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The 7th Korea-US Church Consultation was held 24 June online, bringing together Korean and US church leaders to reflect on their mission journey, to share their respective challenges, and to explore joint action plans especially vis-a-vis the new US Administration.

In the wake of rising anti-Asian violence and hate speech in the USA, religious leaders and ecumenical coalitions in the nation are calling for an end to the violence—and the xenophobia and discrimination that undergird it.

Born in Nazareth, Galilee, Rev. Dr Saïd Ailabouni moved to the US at the age of 19 to become a physician. But he was so angry at God that he went to study theology instead, becoming a Lutheran pastor. Now he is leading the Middle East & Europe desk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Since leaving his hometown 50 years ago, he visits his Palestinian family regularly. As the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel approaches, Ailabouni agreed to share some of his lifetime observations with the Word Council of Churches.

More than 1,000 attendees at the 15th Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly have formally endorsed the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence.

Gun violence in the United States, which over the last weekend alone took three dozen lives, continues to pose stark challenges for US churches.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed dismay at the tragic shooting in California (USA) during which a gunman killed 12 people before taking his own life.

At a meeting on 19 January, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) pledged to not only deepen their existing collaboration but also explore even more joint projects to protect and provide for children.

Expressing concern regarding recently announced US measures related to refugee admissions and entry into the US by seven Muslim-majority countries, the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance (ACT), and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) affirmed that faith calls all Christians to love and welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced person - “the other.”

The 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women had “the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls” as its review theme.

When Stephen Sidorak speaks about “A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to Japan on a Matter of Life and Death” his voice rings with passion, commitment and regret along with a yearning that nuclear weapons must never be used in anger again.

As an ecumenical delegation to Japan participates in Hiroshima Day observances on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, the WCC has published a liturgical resource and invites churches around the world to join in prayer.

WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit preached at the 7 May ecumenical service in Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral commemorating the centennial of the Armenian genocide.

The WCC remembers today, 24 April, the 1.5 million Armenian victims – children, women and men – who died 100 years ago.

Religion is a double-edged sword for women healing from violence and trauma, yet they find their way out of pain in amazing ways, say two scholars whose work investigates and analyses this.

The WCC Executive Committee has condemned the use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles saying that they pose “serious threats to humanity” and the “right to life” while setting “dangerous precedents in inter-state relations”.