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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.

Resources and tools available for the implementation of Churches’ Commitments to Children

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.

The second of the seven reflections of the Lenten Campaign: Seven Weeks for Water 2017 of the Word Council of Churches’ (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) is by Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC’s Central Committee. 

Dr Abuom is the first woman and first African to hold this important position. She is also the Executive Director of TAABCO Research and Development Consultants, based in Nairobi, Kenya. In her reflection, being an African woman on the eve of International Women’s Day, she explores the linkages between poverty, water scarcity and its impact on women.  It is also contextual in that today Kenya is reeling under a serious drought which is deteriorating the situation for women as they are mostly responsible for fetching water for their families.

Speech by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit on 27 October 2016, at the Peterskirche, the University Church of Heidelberg.

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

Climate Change speech in Wittenberg

“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.

Salaam and grace to you from Jerusalem, the Holy City. As an Arab Christian, I am thankful for the opportunity to write a reflection for this year’s “Seven Weeks for Water”. Of course, this part of the world always has been dealing with water issues because of its dry climate and few water resources. Today, however, the Palestinian people face an even greater water challenge. It is a crisis that grows worse year after year.

Na capacidade de líderes de diversas tradições religiosas, temos a mesma visão irrefutável: pôr fim à pobreza extrema até o ano de 2030. Pela primeira vez na história da humanidade, podemos fazer mais do que simplesmente contemplar um mundo sem a pobreza extrema; podemos transformar isso em realidade. Para alcançarmos esse objetivo, serão necessários dois compromissos: primeiro, agir pautados pelas melhores evidências do que funciona e do que não funciona; segundo, nos valermos de nossas vozes para desafiar e obrigar os outros a se unirem a nós nesta causa urgente, inspirada pelos nossos mais profundos valores espirituais.

The biblical reflection for the first of the Seven Weeks for Water 2015 is by Kuzipa Nalwamba, an ordained minister of the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), who is currently pursuing her PhD from University of Pretoria. She highlights  the undeniable underlining gap between men and women’s political, economic and social conditions, contribution and participation,  which also gets reflected on access to water. More often than not, the burden of meeting water needs for the families, unfairly rests on the women.

Statement from WCC acting general secretary Georges Lemopoulos condemning the recent attacks against a mosque in the West Bank and a Christian centre in Jerusalem.

Message from Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary for the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel, 22 to 28 September, calling for prayers, action and advocacy for justice and peace in Palestine Israel.

Statement on Economic Measures and Christian Responsibility toward Israel and Palestine, adopted as part of the Report of the Public Issues Committee by the World Council of Churches Central Committee.