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When Kenneth Ben grew up in the sixties and seventies each day started and ended with a prayer. His father, who was a pastor, had a pulpit in the home and his parents built a lifestyle around Christian values. Ben also learned early on the value of an extended family, where grandparents and relatives are included.

At a meeting in Auckland, New Zealand from 1-3 August, the Pacific Conference of Churches released texts on climate change and nuclear weapons, and issued calls to action related to human rights and other issues.

After a concerted examination of the evidence presented at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and two earlier conferences, 44 of the states present called for a ban on nuclear weapons. The host government Austria added momentum with a specific, cooperative pledge to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition of nuclear weapons” and eliminate them.

How does the church interact with a rapidly changing society? On 31 August, members of the World Council of Churches Central Committee spent much of the morning discussing this question in a pair of plenary sessions in Geneva.