripted soldiers walked together for justice, peace and reconciliation.
On his way to a Peace-building and Reconciliation Consultation in Johannesburg, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary stopped off to visit South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.
WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, went to Cape Town to talk with Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, the former leader of the Anglican church during the turbulent apartheid days.
In an Easter message, more than 60 South African church leaders and Christian, Jewish and Muslim lay theologians have conveyed their solidarity with Palestinian Christians in their Kairos call.
"Deeply saddened by the brutal wave of violent xenophobic attacks and murders of foreign nationals, migrant workers and refugees" occurring since early May in South Africa, the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged the country's government "demonstrate leadership by bringing to an end this murderous violence and promoting the observance of human rights".
While 50 people from eight countries were paying a solidarity visit to Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territories last week, related advocacy activities focusing on the situation in Israel and Palestine were taking place on five continents.
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) enters its second year of operations by welcoming 25 new accompaniers, the largest group since the project started in August 2002. Three have also stayed on from the previous group, bringing the total number of accompaniers on the ground to 28.
Baldwin Sjollema, first director of the World Council of Churchesâ (WCC) Programme to Combat Racism (PCR), received the Oliver Tambo Order from South African president Thabo Mbeki on 16 June 2004 in Pretoria.
