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As Poland prepares to host the European Football Championship in 2012, Christians in the country have put the meaning of "victory" and "defeat" at the centre of their reflections for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that will be celebrated earlier in the year. Preparatory resources based on these reflections are already available in five languages on the website of the World Council of Churches ( WCC).

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has urged Christians to give this year’s celebration of Easter a clear ecumenical profile and to work for a common date of Easter for the future, noting that this year it falls on the same day 24 April for both eastern and western traditions.

“God of life, lead us to justice and peace” will provide the theme for the 10th Assembly of the WCC.

Shortly after the beginning of each year, Christians around the world pray for church unity. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, traditionally celebrated from 18-25 January, draws on resources sponsored jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity of the Roman Catholic Church. The materials for January 2011 have been prepared in partnership with the churches of Jerusalem.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met in a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Saturday for nearly a quarter of an hour. The two church leaders discussed a number issues including visible church unity and the situation of Christians in the Middle East. "We had a very open and friendly conversation," Tveit said after the audience. "He emphasized in a very kind and also a very strong way the importance of the World Council of Churches' work and the ministry I am called to do as general secretary."

Jointly issued by WCC and WCRC

“We hope to learn from the lessons of history,” Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Nigeria told activists gathering for the sixth annual United Nations Advocacy Week (27 September to 1 October) organized by the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches (WCC). For the first time, UN Advocacy Week is being held in Geneva rather than New York City, in conjunction with the 15 th session of the UN Human Rights Council in the Swiss city.

Next year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be grounded in the experience of the churches in Jerusalem . Resources in five languages have already been made available on the website of the World Council of Churches ( WCC).

As the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag in Germany drew to a close, more than 3000 people gathered on the evening of 15 May for an ecumenical service to pray, sing and celebrate in different languages what “makes us one”.

"The prayer of Jesus that his disciples may be one so that the world may believe (John 17:21) takes on new urgency in view of the challenges peoples and churches are facing today", said the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, in welcoming a delegation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Christians around the world celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this year are remembering the 1910 World Missionary Conference in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh as a key initiative that led to the ecumenical movement.

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010, Christians throughout the world will be listening together to the promise and commission that are part of Christ's final words before his ascension: "You are witnesses of these things."

Using a reference from I Corinthians 12, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia told nearly 200 church members at Bong Soo Church in Pyongyang, North Korea that the "Church is one body in Christ".

by Theodore Gill (*)

Because unity is finally a gift of God, "it demands a profound sense of humility and not any prideful insistence." With this call to the "never-ending search" for unity of the church, which "is also an ever-unfolding journey", Patriarch Bartholomew I opened the 7-14 October meeting of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission, in Kolympari, Crete, Greece.

Inspired by the witness of churches from a divided country, Christians throughout the world will be praying "that they may become one in God's hand" during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2009.

Rediscovering the testimonies of Christian faith men and women of different Christian traditions gave over the centuries was the goal that brought some eighty participants from a variety of traditions and countries to the Italian monastery of Bose this autumn.

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.

By Annegret Kapp (*)

Churches in Korea who used to be at the "receiving end" of mission efforts are being transformed to become a "missioning" or sending church, according to representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) who met with WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in Geneva, Switzerland on 14 October.