Search results

WCC letter to Ms. Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights on Human rights violations in West Bank, East Jerusalem

The Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches expressed its grave concern about the high rate of evictions and demolitions in East-Jerusalem.

Are we in a time when the message of the threats of climate change is on its way to sink into our shared consciousness? After being active in the climate debates in the ecumenical and interreligious discussions and advocacy work with not so much of a visible impact on policies and action I am wondering if we are getting closer to the point where we should have been 20 years ago. A point that says that humanity needs to choose another way if we are going to secure a decent future for coming generations and to save ecosystems and peoples opportunities to have a good and peaceful life together.

"Life in Fullness: Challenges and Prospects for Church/Mission", acceptance address of Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC Central Committee for award of Honorary Doctorate VID – Stavanger, 10-11-2018

Dr. Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches Central Committee, offered a speech entitled “A Clarion Christian Call to Justice and Peace: Ending Global Inequality and Climate injustice” at the Justice Conference in Oslo, Norway on 9 November.

Address of Baldwin Sjollema, the first director of the PCR to the WCC Central Committee 2018

The World Council of Churches regrets the decision by the Government of the United States of America to withdraw all funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees.

Address at the opening session by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, in Cairo, 17 January 2018.

Statement by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem regarding the Separation Wall, 2003

Open letter from The National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine to the World Council of Churches and the ecumenical movement.

The WCC leadership will bring the letter to the next meeting of its Executive Committee in November 2017 in Amman, Jordan. The WCC also invited its members churches and partners worldwide to read and share the letter as a local voice from today’s Palestine.

This year, 2017, marks several historic anniversaries of great importance to the history and development of the situation in Israel and Palestine and to the ecumenical community’s response to this situation – including 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, 50 years since the Six Day War of 1967, and 10 years since the 2007 WCC International Peace Conference "Churches together for Peace and Justice in the Middle East" in Amman, Jordan.

Address of Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC Associate General Secretary, at the World Mental Health Day event in Ecumenical Centre, Geneva on 5 October 2016

Statement by general secretaries Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit (World Council of Churches) and Jim Winkler (National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA) on NCC/WCC Consultation on the Holy Land, 14 September, 2016

He has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. (Ephesians 2.14)

Middle East Plenary Speech by Dr Tarek Mitri

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed….” (Isaiah 1:17)

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come… ”(Isaiah 55:1)

“Access to water and sanitation is a human right. This human right is in itself essential for life and dignity, but it is also the foundation for achieving a wealth of other human rights, including the right to health and the right to development.”

(Navanethem Pillay^[1] United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014)

The gap between demand and supply of water in the Middle East--and the urgent need to reduce the gap needs to be discussed seriously. We need to address the challenges and the available opportunities to ensure sustainability of water in the region. Today, on the eve of Lent, and upon the attention of the international organizations and non-governmental and humanitarian organizations upon the subject of water, due to its importance for the continuity of life and by coincidence with the World Water Day, several questions are asked in terms of the Middle East as a whole or the Holy Land in particular. Water is a basic necessity of daily life, and cannot be dispensed with because of its importance for humans, animals and plants. Towns and villages were established only where there was a resource of water. In this context, Apostle Peter says, "By God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water." (2 Peter 3:5).

“To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” 

(Revelation 21:6) 

It is not a coincidence that our holy book, the Bible, comes from a desert area: Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. In fact, water has been and continues to be truly the source and essence of life. What the Israelites experienced in biblical times, drought and water shortages, is the experience of Palestinians today.