“One in every eight persons you meet at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly is likely to be a Lutheran,” said The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt at the opening of a Lutheran confessional meeting at the 11th World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly in Karlsruhe earlier this week.

Lutherans from churches all over the world came together for the meeting to share their joys, concerns, and hopes and reflect on the assembly theme from a perspective of Lutheran churches and theology.
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1st September press conference at the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly drew diverse questions from journalists directed at three panelists who celebrated the earth’s gifts as the Season of Creation opened—but tempered the joy by warning that those gifts will perish if people don’t draw together globally.

Joy Kennedy, moderator of the WCC working group on climate change, offered a very personal perspective on why we should all care about the future. “I’ve been with the WCC climate change working group for many years. I’m a grandmother and I focus on intergenerational justice because climate change is affecting everyone—but more so particularly affecting those who are young and to yet born,” she said. “As a grandmother, I feel we must change our way of living on this planet so we have a survivable future.”
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Opening to the sounds of nature reverberating through the speaker system, World Council of Churches 11th Assembly delegates took part in the first thematic plenary, “The purpose of God’s love in Christ for the whole of creation – reconciliation and unity,” on 1 September, the first day of Season of Creation.

Throughout the session, the image of a cedar tree from the Middle East, embraced and hugged by children from different parts of the world, was present on the main screen. Plenary moderator, Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC central committee, explained how cedar trees are known for their strength and resilience. “They remind us of the bonds of our life over generations,” she said.
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Opening the first business plenary of the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly on 1 September, WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom acknowledged the contributions of three former WCC general secretaries, as well as acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, and general secretary-elect Dr Jerry Pillay.

She acknowledged former general secretaries, Rev. Sam Kobia (Methodist Church of Kenya), Rev. Prof. Dr Konrad Raiser (Evangelical Church in Germany), and Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, presiding bishop of the Church of Norway, referring to them as “stalwarts of the movement,” adding that “we have drawn a lot of knowledge from you in our work.”
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In the midst of the Ecumenical Youth Gathering (EYG), a group of young people from around the world have organized a strike for climate justice.

In the midst of the Ecumenical Youth Gathering (EYG), a group of young people from around the world have organized a strike for climate justice.

“It’s very important for me to raise awareness about climate change,” said Subin Tamang, a 25 year-old from Nepal. “I see the effects in my country.”
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Recalling believers’ mandate to act as stewards and beneficiaries of God’s creation, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly gathered in morning prayer on the first day of September, the Orthodox Day of Prayer for Creation and the start of an ecumenically observed Season of Creation. At the heart of the liturgical action was a combining of vessels of water from each inhabited region of the earth, a “gathering of the waters” reflecting the earliest act of creation in Genesis 1:9.
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September 1 marks the beginning of the Season of Creation, five weeks in the liturgical calendar recognized by the fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and, since 2015, by the Catholic Church. It is an especially religious demonstration of concern for the planet and for threats to the survival of Earth as we know it.

The agenda of WCC assembly events on September 1 also highlights the WCC’s emphasis on Climate Justice. In an interview prior to the Assembly, Rev. Prof Dr Ioan Sauca, WCC acting general secretary, explained that the climate “is a theological issue. God’s plan in Christ was also the reconciliation and healing of the whole creation.”
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Pope Francis, sent greetings to the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly as it opened.

The Pope wished the representatives of the churches at the 31 August to 8 September assembly “a meaningful and fruitful meeting that deepens and strengthens the bonds of communion between the Churches and the ecumenical organizations present.”

The pontiff said in advance greetings that he has a “pastoral interest in the work of the Assembly.”

Pope Francis also noted that the Catholic Church has sent “delegated observers” to WCC assemblies since the WCC 3rd Assembly took place in New Delhi in 1961.
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His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew offered greetings and a pointed message to the delegates and participants at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany.

