From 24 May to 21 June, the Christian Council of Norway (CCN) is promoting a pilgrimage from the Norwegian capital Oslo to Trondheim, an important Christian pilgrimage site and the location of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting from 22-28 June.

CCN’s general secretary Rev. Knut Refsdal will walk the entire 29-day, 638.6-kilometer route, and is inviting local church leaders and congregations to join part or all of the pilgrimage. Several meetings and dialogue spaces are being organized at stops along the way.

“The main message we want to share along the way is that religious and philosophical leaders of each community can help promote mutual understanding and respect for shared values and therefore deplore violent extremism and hate speech,” said Refsdal.
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A global gathering in the German city of Halle has called on churches to be inspired by the tradition of the Reformation to become agents of transformation.

“We came from different confessional and denominational traditions and together we sought to discover the transformative power of Reformation today, not as a past event but oriented to the future,” participants said in a statement at the end of the 18-22 May consultation.

Halle, in eastern Germany, lies in the heartland of the 16th-century Reformation of Martin Luther and his followers.

The Halle meeting gathered more than 120 people from 40 countries and was the second stage of a “Twin Consultation” on “Reformation – Education – Transformation” that began with a conference in São Leopoldo in Brazil in November 2015.
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More than 120 people from throughout the world have gathered in the eastern German city of Halle to reflect on how insights from the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago can contribute to transforming the world today.

“We want to initiate and encourage a truly ecumenical and global dialogue on the achievements, current challenges and new learnings about the relevance of Reformation principles,” said the Rev. Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, president of the German Protestant development service Bread for the World, at the opening of the 18-22 May conference.

The Halle gathering is the second stage of a “Twin Consultation” on “Reformation – Education – Transformation” that began with a conference in São Leopoldo in Brazil in November 2015.

In advance of the Reformation Jubilee in 2017, the project aims to examine the contribution of Reformation traditions and theology to strengthening and transforming civil society to promote justice, peace, sustainability and human rights, both locally and globally, with a special emphasis on the role of education.

“2017 will not be an event that looks back historically but an occasion to reflect where reform and reformation is needed today in church and society,” the Rev. Margot Kässmann, ambassador of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) for the Reformation Jubilee, told the Halle meeting.

The idea of holding two consultations in Brazil and in Germany – with some participants attending both meetings – is to reflect on the same thematic areas in two different global contexts as a contribution to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and its impact on society.
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The 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 should be a profoundly ecumenical, as well as European and international celebration, according to Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

“With this clear distinction from all other commemorations of past centuries, we are sending a signal of reconciliation and a new beginning,” Bedford-Strohm said at a 9 May press conference in Berlin announcing events leading up to the anniversary on 31 October 2017.

The commemoration marks the day in 1517 on which Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 theses denouncing church abuses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

Luther’s actions set in motion events that led to the Reformation and the division of western Christianity into Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.

In recent years, however, Roman Catholics and Lutherans have reached agreement on the doctrine of justification, a key dividing issue between the papacy and Luther and his followers, and many doctrinal differences should no longer have a church-dividing character, said Bedford-Strohm.
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After travelling to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv in the last week for a climate justice meeting, World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners were detained or deported in a manner that WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit terms both unprecedented and intolerable.

“The WCC protests the excessive, unreasonable and wholly unwarranted treatment by the Israeli authorities of these representatives of WCC member churches and staff travelling to engage in discussions on climate change and environmental stewardship, at the invitation of and hosted by WCC’s member churches in the region,” he said.

Members of the WCC’s Working Group on Climate Change from as many as 13 countries reported they were held for hours of interrogation, including tough intimidation and detention in prison-like conditions for up to three days — a very difficult experience, Tveit said. “We react in different ways emotionally to experiences like this. For all of them, I think it was totally unexpected and very disturbing, for most of them shocking, as they have never experienced anything like this before.”

Although there have been small incidents in the past, there has been nothing approaching this level of intimidation, Tveit added.
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“We had heard that racism continues to be an issue in the United States,” said Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). “But we did not expect to find it so deep, so wide and so pervasive.”

Abuom spoke at a closing conference of the WCC’s US racial justice accompaniment visit, which she led from 19 through 25 April on an itinerary that included the cities of Charleston, South Carolina; Ferguson, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois.

The team of WCC visitors who made the journey will now collaborate in preparing a report on their experience and findings, with recommendations for the next steps in a renewed and reinvigorated response to the sin of racial hatred, violence and discrimination in the early 21st century. The report will be submitted in May to the WCC Central Committee for consideration at its June 2016 meeting in Trondheim, Norway.

After due deliberation, the Central Committee will determine appropriate action for the WCC and its partners in the United States and throughout the world.
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What has contributed to the idea of a “European identity?” And, within a broad-minded vision of secularism, how can churches and other religious communities contribute? In this context, what is the role of Switzerland?

