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Lessons from the fall of the Berlin Wall are relevant today

Twenty years ago in East Germany, "Christian hope and perseverance contributed significantly to the fall of the Berlin Wall", said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. Commenting on the 20th anniversary of the event that brought to an end the "cold war era", Kobia stressed: the people who "gathered in the churches and became the nucleus for the movement of change […] taught us that Christian faith can inspire a resistance movement against fatalism and despair - a lesson which is as important today as it was twenty years ago".

WCC congratulates new EKD Council chairperson

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has congratulated Bishop Dr Margot Kässmann on her election as chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. In a 28 October letter to Kässmann, Kobia highlighted her "exceptional participation" and "many years of commitment […] to ecumenism and to the WCC", and expressed the conviction that under her leadership the EKD will "continue to flourish and be a significant actor in German society in the years to come".

Congratulations to LWF general secretary-elect Martin Junge

"It is a joy and encouragement to learn of your election at Chavannes, and to anticipate the contributions you will make as general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation," wrote WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a congratulatory letter to Rev. Dr Martin Junge following his election as general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the 26 October 2009.

General Secretary

Religious Traditions Call To Climate Action

"Our religions stand united in their call to care for the Earth and her peoples," representatives of faith communities around the world have said in a statement calling on world leaders attending the 22 September 2009 United Nations Summit on Climate Change " all people of Earth to accept the reality of the common danger we face, the imperative and responsibility for immediate and decisive action and the opportunity to change."

Ecumenical movement