He began his remarks with the teaching and the belief that “the light of Christ shines more brightly than any darkness in our hearts and in our world,” offering this idea as the underlying premise to the theme of the assembly, that “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

Yet, we have fallen short of this ideal, he suggested. Asking each of us the question, “how can we reconcile our magnificent faith with our manifest failure?”
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As the bells of Karlsruhe, Germany rang out across the city, thousands of Christians gathered on Wednesday, 31 August in the prayer tent at the heart of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Representatives from each of the eight geographical regions in which the WCC is active brought gifts and concerns reflecting their own cultural and historical contexts. The international congregation prayed in thanksgiving to God, adding their expectation for the coming nine days of the Assembly, “We share the hope of meeting each other in the warm embrace of Christ’s love that moves us to reconciliation and unity.”

Solemn observance was interpreted through colour, movement, words, sights and sound drawn from the breadth of the global Christian movement. Ancient liturgical chants, hymns, traditional dance and modern song stirred believers. The opening prayers noted the contemporary setting of this assembly, lamenting, “We share the burden and the pain of this time of the Covid pandemic. We share the burden and the pain of armed conflicts and their consequences in deaths, destruction and forced migration. We share the burden and the pain of the pre-existing plagues of injustice, structural poverty, violence and a creation that suffers. We bring to you the memory of the victims of all these pandemics.”
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The Rev. Mary Chipoka, 37, ordained pastor from Zimbabwe, faces much adversity because of her gender, and because she is deaf.

Back home, Chipoka preaches and teaches in sign language and is an advocate for women in leadership in churches. Though her role is one of teaching and administration, Chipoka wants people to know that she is also a worshiper. Her love for singing is often met with surprise because of her disability. She uses her hands as a voice unto God, often proclaiming through song, “I praise the Lord my Savior for the wonderful gift of life he has given us.”
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The World Council of Churches 11th Assembly began its assembly in the German city of Karlsruhe on 31 August, with Dr Agnes Abuom opening the gathering, her last as moderator.

Abuom, moderator of the WCC central committee, started the session on 31 August, calling for a minute of silence by paying tribute to the late Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, who died on 1 June while he was vice moderator of the central committee.

Abuom has served as moderator since 2013.
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Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests — at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications — welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Indigenous Peoples, the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, the Just Community of Women and Men, and the Ecumenical Youth Gathering were the fora for in-depth analysis and debates on issues challenging the global family of churches represented in the WCC.

All the pre-assembly participants gathered together in a closing session on August 30 to share highlights from the messages each is taking forward to the Assembly.
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As the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly opened on 31 August in Karlsruhe, Germany, WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared a report that touched upon the climate crisis, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and many other challenges in the world.

“In responding to the hardships of our times, we need one another, we depend on one another, and we can advance only if we walk together, not in separation,” he said. “Therefore, I would dare to say that if the WCC did not exist, we would have to invent or reinvent it today.”

Sauca’s report showed the breadth of the WCC’s work related to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, the climate crisis, racial justice, the wounds caused by the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in the world, and advancing human rights in the Holy Land.
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World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Dr Agnes Abuom called on assembly delegates to “let Christ’s love move us,” as she delivered her opening report at the WCC 11th Assembly on August 3st.

Abuom reflected on the challenges facing members since the last assembly eight years ago and shared her hopes for this assembly. “At its best, the assembly is a spiritual celebration of the power of God’s love to renew our minds and hearts so that we may become a countercultural force driven by solidarity with the most vulnerable people and God’s creation,” she said.

“Listen carefully to youth among us,” urged Abuom, noting that many young people are anxiously struggling as they voice their fears about justice, peace, and the future of the planet. “They are the generation that is experiencing the first catastrophes of climate crisis and the last generation that can take any action to stop global warming.”
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“Although many of you are asking us to expel the delegation of the Russian Church, we have decided that the World Council of Churches is a free space for dialogue, and we need to find a way for them to agree, not disagree.”

The above was stated at the inaugural press conference for the 11th session of the World Council of Churches held in Karlsruhe, Germany, by the General Secretary of WCC, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Saucă.

As Saucă pointed out, the war between Russia and Ukraine is a “shadow” over the conference.
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For the first time in more than 50 years, the Assembly of the World Council of Churches is convening in Europe again. It is therefore both an honour and a delight for me as Federal President to extend a warm welcome, also on behalf of our country, to all of you who have travelled from all corners of the globe to come to Germany.

