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A compilation of the most-read stories published by the World Council of Churches (WCC) reveals a global fellowship focused on a better future even amid the grave challenges the world faced during 2021.

A special COP26 service involving Christian churches and organisations from around the world will be held at Glasgow Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. (7 November). The event, which has been organised by Glasgow Churches Together, will be attended by guests from countries including Australia, Fiji, and Zimbabwe, as a show of solidarity for global climate justice.

The Climate Sunday initiative is inviting local churches across Great Britain, Ireland and across the world to hold a climate-focused service on any Sunday before the United Nations climate change conference (COP26) begins in Glasgow on 31 October-12 November.

The ecumenical Eglise verte (Green church) movement in France held its first assembly of local groups and churches on World Environment Day, 5 June.

A new guide for eco-theological worship resources and activities for the 2020 Season of Creation is now available, thanks to a wide array of ecumenical partners, including the World Council of Churches (WCC). A webinar, “Jubilee for the Earth: New Rhythms, New Hope,” is also planned for 8 June.

A prayer for today by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary World Council of Churches

Impacts of the climate change and the lingering health and environmental effects of nuclear testing on the countries in the Pacific region are among the issues to be discussed at the meeting of the WCC’s Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), convened from 19 to 21 February in Brisbane, Australia.

Although she loves what she is doing, there are times when bishop Sofie Petersen feels a strong desire to be someplace else than inside her cosy diocesan office in Nuuk, Greenland. Preferably outdoors, inhaling crisp, arctic air in a stunningly beautiful landscape where mighty polar bears roam and huge whales gently plough their way through the ice-scattered waters along the coastline.

The Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Church of Sweden have signed a joint pledge related to climate justice.

The message urges action on the unprecedented negative effects of climate change. “As we observe the Season of Creation, we renew the call for our churches to work together for the sake of Earth and to build collaborations wherever possible, both with other communities of faith and with diverse agents in our civil society,” the text reads. “Now is the time for science, politics, business, culture and religion - everything that is an expression of human dignity - to address together this critical issue for our time.”

On 11 September, at midday, staff from the Ecumenical Centre gathered in the garden for worship, reflection and prayer as part of the global “Season of Creation” observation by Christians all over the world.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) made a positive impact at the 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, held 24 June through 12 July.

The WCC has a long history of engagement with the United Nations human rights system, in witnessing and advocating for human dignity and justice on behalf of the worldwide ecumenical movement.

When he was asked last year to take over as vicar in the parish of Ilulissat, on Greenland’s west coast, Loqqi Fleischer was a bit anxious about how the transition from his smaller hometown Uummannaq, further north along the coastline, would work out. Nevertheless, he took on the challenge and was warmly welcomed right away in the new environment.

It is midnight and the sun just about hides for a little while beneath the horizon. The calm sea is scattered with icebergs in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some are like five-story buildings, with vertical sharp-edged walls rising high above the surface. Others are more like snow-capped hilltops, slowly ploughing through the blank water.

In Greenland, travel by either air or boat is the conventional – and only – way of getting from place to place. The distances between populated areas scattered along the rugged coastline of the world’s largest island are long and there are no roads connecting cities and settlements. Neither railways nor inland waterways exist and some rural areas can only be reached by helicopter. In winter, dog-sled is an alternative, particularly in the north and east.

As centres of change and strong stakeholders in achieving sustainable development, places of worship must set the example in adopting green infrastructure and energy, a new report says.
People trust the messages and actions disseminated and undertaken by faith-based organizations, according to the report.

How to spiritually strengthen, to live faith and values in daily professional decisions may not be in the human resources manuals of 21st-century companies, but if they were, many pitfalls could be dodged.

A network of faith-based organizations, including the World Council of Churches (WCC), has released a submission to the Talanoa Dialogue. The title of the submission is: “Respecting Mother Earth and caring for ecological systems, the most vulnerable communities and all future generations.”