A panel of religious leaders, policymakers and journalists met on 20 April at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva to discuss these questions and others. Thoughts were also fielded from the audience. The event was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Focolare Movement, an international organization that promotes the ideas of unity and universal brotherhood.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, spoke about how the WCC’s pilgrimage of justice and peace links the work of churches with the roots of their faith. “We see the pilgrimage as an openness, a willingness to move,” he said.

Tveit recently returned from an ecumenical advocacy event in Washington, DC, where he met with Christians from a wide constituency of US churches to define racism in our time.

“Racism is tearing the United States apart,” he said, citing a conversation he had with Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and author of “America’s Original Sin,” a book about racism. Tveit then raised the question: “If you ask the same question of Europe — what is Europe’s original sin?”
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“With living hope, we invite our member churches to renew and strengthen our joint testimony and continue to raise their voices and working for abundant life,” said Rev. Milton Mejía, general secretary of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), as he announced a new structure for the region’s largest ecumenical body on 14 April.

The board of CLAI met from 9-14 April in Lima, Peru, where CLAI was founded 34 years ago, to evaluate and approve a new strategic plan and structure.

The core of the new structure is based on three main action areas: ecumenical formation; diakonia and advocacy; pastoral and social networks.

The CLAI board released a letter to its member churches and partner organizations highlighting the importance of the decision and the process of reflection that led to it.

“The restructuring will provide a new institutional logic that allows us to have greater impact and to promote processes of advocacy together with our churches in a more efficient way, using economic resources available in a responsible way and increasing the contribution of the member churches to support CLAI,” reads the letter.
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Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece met on the Greek island of Lesvos on 16 April to demonstrate their concern for the situation of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who have come to Europe fleeing from situations of conflict and, in many cases, daily threats to their survival.

The three church leaders urged people not to ignore the humanitarian crisis created by the spread of violence and armed conflict, the persecution and displacement of religious and ethnic minorities, and the uprooting of families from their homes.

“The tragedy of forced migration and displacement affects millions, and is fundamentally a crisis of humanity, calling for a response of solidarity, compassion, generosity and an immediate practical commitment of resources,” reads their message. “From Lesvos, we appeal to the international community to respond with courage in facing this massive humanitarian crisis, and its underlying causes, through diplomatic, political and charitable initiatives and through cooperative efforts, both in the Middle East and in Europe.”

The three leaders said they are one in their desire for peace and in their readiness to promote the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and reconciliation.
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The archbishop and primate of Hong Kong, Rev. Dr Paul Kwong, has been elected as the new chair of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).

He is the first serving primate to be elected to the role.

Kwong received 40 votes. The runner-up, Prof. Joanildo Burity from Brazil, received 25 votes. Kwong will succeed Bishop James Tengatenga.

The ACC facilitates the cooperative work of the churches of the Anglican Communion, fostering the exchange of information between the provinces and churches. It also helps coordinate common action, advises on the organization and structures of the communion, and seeks to develop common policies with respect to the world mission of the church, including ecumenical matters.

The ACC meets every two or three years in different parts of the world. ACC-16 is taking place in Lusaka, Zambia on 8-19 April.
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Canadian church leaders issued a joint statement endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and promising to implement its principles. Doreen Spence, an aboriginal Canadian who was one of the architects of the declaration, welcomes the move.

“Endorsement is a big step forward. I really commend them,” Spence says. “It has taken them a long time.”

Spence served as presiding elder to the core group of indigenous people who met in Geneva over a 20-year period to craft the declaration and guide it through the lengthy process that led to its adoption by the UN General Assembly in 2007. The World Council of Churches (WCC) supported the working group by offering meeting space at the Ecumenical Centre.

The Canadian churches’ statement, signed by seven church leaders, says they commit to implementing the principles, norms, and standards named in the UN declaration and “embrace the opportunity … to work for reconciliation and to fully respect the human rights and dignity of indigenous peoples in Canada.”

Canadian church leaders issued their endorsement on 30 March in response to a call-to-action by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission into abuse of aboriginal students in church-run residential schools. In its report released in June 2015, the TRC called on churches, faith groups, and social justice groups in Canada to “formally adopt and comply with” the principles and standards of UNDRIP as a framework for reconciliation between the country’s aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples.

Leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada, Christian Reformed Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Presbyterian Church in Canada, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Salvation Army, and United Church of Canada issued the statement in Ottawa, the country’s capital city. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Holy Cross Fathers also issued statements, as did several ecumenical and interfaith groups.
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The Anglican Communion needs to be “aware of the great crises of our times,” the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said in a presidential address to members of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Lusaka, Zambia.

“Because we are all over the world and because we are stretched and pulled by our differences, as we have looked at this week, the temptation is either to think only of internal questions, or of traditional issues, and not to realize that around us the world is shifting on its axis,” he said.

Sometimes the issues we face, even if they are not new, become acute in a new way and compel us to rethink how we work and how we apply the gifts given by God, Welby said in his 15 April address.

“Two actors dominate our world stage at present, I would argue,” said the archbishop.

