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The World Council of Churches (WCC) was honoured as a top non-governmental organization for its work during 2021, receiving a third-place Geneva Engage Award on 1 February for effective and inspiring social media outreach and engagement.

Following a successful pilot project in the spring of 2021, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey is inviting applications for a renewed version of the 10-week online course entitled “Together Towards Unity. Being Church in a Fragmented World” in 2022.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is receiving a Bridge Builder Award for building bridges of understanding between people, nations, and communities at national and international levels. The award is presented by the Jury of the 14th August Committee Norway together with The Oslo Center.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Thursdays in Black campaign has created new “virtual backgrounds” to help people raise awareness about gender-based violence.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) was honoured as a top non-governmental organization for its work during 2020, receiving a second-place Geneva Engage Award on 18 February for effective and inspiring social media outreach and engagement.

A new Facebook profile frame developed by the WCC is helping people express their support for the upcoming “16 Days against Gender-Based Violence.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is highlighting the links between the household of God, and the fundamental need to make our homes safe and loving spaces during 16 Days Against Gender-based Violence. “16 Days” is an annual international campaign that begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day.

This week Norwegians are gathering to discuss a large variety of political topics during an event called “Arendalsuka”. Nearly 80 000 people are filling the small town of Arendal with seminars, debates, exhibitions and events. During this week The Christian Council of Norway wanted to arrange an ecumenical worship, but the event was rejected by the main organizer of the week. Their reason for rejecting a worship was that the week is supposed to be open to all – regardless of faith or political view.

Conversations at the World Council of Churches (WCC) exhibition booth at the Kirchentag showed there is a growing interest in ecumenical movement among German churches. The topics of a particularly high interest were the Thursdays in Black campaign and studies at the Ecumenical institute in Bossey.

Nowadays, any cause can be effectively promoted in a blink of an eye, with a click on a button. At virtually no cost, messages travel fast around the globe through social media and other digital platforms. For good and bad, but mostly for good. Because without it, grassroots movements, such as the Arab Spring, which started in Tunisia in 2010 and ended up toppling several governments, would have had a much harder time rallying support and getting their message across to key audiences.

Racism is a curse that continues to haunt the global community, with new forms constantly emerging. This curse brings us to the realisation that no country is free from racism and we cannot afford any attitude of pretence or denial that no further action is needed to focus on racial justice in order to re-establish human dignity and equal human rights on a global scale.

On Monday 3 June the WCC hosts a half-day seminar on the legacy of one of ecumenism’s leading figures, archishop Nathan Söderblom, followed by a discussion on today’s ecumenical challenges.

An interreligious jury at the Festival Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland, awarded a prize to the film “When the Persimmons Grew,” the story of a mother who, during the persimmon harvest, philosophizes with her son about the fruits of life. The Azerbaijani director interweaves linear time with the present, capturing the joys of everyday life.

Under the headline “Free to change” hundreds of Swedes gathered in the sacred cathedral in Gothenburg on 2 February to learn more about international advocacy from a faith and human rights perspective.

A full-day programme arranged by the dioceses of Skara and Gothenburg in cooperation with Church of Sweden’s youth organisation, covered a wide spectrum of pertinent issues facing the ecumenical movement.

On 7 November, the WCC Executive Committee approved a Communication Strategy through 2021, the year of the next WCC Assembly.

Thirty years ago, the founders of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women were searching for ways to not only help women across the globe seek justice but also highlight their contributions to churches and the world.

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.

On 26 July at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, there was a marked change in colour at the Interfaith Networking Zone. It was Thursday, and from morning prayers to the evening informal networking, the theme was “black”.