Search results

As religious leaders in the USA gathered online for a Faiths4Vaccines National Summit on 26 May, they heard a clear message from policymakers and scientists leading the COVID-19 response: churches are not only caring for people’s health but for their souls, too.

Bishop Staccato Powell is president of the board of bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a founding member church of the World Council of Churches (WCC). His long service with the WCC includes attending four assemblies and serving on many governing bodies, including the current Central Committee.

L’évêque Staccato Powell est président du conseil des évêques de l’Église méthodiste épiscopale africaine de Sion, une Église membre fondatrice du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE). Au cours de son long engagement au service du COE, il a participé à quatre assemblées et fait partie de nombreux organes directeurs, dont l’actuel Comité central.

The World Association for Christian Communication is creating a rapid response fund to help support grassroots community media outlets that provide accurate, trusted coronavirus-related information to vulnerable people who often cannot access mainstream media. Individuals and organisations are encouraged to contribute to the fund.

L’Association mondiale pour la communication chrétienne met sur pied un fonds de réponse rapide pour venir en aide aux médias communautaires et populaires diffusant des informations exactes et fiables au sujet du COVID-19 aux personnes vulnérables qui, bien souvent, n’ont pas accès aux médias traditionnels. Les individus et les organismes sont encouragés à y contribuer.

Ten years ago, while studying to become a nurse, Khadijah Abdullah was confronted at a hospital with a rather difficult patient, a Muslim living with AIDS who was also coping with several other medical issues. When Abdullah realized how isolated and stigmatized this patient was in his own faith community, she became aware of her prejudices and ignorance and she decided to do something about it.

“I see this approach of ‘a healthy church’ as a setting that will hopefully go global,” says Dr Suzanne Jackson of the University of Toronto, who directs the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion.

Each year students from all over the world arrive at Bossey near Geneva for a three-month language training course to pave their way for ecumenical studies that follow on straight after. “The title captures the goal of the course,” says Father Lawrence Iwuamadi, the Nigerian priest who studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute.

A new “toolkit” to empower and enable churches to promote better health in their congregations is in the making. A workshop held 17 – 19 July 2018 in North Carolina, USA, by the WCC prepared the ground for this new resource.

Que ce soit en tant qu'individus ou en tant que communauté, il est de notre devoir collectif de défendre l'unité des chrétiens, déclare Melanio L. Aoanan. L'éducateur philippin appelle à une vision claire de la formation œcuménique qui soit pertinente au XXIe siècle.

“Dignity, Freedom, and Grace: Christian Perspectives on HIV, AIDS and Human Rights,” a book published earlier this year by the WCC, will be among reports discussed at a 20 September event with the theme “Keeping the Faith in Development: Gender, Religions & Heath.”

A clear, global interfaith call to action to end the AIDS epidemic will be unveiled at an interfaith service on 7 June at 5:30 p.m. in the Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza in New York City. The service will precede an 8-10 June UN High Level Meeting on AIDS at which world leaders will adopt a concise, action-oriented Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. The declaration will express the commitment of nations to HIV response, and serve as a point of accountability for achieving the goals for ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.

“Leave no one behind.” That’s the urgent message of the World Council of Churches’ general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a video released in preparation for a United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, 8-10 June.

“Act now, not later.” Dr David Barstow chose this message for a photo featured in the “100-day countdown” to a United Nations (UN) High Level Meeting on HIV in New York on 8-10 June.

Le 6 avril, à New York, des organisations d’inspiration religieuse ont apporté une contribution importante à l’occasion d’une séance des Nations Unies avec des représentantes et représentants de la société civile, qui préludait à une réunion de haut niveau consacrée au VIH.

Global health and religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva have noted the essential role faith-based organizations play in providing health services.In a consultation entitled: “The future of faith-based health care provision”, participants related some of their experiences in responding to the global Ebola crisis.

Amidst the reality of tensions often fueled by religions, a group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth has formed a multi-faith community. As part of an interfaith summer course sponsored by the WCC, this community wants to work for the protection of creation – a concern they say is common to all faith traditions.

Sur fond de tensions internationales souvent alimentées par les religions, un groupe composé de jeunes chrétiens, musulmans et juifs a constitué une communauté multireligieuse. Dans le cadre d'un cours d'été interreligieux organisé sous l'égide du COE, cette communauté veut œuvrer à la protection de la création, une préoccupation qui, selon eux, est partagée par toutes les traditions religieuses.