“One is religiously motivated violence, and the other is climate change,” he said. “The world tends to forget, noted Welby, that “both characters can only be confronted with a theological and ideological approach and with a story, with a narrative, that is sufficiently powerful to overcome the natural selfishness of one generation, or the selfishness of countries which are more secure.”
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“An ecological reformation of Christianity is a matter of repentance, conversion, and renewal for all Christian traditions,” reads the “Volos Call,” a statement issued after a meeting of church representatives from different traditions and all continents, held in Greece, between 10-13 March.

Gathering at the Academy of Volos for the international conference on Eco-Theology, Climate Justice and Food Security, participants stressed the concern that “an ecological reformation of Christianity (in all its traditions) is possible, but can remain authentic only if it stays in the Spirit and is expressed in the form of a humble prayer: Veni, Creator Spiritus! Come, Holy Spirit, renew your whole creation!”

According to the statement, an ecological reformation of Christianity “implies a twofold critique, namely both a deeper Christian critique of the root causes of ecological destruction and an ecological critique of forms of Christianity which have not recognized the ecological dimensions of the Gospel.”
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The Faith and Order Commission’s convergence text “The Church: Towards a Common Vision” continues to be discussed by churches on a journey toward revealing the unity of the church and how it is inextricably bound on a pilgrimage of justice and peace.

As part of this worldwide ongoing dialogue, ecumenical delegates from three departments of France — Ain, Savoie and Haute Savoie — met on 17 March with Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, a member of the Secretariat of the Faith and Order Commission, in La Roche-sur-Foron. Together, they had a presentation and debate on the document.

The French delegates will prepare a response to the document by December 2016.

“It is essential to have official answers to ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’ not only from churches, but also from ecumenical groups such as this,” said Ghazaryan Drissi. “The first objective of the text is the renewal of ecclesial life.”
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Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand are forming an ecumenical entity to pursue closer ties and share understandings. They held an inaugural meeting for the National Dialogue for Christian Unity (NDCU) on 25 February in Wellington.

Participants said they hope that the NDCU will lead to formal ecumenical collaboration among churches and other groups in society that want to work together on issues concerning all New Zealanders.

In addition to meeting during the day, participants attended a Service of Celebration at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington.

The formal establishment of the NDCU represents a significant and very hopeful development in ecumenical relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand, said Archbishop Philip Richardson, bishop of Taranaki and archbishop of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. “Friendships between churches have been strong, so to give structure and form to these is cause for rejoicing.”
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What do indigenous peoples expect of churches in light of the report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on church-run residential schools for aboriginal children? Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, responds in this interview with the World Council of Churches (WCC) Communications.

The TRC report on the impact of more than 100 years of residential schools includes 94 recommendations addressed to the country’s federal and provincial governments, churches and society at large. A number are related to concerns for child welfare, education, and health in indigenous communities.

Canada’s best-known aboriginal leader Perry Bellegarde is urging the country’s churches to take advantage of the current federal election campaign to press for measures to close the gap in the standard of living between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

“The gap is not good for the country. There is a high social cost,” says Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the advocacy organization representing Canada’s 900,000 aboriginal people.

Bellegarde is urging church members to ask candidates about their plans for improving schooling, health care, and housing in Indigenous communities.
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Key stakeholders in a new inter-religious centre in Nigeria have met to plan for the centre and its work, set to launch in March 2016.

The meeting was held at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, 27 to 28 September.

Institutions represented were the Jordanian Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (RABIIT), the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) and Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI).

The project has developed as a result of a high-level international inter-religious visit to Nigeria by representatives of the WCC and RABIIT in 2012.
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The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is all set to continue working for the unity of Christian witness and supporting communities in the country affected by poverty, unemployment, inequity and corruption.

These aspirations of the SACC were shared in a recent meeting on 16 September in Geneva, Switzerland, where Rev. Dr Frank Chikane, SACC’s senior vice president and Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, SACC’s acting general secretary, met with Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, and Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, the WCC’s associate general secretary.

The SACC leadership shared that the strategic plan for the renewal of their organization is in place, continuing a revival after the council closed down in 2011 due to financial difficulties. Since 2014, the organization has been re-established, with the re-opening of Khotso House in Johannesburg where the SACC offices are based.

The WCC general secretary expressed his appreciation that the SACC is “back on its feet”. He said that it is only through “working together” that challenges can be overcome. “Many regional and national councils of churches have gone through problems, but we are working together to strengthen the fellowship. We need a strong SACC to grow in the ecumenical movement.”
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“It is our sincere desire and prayer, shared with many Jews and Muslims, that there should be no hostilities among neighbours in Israel and Palestine, and beyond, in the whole Middle East region.” These were the words of the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, shared in his message for the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel (WWPPI), observed from 21 to 27 September.

The theme of the week this year is “God has broken down the dividing walls”.

