Search results

As a “Living Together” celebration in Bagdad opened on 6 March, religious and ethnic leaders from Iraq celebrated diversity and, at the same time, candidly addressed challenges to inclusive citizenship. They were joined by representatives of Iraqi executive and legislative authorities as well as representatives from UN agencies and embassies.

In a bridge-building visit to member churches in Lebanon, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation visited Beirut on 7 July, meeting with church leaders as well as the Middle East Council of Churches to hear and carry a message for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly, to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August-8 September.

With many people in Canada living far apart from each other, and the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many churches to go online, reaching church members has become a creative process that combines digital and non-digital efforts.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee is inviting the ecumenical fellowship and all people of good will to join in a live-streamed prayer for the Holy Land on 20 May at 16:30 CET.

Providing migrants and refugees a platform to share their concerns, challenges, and aspirations not only helps them, but also addresses xenophobia and helps build bridges with host communities, participants at a recent conference found.

The fatal blast in Beirut last month became yet another blow to an already plagued country. In recent months, a financial crisis with a free-falling currency and rising unemployment has further undermined the Lebanese economy. Add to that one million Syrian refugees and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the contours of a fragile nation facing monumental challenges emerge.

Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World. She also serves on the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee. She recently participated in a rally and march in Washington, DC, where thousands gathered to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963 that included Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream" speech.

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.

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.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned an attack on a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi´s home north of New York City, on 28 December, stabbing and wounding five people. Several state and local officials have described the location of stabbing as a synagogue.

Rev. Nathan Day Wilson is a pastor with the Disciples of Christ in the United States and currently holds the position as director of communications at the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is associate editor and columnist for the Faith and Values section of the Indianapolis Star. Wilson was a lecturer at the seminar, “Equipping each other for Christian Witness in a multi-cultural and multi-faith world”, taking place at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute from 5-15 August.

Gun violence in the United States, which over the last weekend alone took three dozen lives, continues to pose stark challenges for US churches.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) met formally on 25-27 June in Paris, under the theme “The normalization of hatred: challenges for Jews and Christians today”. This meeting took place at a time of significant challenges in public and religious life for many communities around the world. At the meeting Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, presented the WCC policies on antisemitism and the WCC’s work for human rights for all. The WCC News met with him after the meeting.

Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans and Reformed discern further steps towards deeper ecclesial communion and common witness during a consultation at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States from 26 to 28 March.

(LWF Communication) – An ecumenical prayer service in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States, marked the opening of a four-day consultation of five Christian World Communions discussing the historic importance of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) and its impact on the search for full, visible unity of the church.

On 15 March, a group of Ecumenical accompaniers from the WCC were invited to share Shabbat dinner with the Kol HaNeshama congregation in Jerusalem.

Ma’alul, a Palestinian village destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, saw a visit by ecumenical accompaniers in mid-March. “I would have liked to invite you to a real home, not just as a refugee,” said Jad Saba Yusef Salem as he received the group of accompaniers to the village. Today, 95-year-old Salem is one of few remaining survivors from the 75 families who used to live in the village back in 1948.