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37th Word Student Christian Federation (WSCF) General Assembly, Berlin, 24 -30 June 2022, Photo: Anam Gill/WSCF

Senior friends of WSCF: revisiting the past, creating a future

In 1895, student leaders from ten North American and European countries met at Vadstena Castle in Sweden to form the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). Among its founders were John R. Mott (US), Karl Fries (Sweden), Martin Eckhoff (Norway), Luther D. Wishard (US), Johannes Siemsen (Germany), and J. Rutter Williamson (UK). The WSCF was the first international student organization and together with YMCA and YWCA, it is one of the oldest youth movements still in existence. 

29 June 2022
Event
Original photo Hymie Sokupha from “The Republic of Sexual Abuse” art installation in Rosebank, South Africa in 2019. Stats added 2021.

Missing and Murdered: Addressing Femicide and Sexual and Gender-based Violence in our Global Context

25 November - 02 December 2021

Join us in two online meetings addressing the shadow pandemic of femicide and sexual and gender-based violence. Statistics gathered by the UN in 2017 indicated that 87,000 women were killed because of their gender. Of those murders, 58 percent – 137 women each day - were killed by a member of their own family or intimate partner. The onset of Covid-19 has exacerbated the violence, so much so, that by September 2020, 121 countries instituted and adopted new measures to provide support and/or care for women survivors of violence as part of their Covid-19 response plans.  

Photo essay
Collage of some of the Week of Prayer pictures shared by Christians in different places

In pictures: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Prayers for unity took on a different look and feel this year, but they weren’t stopped by widespread restrictions on face-to-face gatherings. From prayer cards to personal reflections, online gatherings to new connections, the images worldwide convey the spiritual richness of an ecumenical family that came together in prayer.

01 February 2021
Document
Liturgical text
O Lord, you who understands the pain and trauma of being sold by those close to you, draw us into your presence as we gather this morning...

Morning Prayer for Wednesday, 2 December 2020

O Lord, you understand the pain and trauma of being sold by those close to you…

This week, the first week of Advent, in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we are praying with the people and churches of Myanmar and Thailand.

2 December is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. In a time of physical distancing, let us unite our hearts and minds as we prayerfully seek to overcome Sexual and Gender-Based Violence together.

Prayers were prepared in cooperation with the World YWCA.

02 December 2020
Ecumenical movement
Document
Liturgical text
We lift our eyes to you, Lord, giver of Life. In a world that seems full of contempt, distrust and scorn, our souls yearn for your mercy. Heal all that is broken in us, so that we may speak that word of mercy to a hurting world. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Morning Prayer for Thursday, 26 November 2020

O Christ, our Saviour...

In the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we pray this week with the people and churches of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.

From 25 November to 10 December, we also mark 16 Days against Gender-Based Violence.

In a time of physical distancing, let us unite our hearts and minds as we prayerfully seek to overcome Sexual and Gender-Based Violence together.

26 November 2020
Ecumenical movement
Document
Liturgical text
Eternal God, direct our lives today and every day to just and peaceful action. God of a thousand faces, help us also to acknowledge you are worshipped in many languages, in different songs and rhythms of life from our own. May we respect these religious insights in each other and assist each faithful expression of you. We rejoice in you, God, in whose image we are brothers and sisters and by whose example in Jesus Christ, we know the breadth and depth of your universal love. Amen

Morning Prayer for Friday, 13 November 2020

Eternal God, direct our lives today and every day to just and peaceful action...

With the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle we pray for the churches and people of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Today's order of prayer also includes material published by the World YWCA and World YMCA for their World Week of Prayer and World Fellowship.

13 November 2020
WCC Programmes