“We pray and work for the peace desperately needed by both Palestinians and Israelis. As we pray that the wall will fall, I appeal to you to promote participation in this year’s WWPPI,” said the WCC general secretary in his invitation to churches and ecumenical partners.
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The role of Christian unity in today’s world was explored at length by the Rev. Dr Anders Wejryd, Archbishop emeritus of the Church of Sweden and president for Europe of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in his speech at the international conference in Tirana, Albania sponsored by the Community of Sant’Egidio. The conference addressed the theme “Peace is Always Possible”.

The conference, held from 6 to 8 September, was organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio together with the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Albania. The event gathered participants from diverse religious traditions from around the world.

The Community of Sant’Egidio is a worldwide movement of lay people that promotes prayer, solidarity, ecumenism, dialogue, as well the cause of peace and poverty elimination.

In his address at the conference, Wejryd stressed that, if “Christian unity is to be a positive power in a divided world, it must be a unity that is constantly examined in prayer and meditation, related to Word and Sacraments, personally but not only individually. The Spirit always needs others to reach us! The Church is not outdated!”
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As part of the observation of the Time for Creation, Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, has once again sent an encyclical to remind churches and people of goodwill about the grave risks deriving from growing abuse of energy resources, threatening to increase global warming and the sustainability of the natural environment.

“We invite everyone to soberness of life, purification of passionate thoughts and selfish motivations, so that we may dwell in harmony with our neighbours and with God’s creation,” said Bartholomew I.

These reflections were shared by the Ecumenical Patriarch on the occasion of the start of a “Time for Creation”, a global event which invokes prayers for creation, eco-justice and peace with the earth. It has been celebrated each year since 1989 from 1 September to 4 October. This year’s event has been promoted by Pope Francis’s recent proclamation of 1 September as the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.”

The Time for Creation was affirmed by the WCC Central Committee in 2008 as an invitation “to observe through prayers and action a special time for creation, its care and stewardship.”
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A worship service on 30 August at the Pentecostal Cathedral of Curico, Chile, featured participation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and the WCC president for Latin America and the Caribbean Rev. Gloria Ulloa. Christian unity and ecumenical aspirations remained in focus at the service attended by more than 1,300 people.

Bishop Luis Ulises Muñoz Moraga, head of the Pentecostal Church of Chile, a member church of the WCC, said there is “no other way” for their church but the one that leads to Christian unity. “Despite occasional internal tensions around the question of churches’ engagement in ecumenical movement, the commitment to be part of the global fellowship as an expression of faith prevails,” he said.

The Pentecostal Church of Chile joined the WCC as a member in 1961.

The WCC general secretary delivered a sermon at the service, preaching from Romans 15:13. “We pray together so that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

“Those who have hope have power to live and to participate in transformation of life, so that others can live with hope. Your church, Pentecostal Church of Chile, is a remarkable example of this truth, in the past decades under dictatorship as well as today,” said Tveit.
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In Taizé, the week-long Gathering for a New Solidarity, for solidarity with the poor and excluded, reached its climax on the weekend of 15-16 August. The ecumenical community is celebrating in 2015 the seventy-fifth anniversary of its foundation by Roger Schutz, as well as the one hundredth anniversary of his birth (on 12 August 1915). Also 16 August was the tenth anniversary of his death. Brother Roger was stabbed during prayer in the church by a mentally unstable woman from Romania. For the first time in its history, all hundred brothers of the Taizé community came together from all over the world.
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Joined in prayer, Christian churches around the world will again observe the ecumenical “Time for Creation” (1 September to 4 October), this year bolstered by Pope Francis’s recent proclamation of 1 September as the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.”

The movement toward a yearly commemoration of the biblical mandate to exercise stewardship over God’s creation (Genesis 1:26-28) first took shape following a 1 September 1989 encyclical from the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople in which he extended an invitation to “the entire Christian world to offer together with the Mother Church of Christ, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, every year on this date prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”

The pastoral letter from Dimitrios continued, “At the same time we paternally urge, on the one hand, the faithful in the world to admonish themselves and their children to respect and protect the natural environment and, on the other hand, those who are entrusted with the responsibility of governing the nations to act without delay, taking all necessary measures for the protection and preservation of natural creation.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and related ecumenical bodies have adopted a “Time for Creation” as an emphasis in the church year, running from the beginning of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical year on 1 September to the feast-day of Saint Francis of Assisi observed by the Roman Catholic Church on 4 October. This initiative arose directly from the Ecumenical Patriarch’s 1989 encyclical.
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A message focusing on the theme “Ora et labora”, meaning “pray and work”, was shared by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, at the 75th anniversary of the Taizé Community, commemorating the life of the community’s founder Brother Roger.

Tveit addressed the event titled “New Solidarity”, held on 16 August in Burgundy, France.

Founded in 1940, Taizé is an ecumenical monastic order centred in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, France, which brings together young people from around the world for reflection, prayer and community living.

