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As more people face famine today than any time in modern history, the WCC together with the All Africa Conference of Churches and a range of faith-based partners and networks invite a Global Day of Prayer to End Famine on 21 May 2017, in response to the hunger crisis.

Nearly 70 percent of the world’s countries have now begun negotiations to ban nuclear weapons. One-hundred-thirty-two governments from all regions took part in the first-ever such talks at the United Nations on 27-31 March. There is concerted opposition to the talks from nuclear-armed governments and their allies.

The first of a series of 12 monthly Bible studies inspired by themes related to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is now available online on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The report issued by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in June 2015 on abuse of aboriginal children in church-run residential schools included a call for non-aboriginal Canadians to learn about the impact of European settlers and their descendants on the country’s indigenous peoples. Church people have taken that call seriously.

Delegations from the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation and WCC at the United Nations climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco are jointly demanding a more rapid transition to a low-carbon economy based on clean energy in order to stem rising global temperatures.

The upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation represents a chance for the church to reflect on the lessons of past and take a critical look at what may be barriers to relationships between different denominations, according to general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

By a three-to-one margin, the United Nations is authorizing negotiations to ban nuclear weapons in 2017. The decision caps five years of rising international will to eliminate nuclear weapons because of their catastrophic effects. The UN General Assembly’s First Committee took the decision on 27 October.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit completed his visit to Australia this week, where he offered a sermon at St Stephens Uniting Church in Sydney.

“Negotiate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons”. Do it “in 2017”. Make sure the negotiations are “open to all states” and include civil society. These are key points in a much-disputed report adopted last week by a United Nations working group of more than 100 countries meeting in Geneva.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its meeting in Trondheim, Norway, 27 June 2016, has elected a new executive committee with 11 new members.

Youth are not the future leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of today, as they fearlessly lead efforts for justice and peace in their societies.

Journeying from urban centres and small Pacific islands, mountain ranges and rural towns, more than 170 Indigenous people gathered this week at the mouth of the river that flows from traditional Sami lands. Their conference, “Reconciliation Processes and Indigenous Peoples: Truth, Healing and Transformation,” brought together representatives of more than two dozen Indigenous societies in connection with the WCC Central Committee meetings in Trondheim, Norway.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Round Table was held on 26 and 27 May in the picturesque setting of the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey near Geneva in Switzerland. The gathering was used as always by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit as a platform for high-level consultation with heads of agencies.

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.

Two major crises have marked the months since the WCC called Katalina Tahaafe-Williams to work in Geneva on its migration, indigenous, and multicultural ministry programmes. When she took up the job in October, the European refugee crisis was in full flow. Then in November, terrorists attacked Paris.

“We are not speaking of people leaving one less-than-affluent suburb to go to a more affluent one because they seek a better quality of life; these are people leaving war-torn, poverty-stricken and conflict-filled near-anarchic states to find protection and safety for themselves and for their families.”