This is the first time that the World Council of Churches is meeting in Germany. We are most grateful that you have accepted the invitation to come here and hope that we will be good hosts. This event is intended to be a celebration of faith, of interaction, of exchange. It is rare for us to host guests who are so different but who are nonetheless connected by a deep sense of unity. A very warm welcome to you all!
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An opening press conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly was held on 31 August as the assembly began in Karlsruhe, Germany. Hundreds of media representatives were present both in person and online to listen to and interact with a panel comprised of WCC leadership and local hosts.

Among the panellists for the press conference were Dr Agnes Abuom,  moderator of the WCC  central committee; H.E. Metropolitan Prof. Dr Nifon of Targoviste, vice moderator of the WCC central committee; Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, vice  moderator of the WCC central committee, WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca; Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber, Evangelical Church in Germany, moderator of the local host committee; Bishop Prof. Dr Heike Springhart, Protestant Church in Baden, moderator of the local host committee; and Dr Frank Mentrup, mayor of Karlsruhe.
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During the World Council of Churches (WCC) Indigenous People’s Pre-Assembly, Prof. Anne Pattel-Gray shared the reflections below.

What spoke to you during this pre-assembly?

Prof. Pattel-Gray: The importance of recognising Indigenous people speaks to the integrity of the WCC to ensure a continuing platform for the voices of First Nations People—to not only be heard but to also participate, and to have the opportunity to share our theological views and social-political struggles with each other.
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At the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe Germany, Jackcilia Salathiel Ebere will be carrying the voices of women from South Sudan who are crying for peace and justice.

Ebere is the national women coordinator at the South Sudan Council of Churches, an ecumenical grouping of seven member churches and associate churches, including the Roman Catholic, Episcopal (Anglican) and Presbyterian churches.

Ebere, a human rights lawyer, stresses in an interview that women are the victims in the country’s civil war, interethnic violence, and widespread insecurity.
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As participants in the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) gathered at Amsterdam during August 1948, the Netherlands bore witness to the violence of the Second World War. The port of Rotterdam was rising from near destruction. Many other cities, towns and villages across Europe were struggling to recover. To the east, Germany and Austria were divided into zones of occupation administered by the Allied Powers. Two months earlier, tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western occupiers of the former German capital led to the start of the Berlin Airlift. Since 1945, publications had been increasing their use of the term “Cold War”.
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Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay was elected as the new general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

He is the eighth general secretary in the WCC’s history since the fellowship of churches was founded in 1948.

Pillay is currently dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria. A member of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, he is from South Africa.

Pillay was one of two candidates standing for election to the WCC’s highest administrative post. The other candidate was Dr Elizabeth Joy. Pillay will replace outgoing acting general secretary Rev. Prof Dr Ioan Sauca, who began serving in that position in April 2020, when the previous general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, was appointed as the presiding bishop of the Church of Norway.
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Le pasteur Jerry Pillay a été élu secrétaire général du ConseiConseil œcuménique des Églisesclass=’c2c-text-hover’ title=’Conseil oecuméniques des églises’>COE).

Il est le huitième secrétaire général de l’histoire du COE depuis la création de la communauté fraternelle d’Églises en 1948.

Le pasteur Pillay exerce actuellement les fonctions de doyen de la Faculté de théologie et de religion de l’Université de Pretoria. Originaire d’Afrique du Sud, il est membre de l’Église presbytérienne unifiante d’Afrique australe.

Le pasteur Pillay était l’un des deux finalistes à l’élection aux plus hautes fonctions administratives du COE, pour laquelle il était opposé à Mme Elizabeth Joy. Il remplacera le secrétaire général par intérim sortant, le père Ioan Sauca, qui était entré en fonctions en avril 2020, lorsque le secrétaire général précédent, le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, avait été nommé primat de l’Église de Norvège.
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The joint publication, “Called to Transformation – Ecumenical Diakonia,” available online from now on, offers resources to strengthen the diaconal capacity of the churches and to advance the cooperation with specialized ministries.

“Writing of this document was a recommendation of the Malawi consultation in September 2014, when churches and specialized ministries’ representatives from all the continents gathered to reflect on the work they are supposed to do together,” said Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary, presenting the publication.

Besides adding the geographic and confessional contexts of practicing diakonia, the study document also addresses the diaconal response to COVID-19 pandemic, including examples of diaconal ministry from every continent.