The WCC general secretary called the anniversary commemoration a “poignant moment”: “Taizé is a village, it is a religious community, but more than that it is a spiritual home – a precious station on life’s journey and a meeting point with others together on the way,” said Tveit.
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A message focusing on the theme “Ora et labora”, meaning “pray and work”, was shared by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, at the 75th anniversary of the Taizé Community, commemorating the life of the community’s founder Brother Roger.

Tveit addressed the event titled “New Solidarity”, held on 16 August in Burgundy, France.

Founded in 1940, Taizé is an ecumenical monastic order centred in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, France, which brings together young people from around the world for reflection, prayer and community living.
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An historic vote in Canada has set the stage for close cooperation between two North American churches.

The General Council of the United Church of Canada, meeting at Corner Brook in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, voted unanimously on 13 August to adopt a proposal for “Full Communion” with the United Church of Christ in the United States. This is the first time such a proposal has been adopted by the Canadian church. The announcement of the result of the vote was greeted with a standing ovation.

The term “Full Communion” is used for formal agreements between churches that acknowledge they share a common vision of Christian mission and agree to engage in joint ministry and to call one another’s ministers as pastors.

Prior to voting, General Council delegates were shown a video of members of the General Synod of the United Church of Christ singing the national anthem of Canada to celebrate their unanimous vote in support of the proposal at the Synod’s meeting in Cleveland in June 2015. In response, General Council members rose spontaneously to sing the American national anthem.

The agreement between the United Church of Christ and the United Church of Canada will take effect in October 2015 at a celebration in the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada on the border with the United States. A joint worship service and a time of fellowship will mark the event.

Both churches are members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).
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During the week of 22 June 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches will be celebrated by the church leaders. A public event to mark the anniversary will be held at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome, Italy on 23 June.

One of the ecumenical legacies of improved relations among churches growing from the Second Vatican Council, the JWG has been instrumental since 1965 in coordinating activities of the WCC, its member churches, related ecumenical bodies and the Catholic commissions and councils engaged in theological discourse and common action throughout the world.

The working group has met regularly over the past half-century and has published reports of its activities. The JWG is co-moderated by Metropolitan and Archbishop Nifon of Targoviste from the Romanian Orthodox Church, a member of the WCC central and executive committees, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of the Catholic Church.

Over the past 50 years, Roman Catholics have become full members of the Faith and Order Commission coordinated by the WCC, provided staff in the WCC areas of evangelization and theological education and sent observer delegations to participate in WCC assemblies and other major conferences. Reciprocal arrangements have been implemented, with active Orthodox and Protestant participation in Catholic forums.

From 1968 through 1983, the WCC and Roman Catholic Church experimented with common social policies and service ministries within a commission on society, development and peace (SODEPAX). In 2011, the WCC, Roman Catholic Pontifical Council on Inter-religious Dialogue and the World Evangelical Alliance jointly published landmark recommendations on the writing of churches’ guidelines on mission and evangelization, Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World.
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Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, professor of ecumenical theology at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland and acting director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, has been confirmed as the new Faith and Order director. He has been appointed by the executive committee of the WCC, at their meeting in Armenia 8-12 June, on the recommendation of the general secretary, supported by the clear and unanimous recommendation from a search panel representing the Faith and Order Commission and senior staff of the WCC. A pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, Odair Mateus has worked for the World Alliance of Reformed Churches where he run its bilateral ecumenical dialogues and edited its quarterly journal. He has served both the Faith and Order secretariat in Geneva and the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey since 2007. The director’s position fell open after the Rev. Canon Dr John Gibaut left Geneva for London in early 2015 to become director for Unity, Faith and Order of the world-wide Anglican Communion. Mateus has been supervising the work of Faith and Order office as acting director.
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Thousands of people are planning to embark on a pilgrimage of climate justice – either on foot or on bicycles – in many parts of the world. These faithful pilgrims, rooted in their religious beliefs, want to express solidarity with those affected by climate change – urging world leaders to produce a legally binding and universal agreement on the climate at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. These pilgrims, mostly from Europe and Africa, are mobilized by Christian organizations representing members of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Some will end their journey in Paris, uniting their voices with other faith actors at the COP 21 to be held from 30 November to 11 December 2015. “Paris is a milestone in our pilgrimage of climate justice,” said Dr Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive for Care for Creation and Climate Justice. “Yet Paris is not a destination. As people of faith, expected to offer a moral compass to climate dialogue, we need to strategize for 2016 and beyond,” he said.
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In the light of current global realities, representatives of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) met from 20 to 21 January at the Chateau of Bossey, Switzerland to explore and discuss possible areas of future cooperation. The meeting featured introductions to the work of the WEA and the WCC, and participants reflected together on current developments in society and churches, and in evangelical and ecumenical movements. They shared current plans and discussed possibilities for closer collaboration. Stressing the significance of being Christian witnesses, the meeting participants also identified various ways of responding together to the needs of communities around the world. Together the participants read the Scriptures and reflected on similar and different understandings of mission and evangelism. They prayed together and shared stories of faith. Recognizing the importance of a joint response to a suffering world, the participants agreed to continue to meet in order to identify further areas of possible cooperation.
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has welcomed publication of an open letter by a group of 126 Muslim scholars to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (IS) and his followers.

