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Prof. Maake J. Masango addresses the main theme of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission meeting, Called to be the One Church, as a witness of the union of Presbyterian Churches in the context of apartheid.

Sister Maria Ko Ha Fong addresses the main theme of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission meeting, Called to be the One Church, from an intercultural perspective.

In the spirit of the 2006 WCC Assembly's statement on ecclesiology, «Called to be the One Church», the 120 members of the Commission on Faith and Order, along with 37 guests, consultants and younger theologians gathered on the island of Crete in Greece, 7-13 October 2009.

United Nations Advocacy Week 2008 speaker presentations: Migration, WCC UN reception address: Nicaraguan ambassador H.E. Maria Rubiales de Chamorro, UNAW closing high-level address: Assistant Secretary-General Dr Robert Or

In 2007 Christians from all traditions will celebrate Easter on the same day, April 8. But in many years major Christian traditions celebrate Easter on different dates, thus giving the impression of a divided witness to this fundamental aspect of the Christian faith. In recent years the desire to find a common date for the celebration of Easter, the Holy Pascha, the feast of Christ's resurrection, has become more and urgent. Initiatives by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches have urged churches to address this issue. This page seeks to provide some answers to frequent questions asked about the date of Easter.

As part of the WCC's work on the Decade , this theological consultation, organized by WCC Faith and Order in Kigali, Rwanda (4-9 December 2004), was an attempt to discern what human dignity, rights of peoples and the integrity of creation mean for churches and the ecumenical movement as they attempt to counter the reality of massive abuse and destruction of life and its legitimization in the world today. It was also an attempt to do theology informed by the perspectives and experiences of the victims of violence.

A group of 20 theologians and peace activists from regions which have come to be known for violent conflict arising from the aggressive assertion of identities - Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, DR Congo, Nigeria, Middle East, Eastern Europe - participated in this consultation in June 2005. They attempted to identify the problems in, and prospects for, realizing mutuality and interdependence in contexts of diverse identities in an effort to challenge the churches to consider this as a contribution to the wider movement for peace during the Decade Overcome Violence.

The present document is the result of a study process started in response to strong suggestions made during the 2002 meeting of the WCC Central Committee to the three staff teams on Faith & Order, Interreligious Relations, Mission & Evangelism and their respective commissions or advisory bodies. The question of the theological approach to religious plurality had been on the agenda of the WCC many times, reaching some consensus in 1989 and in 1990. In recent years, it was felt that a new approach to this difficult and controversial issue was needed.

Study document adopted by the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), 2000. Published in: IRMJan/April 1999, pp.109-127.

This paper offers reflections on mission as ministry of reconciliation from an ecumenical point of view and is shared by the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) of the World Council of Churches as a document for reflection and study in preparation for the world mission conference in Athens in May 2005.

In a time of globalization with increasing violence, fragmentation and exclusion, the mission of the church is to receive, celebrate, proclaim and work for reconciliation, healing and fullness of life in Christ. Come, Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile

The United Evangelical Mission (UEM) is an international mission organisation, which came into being in June 1996. This is a communion of churches in three regions (Africa, Asia and Germany). It comprises of 33 churches and one institution - Anstalt Bethel in Bielefeld Germany. Among the 33 churches, 12 are from Africa, 15 from Asia and 6 from Germany. Historically these churches in Africa and Asia were former "mission fields" of Rheinish Mission, Bethel Mission and Zaire Mission - all former German mission societies. Together with the German churches linked with these mission societies, the Asian and African churches have established UEM to be an instrument for their common goal of learning from one another and sharing their faith together.

We request our churches in Korea, Japan and Germany to work locally for the remembrance of history and the transmission of insights gained thereby to the next generation.

We therefore request our congregations to work for a situation where the wrongdoing, which in some cases has only just come to light, is not repressed, and call upon them to seek solutions in cooperation with the responsible politicians and citizens' action groups.

The Conference "Mission in the 21st Century. Mission as Evangelism in Tension with Mission as Development", was held from 25 March to 1 April 2004 and was organised by the United Theological College of Zambia (UTCZ).

The purpose of the Conference was to explore and examine the commonalities and tensions between mission as evangelism and mission as development as it has been, and is being, experienced in many of the once politically colonised and the presently economically colonised countries of the south.

The goals were to understand and appreciate the gift of mission as evangelism and the gift of mission as development from a variety of contexts; to identify, and begin to understand and grapple with the complexities of the issues that we face as a world church; to hear from each of the continents, and begin to understand their focus for mission as evangelism, as we discern the relevance of this understanding for our own work and to interact with a wide variety of people and understandings of mission as evangelism.

The present document has been prepared by a multicultural and interdenominational group of missiologists, medical doctors and health professionals. It builds upon the tradition of the WCC's Christian Medical Commission (CMC) and its most fruitful contribution to an understanding of the healing ministry of the church. This document does not repeat what remains well formulated in earlier texts of the World Council of Churches, such as the document "Healing and Wholeness. The churches' Role in Health", adopted in 1990 by the Central Committee.

This paper was prepared in response to the US DOV Committee's invitation to members of US churches to select one of the four themes of the Decade and to reflect on it.

Meeting of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2004

This paper offers reflections on mission as reconciliation from an ecumenical point of view and is shared as part of the preparatory process for the 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME). It is the result of a consultation attended by ten missiologists coming from five continents, rooted in their own contextual spiritualities and coming from various church traditions such as Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic. They worked hard to reach and express some common convictions. The statement was received as a study document by the CWME Conference Planning Committee (CPC) during its meeting near Athens in March 2004. The CPC decided to share it widely, in order to receive reactions, comments, critiques, suggestions for modification and improvement. The paper will then be presented, possibly in a revised version, to the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism meeting later in autumn this year.

If violence is an exercise of power over the powerless or a retaliation to such, what makes power prone to abuse? Why do people not only fear but also aspire for sources of violent power? Why do some religious traditions view violence as a divine attribute? How is power understood and exercised within our churches? What biblical and theological resources do we have to offer in the search for responsible new ways of understanding and exercising power? Interrogating and redefining power is crucial to our attempts to overcome violence.

This text is the report from the most recent international consultation of united and uniting churches. Focusing on issues of unity, mission and identity, this text brings the unique perspective and experience of these churches into dialogue with the wider ecumenical movement.