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Scholars and academics from different religious traditions have gathered online for the first meeting of the editorial board of Current Dialogue, the World Council of Churches’ journal on interreligious encounter.

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.

It is confirmation season in Greenland. In churches across the country, bench rows are decorated with flowers and candles along the aisle. Joy is in the air and it is time for a vast majority of 14-year-olds to have their Christian baptism confirmed.

Because faith communities that work closely with the UN children’s agency are deeply involved with young people on the move, they can play a crucial role in applying the global compacts on safe migration and refugees.

Behind Bali’s luxury hotels, sandy beaches and lush landscapes pampering tourists from all around the world, one finds a heartbreaking poverty, and its most vulnerable victims are children.

Religious leaders from across the globe gather in Rome on 16-18 October, to address the situation of children on the move.

The archbishop Dr Nathan Söderblom, an ecumenical forerunner and messenger of peace in war-torn Europe, challenged a deeply divided Christianity 100 years ago. Against all odds, the Stockholm Conference on Life and Work in 1925 gathered church leaders at a scale the world had not seen since Nicaea 1600 years earlier. And it did not end there.

“Christ is born” declares a drawing by Kenyan schoolboy Richard Ochieng, whose work is featured on the WCC’s Christmas card this year.

If women will not support each other to step up to the pulpit or become engaged in politics, then gender equality will not be a priority issue for leaders both in the church and in government, says Eppie Marecheau, Christian educator and president of the Christian Council for Caribbean Women. In July, she participated in a seminar organized by the Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN), at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute Bossey.

Last week, young Jewish, Muslim and Christian students learned about communication and peacebuilding during a workshop at the Ecumenical Centre, all with the hope of serving as peacemakers in their own contexts. The session was led by Marianne Ejdersten, director of WCC Communication.

Rauha. Paix. Friede. Paghidait.

Some people don’t exist – on paper, that is. Indeed, millions of people are not recognized as citizens by the law of any country.

What do indigenous peoples expect of churches in light of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on church-run residential schools for aboriginal children? Dr Marie Wilson, TRC Commissioner, responds in this wide-ranging interview with the WCC Communication.

The WCC and UNICEF signed a partnership on 18 September pledging to work together to support children’s rights, with special initial focus on two major issues: violence against children and climate change.

Violence against children was one emerging issue discussed at the Christian Conference of Asia's assembly. “It is still a sad reality in large parts of the world, but momentum to end violence against children is growing within governments and communities, amongst parents and religious leaders. This is a good thing since it takes everyone to make a change”, says Lauren Rumble, UNICEF’s chief of child protection in Indonesia.

The WCC is hosting the annual meeting of an international group of people with responsibilities for ecumenical relations in several member churches of the WCC. The spring session of the gathering of the Ecumenical Officers Network is taking the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace” as the inspiration for learning, reflective study and discussion on current developments in the ecumenical movement.

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.

Father Ioan Sauca of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Peter Prove, a Lutheran lawyer and international affairs expert from Australia, have been named to key staff positions in the WCC.

The pre-assembly event of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism saw churches' renewed commitment and different approaches to mission and evangelism in a context of rapid change in society, politics and church.