The letter, issued on 24 September, condemns actions of the IS from an Islamic religious perspective.

“The meticulous, detailed and scholarly rebuttal of the claims of the IS to represent authentic Islam offered by this letter will be an important resource for Muslim leaders who seek to enable people of all religions to live together with dignity, respecting our common humanity.”

“I am especially concerned at present for the safety and flourishing of Christian communities in the Middle East, as well as in other continents. This document is a significant contribution to how we together as people and leaders from our faith perspective and address threats to our one humanity,” Tveit said.

“We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our key Muslim friends and partners, a number of whom are signatories of this letter, to work together with them for peace and justice throughout the Middle East and in other parts of the world,” Tveit concluded.

• Full text of the letter from the Muslim scholars

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Scattered throughout the recent history of Indigenous Peoples are national treaties, declarations and laws that languish in obscurity or are brushed aside and ignored. Adding insult to injury, when many national and local churches attempt to speak out about the denial of rights of Indigenous Peoples they are told by governments that the church has no place in politics, effectively being seen but not heard. Yet a new “outcome document” of the United Nations World Conference on Indigenous Peoples is about to turn that perspective on its head. The world’s governments are now inviting churches and other civil society groups to be seen and heard when it comes to advocating for Indigenous Peoples’ human rights. For ecumenical representatives of indigenous faith communities who attended the UN conference, held in New York on 22 and 23 September, and other side events, the six-page outcome document is significantly lending motivation and teeth to a movement that has sought to secure the rights of Indigenous People’s around the world. The document was agreed upon by all UN member states on Monday, 22 September, and reinforces the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), effectively turning a page where governments are concerned.
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As hundreds of thousands of people flooded through the streets of New York City on 21 September in a march for action on climate change, 30 faith leaders representing nine religions signed their names to a statement calling for concrete actions to curb carbon emissions. The document was the centrepiece of an interfaith conference jointly hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), a body that includes 345 churches representing about 560 million Christians worldwide, and Religions for Peace, an interfaith coalition with members in more than 70 countries. Signatories hailed from 21 countries on six continents. “When in January I listened to the general secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, calling the world’s heads of state for a summit on climate change, I thought we also have to get together as leaders of faith communities to offer our contributions,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fkyse Tveit, the WCC general secretary. Large changes require “deep and strong conviction” which, he said, can be found in the “beliefs, rituals, symbols, sacred texts and prayers of faith [that] give meaning and direction for a large portion of the world’s population.”
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Continuing with a long-time commitment of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a recent statement issued by Council’s chief governing body reaffirms churches’ “solidarity with those working for peace with justice in Palestine and Israel”. The statement encourages churches to make responsible decisions regarding their investments which have an impact on the current situation in the region.

The statement titled Economic Measures and Christian Responsibility towards Israel and Palestine was adopted at the WCC Central Committee meeting on 8 July in Geneva, Switzerland.

The document calls “targeted economic measures” an important “non-violent strategy for promoting peace and abating violence”. Efforts from the WCC member churches in implementing responsible economic measures with related impact on Israel and Palestine situation were acknowledged in the statement.
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Addressing the urgency of witnessing to the gospel in current ecumenical and multi-religious situations, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will develop materials to assist churches engaged in both ecumenical dialogue and inter-religious dialogue.

Ecumenical dialogue is about conversations between different Christian churches while inter-religious dialogue is concerned with the conversations between different world religions.

The agreement to produce these materials were an outcome of vigorous conversations in a recent meeting, organized by the WCC’s Commission on Faith and Order and the WCC’s programme for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, from 12 to14 May at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland.

Questions related to the relationship between ecumenical and inter-religious dialogues, their commonalities and distinctive features, were in focus at the meeting.
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More than 400 representatives of German ecumenical groups attending an assembly in Mainz, Germany have affirmed their commitment to move forward in a “pilgrimage of justice and peace” – a call from the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Busan assembly. The ecumenical assembly in Mainz, held from 30 April to 4 May, addressed the theme “The future we desire – Life not destruction”. The event was organized by a network of ecumenical groups in Germany, encouraging actions from the churches inspired by the call for a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”. Featuring vibrant discussions on political, social, economic and ecological issues, as well as theological reflections, the Mainz assembly focused on themes such as “earth as our home”, ecumenical spirituality, economy of life, climate justice and “just peace”. The sessions at the assembly were attended by local visitors along with the registered participants. Some 151 workshops were organized at the assembly addressing a number of themes, including seminars on transformative spirituality.
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In an ecumenical harvest, a spate of European and North American church bodies are entering agreements recognizing each other’s baptisms. On the day after Easter, a day on which many Christian traditions receive catechumens through the rite of baptism, the Swiss churches (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Methodist, Old Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran) will sign an agreement on the mutual recognition of baptism. The signing ceremony, the culmination of an intense ecumenical interchange sponsored by the Council of Christian Churches in Switzerland, will take place in Riva San Vitale, Ticino, site of the oldest Christian building in Switzerland. Among the many divisive historical issues about baptism have been the essential elements of the rite and its sacramental character, the baptismal formula, the validity of infant baptisms, and the question of rebaptism.
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The Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium recently delivered by Pope Francis concerning the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world has stirred interest and appreciation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) as a challenging and inviting document.

