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Hope in a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace formed the integral thread for proceedings at the meeting of the Central Committee of the WCC in Trondheim, Norway this week. The 2016 meeting took place 22-28 June, the second gathering since the Central Committee was elected at the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea in 2013.

“We had heard that racism continues to be an issue in the United States,” said Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC Central Committee. “But we did not expect to find it so deep, so wide and so pervasive.”

What has contributed to the idea of a “European identity?” And, within a broad-minded vision of secularism, how can churches and other religious communities contribute? In this context, what is the role of Switzerland?

“Racism remains an issue that divides society and even families,” said Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in a Washington DC workshop on “the theological basis for lifting the voice of the marginalized.” She noted that these dramatically relevant words were not her own, but are drawn from a WCC study on race undertaken in the 1990s.

The Racial Justice Accompaniment Visit to the USA is a continuation of the WCC’s long history of racial justice work. As part of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, the WCC wishes to listen to and express support for people and churches in the USA, and to encourage the efforts of member churches and ecumenical partners in the US, as well as other justice-seeking movements on these issues.

Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance negate the essence of human beings by negating their origins and identities. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa.

Five decades after publication of his ground-breaking Theology of Hope, German theologian Jürgen Moltmann continues to insist on the power of hope in the "coming of God" as a force for the transformation of the world.

The Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network of the WCC together with the Caribbean arm of the Council for World Mission convened a two-day seminar on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recently.

The United Church of Christ and The United Church of Canada, both members of the WCC, formalized a full communion agreement in a worship service at St. Andrew's United Church, Niagara Falls, Ontario, on 17 October.

Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and other faith communities are urging the U.S. government to resettle 100,000 Syrian refugees this coming fiscal year, in addition to increasing the total U.S. resettlement commitment to 100,000 refugees from other parts of the world.

An historic vote in Canada has set the stage for close cooperation between two North American churches.

Bishop Mark MacDonald shared views on indigenous peoples and climate change in an interview with WCC Communications. "We are entering an era in which the public has a broader awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples," he said.

In the wake of the release of a summary report by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, member churches in Canada belonging to the WCC are beginning what they acknowledge will be a painful pilgrimage toward recognizing the mistreatment of their country’s indigenous peoples and ensuring such abuse will not happen again.

A court decision in the Dominican Republic annulling the citizenship of an estimated 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian ancestry has been strongly criticized by church leaders, including the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Ferguson is in turmoil. So is New York. And so is Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, a long-standing institution of theological education located on the upper west side of Manhattan – or in West Harlem – since 1836.

Climate justice has been the focal point of the WCC advocacy strategy at 20th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which concluded on 12 December in Lima, Peru.

Evangelism in new contexts was the focus of a meeting last week in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, involving the WCC and the North American councils of churches. The meeting’s primary objective was to set the agenda for a larger consultation on evangelism in North America, slated before the end of 2015.

An emphasis on establishing societies that offer opportunities for fulfillment and development to all was endorsed by participants in a meeting at Bogota, Colombia. Such societies, they said, would especially benefit people with disabilities in Latin America, a region where prevalence of disability is high, as reported by the Economic Commission for Latin America.

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern about the alarming increase in threats to human security in Latin America. The committee has called for renewed efforts by churches to ensure peaceful and just societies.

After six days of intense discussions on migration, the conflict in Sri Lanka and climate change, of common prayer and practical efforts to make the voice of the churches on these issues heard at the United Nations, the UN Advocacy Week of the World Council of Churches (WCC) ended with good results on Friday.