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WCC executive committee maps future with hope in uncertain times

During its online meeting, 9-13 November, the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee addressed vital international developments, approved plans for 2021 and pledged support and solidarity with churches across the world at a time of multiple concurrent crises.

A passionate Korean feminist and ecumenist

At the most glorious moment in her career, Rev. Prof. Dr Sang Chang discovered that society is not always friendly and that politics can be devilish. But thanks to God, she got over it. Without bitterness and even more determined in her fight for gender equality and social justice.

Prayer service hails churches’ involvement in the fight against inequality

“Inequality hurts us all and goes against God’s vision of life in abundance for every human being”, said Athena Peralta, World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for economic and ecological justice, at a prayer service on the occasion of the Week of Action to Fight Inequality, held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, on 21 January.

#WCC70: Children in the Ecumenical Movement

Many ecumenical pioneers, including former WCC general secretary Philip Potter, were in a sense a product of the Sunday School movement. Ulrich Becker tells a story that seems to be in danger of being forgotten.

Pope, WCC leaders share platform at ecumenical meeting

Pope Francis joined the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the moderator of its Central Committee at an ecumenical meeting during his landmark 21 June visit to the WCC to celebrate its 70th anniversary at an ecumenical meeting in Geneva.

WCC mourns death - and commemorates life - of Rev. Dr Dong Sung Kim

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death and remembering the life of Rev. Dr Dong Sung Kim, WCC programme executive for Diakonia and Ecumenical Solidarity, renowned pastor, peace negotiator and author of many texts on diakonia. Kim lived out a passion for peace and reconciliation both in the land of his origins and around the world as a faithful pilgrim for justice and peace.

Churches in France encourage ecological conversion

The Council of Christian Churches in France (CÉCEF) is encouraging local churches to support a recently created Green Church environmental certification label, asking that offerings made at ecumenical services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity go to help finance the initiative.

#WCC70: Dr Agnes Abuom: “I dream of a world where every man and woman’s dignity will be upheld”

It’s 70 years since the World Council of Churches was founded in Amsterdam on 23 August. In addition to a commemoration service in Amsterdam on 23 August, the WCC, its member churches and partners are planning a variety of events to move forward on our ongoing Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, and at the same time honour and learn from these 70 years of ecumenical endeavour. Dr Abuom, from the Anglican Church of Kenya, is the moderator of the WCC Central Committee. She is the first woman and the first African in the position in WCC’s history. In an interview, she reflects on the evolution of the WCC in the past 70 years.

Churches worldwide prepare for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

From 18-25 January, Christians across the world will bear witness to Jesus’s prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe.”

Whether praying together, exchanging preachers, or planning ecumenical services, congregations and parishes will come together in many ways during the World Council of Churches (WCC) Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Muslims and Christians pray together for just peace in Al Aqsa Mosque

Muslims and Christians were gathered together in Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on 27th July. Side-by-side for just peace in the Holy Land. After almost two weeks of tension, violence and killings in Jerusalem. Meetings between church leaders and the Islamic leadership inside the mosque plaza were cheered by the community even amid wafts of tear gas and the rumble of explosives from time to time. Catholic Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah, who was supposed to be heading the Christian delegation, was denied entry through Lions’ Gate and, instead, sent his message.

Religious leaders of many faiths talk peace in Assisi

Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders met this week in Assisi to discuss peace, while across the ocean in New York City global political leaders assembled at the United Nations also focussed on a troubled world.

New departure in Taizé towards an ecumenism of solidarity

In Taizé, the week-long Gathering for a New Solidarity, for solidarity with the poor and excluded, reached its climax on the weekend of 15-16 August. The ecumenical community is celebrating in 2015 the seventy-fifth anniversary of its foundation by Roger Schutz, as well as the one hundredth anniversary of his birth (on 12 August 1915). Also 16 August was the tenth anniversary of his death.