“The Apostolic Exhortation is more than simply conveying the message of the Synod on evangelization, but addresses the need for the renewal of the church at all levels from the perspective of the call to be a missional church,” WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said.

“The tone of the document is open and both challenging and inviting,” he added. “It is really inspiring to read as we now try to implement the mandate from our recent assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea. It provides an inspiring interaction between ecclesiological reflections, missionary perspectives and concerns about economic, ecological justice and peace building as significant missionary dimensions of the church.”

“At the recent WCC 10th assembly in Busan we too highlighted the need for the renewal of the church both through a new mission statement that speaks of mission being from the margins of society, and the movement of the church and ecumenical movement toward justice and peace,” Tveit said.

Tveit added that he sees parallels between the “pilgrimage of justice and peace” the WCC fellowship of 345 member churches will be embarking on, especially now after the November assembly and the reflections of Pope Francis.

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The 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) opened on Wednesday, 30 October in Busan, Republic of Korea under the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”

The opening service of common prayer on the first day of the assembly honoured diverse faith traditions from around the world. The gathering prayer included deeply moving litanies of lamentations, cries and hopes from the churches in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the Pacific.

The first plenary session of the assembly welcomed delegates and participants to Busan. The mayor of Busan, Hur Nam Sik, moderator of the Korean Host Committee of the WCC assembly the Rev. Dr Kim Sam Whan and the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit welcomed all the assembly participants.

Tveit expressed thanks to the Korean churches, the city of Busan and the government for their gracious hospitality and welcome. Tveit addressed participants of the assembly which includes some 3000 participants representing 345 member churches of the WCC, including youth, WCC staff members, stewards, co-opted staff, interpreters and more than 1,000 Korean church members and day visitors. All these participants represent more than 100 countries.
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The 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) begins at the end of October and promises to be one of the most diverse gathering of Christians in the world.

The assembly will be an opportunity for renewing the worldwide ecumenical movement – infusing it with honesty, humility and hope, according to the WCC general secretary.

As to why this is the case, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, and a Lutheran pastor from the Church of Norway says, it is “through humility, honesty and hope that we can live together as humanity and a Church in a world, where justice and peace are fundamental initiatives and not merely words.”

The theme of the WCC assembly is a prayer “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”.

The assembly will take place from 30 October to 8 November in Busan, Republic of Korea.

It will bring around 3,000 participants from Asia, Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East, North America and Latin America, including a large number of young people and several thousand Korean Christians.
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In an ecumenical celebration at the cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary preached on the theme of the WCC’s upcoming Busan assembly. He encouraged churches to continue their journeys towards justice and peace.

Held on 1 September, the celebration was organized by the Council of Christian Churches in Switzerland, the Community of Christian Churches in the canton of Vaud (CECCV) and the WCC. Speakers also included officials of the Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic communions.

The event celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Community of Christian Churches in the canton of Vaud as well as ecumenical work of the Swiss churches spanning many years.

The celebration gathered more than a hundred representatives of Swiss churches of diverse denominations, including Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical and Pentecostal, as well as members of international ecumenical organizations based in Geneva.

Special prayers were offered for the Swiss delegates to the WCC assembly.

The 10th Assembly of the WCC will take place from 30 October to 8 November in Busan, Republic of Korea. The assembly will address the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary, called the Busan assembly “a pilgrimage of justice and peace”.
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À l’occasion d’une célébration œcuménique à la cathédrale de Lausanne (Suisse), le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, secrétaire général du Conseil œcConseil œcuménique des Églisess=’c2c-text-hover’ title=’Conseil œcuméniques des églises’>COE), a dit une prédication sur le thème de la prochaine assemblée du COE à Busan. Il a encouragé les Églises à poursuivre leur cheminement vers la justice et la paix.

Tenue le 1er septembre, la célébration était organisée par la Communauté de travail des Églises chrétiennes en Suisse, la Communauté des Églises chrétiennes dans le canton de Vaud (CECCV) et le COE. Parmi les intervenants figuraient aussi des représentants officiels des communions anglicane, orthodoxe et catholique romaine.

L’événement célébrait le 10e anniversaire de la Communauté d’Églises chrétiennes dans le canton de Vaud, ainsi que les nombreuses années d’action œcuménique des Églises de Suisse.

La célébration a réuni plus d’une centaine de représentants d’Églises suisses de confessions diverses, notamment catholique, orthodoxe, protestante, évangélique et pentecôtiste, ainsi que des membres d’organisations œcuméniques internationales installées à Genève.
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Pentecostals and Charismatics are among the fastest growing Christian groups in the world. The question is to what extent the Pentecostals understand themselves as a church or a movement. This existential and ecclesiological issue remains ambiguous.

These views were shared by Dr Tamara Grdzelidze at the second Empowered21 (E21) Global Scholars Consultation, held from 8 to 10 July in Sydney, Australia.

Grdzelidze, programme executive for the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches, participated in the consultation as an observer, along with Prof. Neil Ormerod of the Roman Catholic Church.

The consultation gathered Pentecostal scholars, mostly from Asia, to reflect on ecclesial, sociological, theological and academic challenges that “Spirit-empowered” Christianity faces in the 21st century.

The group of Pentecostal and Charismatic scholars are preparing for the Empowered21 Global Congress, set to take place at Jerusalem in 2015.
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Faith can be a powerful ally in addressing issues of social justice, said Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. He called faith a bearer of unique perspectives on eradicating poverty, balancing amidst globalization, combating fundamentalism, racism, and developing religious tolerance during conflicts.

Bartholomew I was interviewed for Independent Balkan News Agency on 1 July, speaking on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a founding member of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“It is precisely the role of religion to respond to the needs of the world’s poor as well as to vulnerable and marginalized people. In fact, it is a rare instance where a faith institution is not a defining marker of the space and character of a community,” he said.
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The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, on 3 June spoke to a United Nations conference in Geneva, where he addressed “the role of religion in the search for justice and peace.”

The conference at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, was called by UN Geneva director general Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in search of “a comprehensive framework” or new paradigm for UN work with its partners in the areas of global economy, ecology, education, health, security, and governance.

Calling for “an open, proper, critical and constructive reflection on the role of religion in our work for justice and peace and in our local and global life together,” Tveit urged the international community to grapple more deeply with religion. “It must go beyond discussions about ‘misuse’ of religion,” he said.

“It must also include a self-critical reflection on what our religions are teaching and representing today.”
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Asserting that “We are in danger of losing what the ecumenical spirit is all about,” historical theologian and longtime ecumenical activist Keith Clements argued on 28 May at a presentation in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva that people and churches need to rediscover the essential “ecumenical dynamic” at the heart of the movement.

“There is a need… to restore the word ecumenical to proper and positive use… The story, past and to the present, needs to be told,” he has written.

At once critical and encouraging, Clements complained that often “an obsession with identity today,” evident in resurgent confessionalism, ethnocentrism and nationalism, leaves people less willing “to step outside their home, their tradition and inhabit another’s tradition,” meet each other’s needs and serve the larger good.
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An upcoming World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Bangkok will attempt a distinctive mode of inter-religious dialogue.

In collaboration with the Christian Conference of Asia and organized by the WCC unit on Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation an “interface” of 25 Buddhists and Christians will take place 27 to 31 May in Bangkok, Thailand, and center on themes of life, justice and peace, central elements in the WCC 10th Assembly theme.

“Today’s multi-religious environment does not just provide Christians with the ‘context for’ engaging in the pursuit of life, justice and peace; rather it opens the possibility of ‘collaboration with’ people from other faiths who are already engaged in such pursuits,” said Peniel Rajkumar, programme executive in the WCC’s inter-religious dialogue unit.
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Two member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from Reformed and Lutheran traditions have united to become the United Protestant Church of France (L’Église Protestante Unie de France). The merger of the Reformed Church of France (L’Église Réformée de France) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France (L’Église Évangélique Luthérienne de France) was celebrated at a joint national synod from 8 to 12 May in Lyon, France. The synod adopted revised texts for the constitution and rules of the new church. The revisions reflect inputs gathered from parishes in 2011. Public education and a communication campaign have been accompanying the merger process. WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, who attended the celebration in Lyon, praised the efforts of both churches in creating one transformative structure. He said that this undertaking “reminds us that the unity to which we are called in Christ can be hard work as well as joyful. For many of us in places far away from France your union gives hope that our own work may also bear fruit.”
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Emilio Castro, 85, pastor, ecumenist, and missionary statesman, April 6, 2013, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Castro grew up in Montevideo and studied at the theological faculty in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before serving Methodist congregations in Uruguay and Bolivia. In the 1960s he participated in ecumenical activities that paved the way for the formation of the Latin American Council of Churches in 1979. During the severe political and social unrest of the 1970s, he was involved in fostering dialogue between political groupings. Castro joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) as director of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism in 1973, and then from 1985 to 1992 he served as general secretary of the WCC and was editor of the Ecumenical Review. Castro received a doctorate from the University of Lausanne in 1984. His publications include Freedom in Mission: The Perspective of the Kingdom of God–an Ecumenical Inquiry (1985), When We Pray Together (1989), and, in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, “Liberation, Development, and Evangelism: Must We Choose Mission?” (2, no. 3 [1978]: 87-90), and part I of “Mission in the 1990s” (14, no. 4 [1990]: 146-49).
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