“With this publication, we now have a common understanding on diakonia – and that should take churches and their partners toward the next level of ecumenical cooperation in diakonia,” said Phiri, adding that after receiving the document in 2022, the WCC central committee has recommended that churches and specialized ministries all over the world use it.
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As the World Council of Churches’ first substantial digital publication and its largest free collection, the Faith and Order Papers open a new frontier for scholars, ecumenists, and anyone interested in traversing the twists and turns of the path towards Christian unity.

“This is a digital library of more than one century of ecumenical theology,” explained Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, WCC interim deputy general secretary and director of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. “By ‘ecumenical theology,’ I mean theology focused on overcoming divisions among Christian churches.”

In fact, Pedroso Mateus added, it’s a library of ecumenical theology “in the making” because it documents not only the theological results of studies and conferences, but also the processes whereby studies of conferences were conceived, implemented and concluded.
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The [Anglican] Church in Wales has called on the World Council of Churches (WCC) to distance itself from any members which have shown support for Russia’s “unprovoked war of aggression” in Ukraine, namely the Russian Orthodox Church.

An emergency motion passed unanimously last month at the Church in Wales’ Governing Body in Newport last week urged the WCC to stand with the oppressed and work for peace, and to take “clear and appropriate action” against any member which supported the war.
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Global religious leaders and leading scientists issued a joint statement on 4 October calling on the international community to raise their ambition and step up their climate action ahead of COP26.

Almost 40 faith leaders signed the joint appeal, which was presented by Pope Francis.

Signatories included World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, along with representatives from across the Christian denominations, Sunni and Shi’a Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism.

The appeal calls for the world to achieve net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible, and to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) met on 25 August in Geneva to explore and discuss possible areas of future cooperation.

The two organizations shared current plans and discussed possibilities for closer collaboration on thematic areas such as advocacy and peace building, the climate emergency, and membership matters.

The WEA is a network of churches in 143 nations that have joined to give a worldwide identity, voice and platform to more than 600 million evangelical Christians.

The WEA has six programmatic departments: Global Advocacy, Global Theology, Global Witness, Alliance Engagement, Church Engagement, and Public Engagement.
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A collection of documents and publications from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is now available through its longstanding partner organization Globethics.net. The WCC collection, updated weekly, reflects a growing and longstanding electronic bridge between the organizations’ websites.

For many years, the Globethics.net Library has hosted a variety of collections on behalf of the WCC, an active member of the Globethics.net Consortium on Ethics in Higher Education, as well as co-founder of the former Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism (GlobeTheoLib).

The institutional “World Council of Churches collection” has recently been updated with new content collected from its website, including documents and publications published at www.oikoumene.org/resources. Thanks to an electronic bridge between the two sites, new resources are automatically added to the collection on a weekly basis.
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) have released a joint document, “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19 and Beyond.” Its purpose is to encourage churches and Christian organizations to reflect on the importance of interreligious solidarity in a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document offers a Christian basis for interreligious solidarity that can inspire and confirm the impulse to serve a world wounded not only by COVID-19 but also by many other wounds.

The publication is also designed to be useful to practitioners of other religions, who have already responded to COVID-19 with similar thoughts based on their own traditions.

The document recognizes the current context of the pandemic as a time for discovering new forms of solidarity for rethinking the post-COVID-19 world. Comprised of five sections, the document reflects on the nature of a solidarity sustained by hope and offers a Christian basis for interreligious solidarity, a few key principles and a set of recommendations on how reflection on solidarity can be translated into concrete and credible action.
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“Doctrine divides, service unites!”

This was a slogan heard regularly in the early ecumenical movement of the 20th century. The polemics of the Reformation and intervening years had left their toll. For ecumenically-minded Christians, the way forward was not through doctrinal debate but working together in care for the poor, orphans, widows, and prisoners. The earliest ecumenical stirrings led to the World Conference on Evangelism in 1910 where the great mission agencies agreed to coordinate their work in world mission. In 1925, the same year that the United Church of Canada was formed as a union of the Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches in Canada as a commitment to the Social Gospel, the “World Conference on Life and Work” in Stockholm gathered churches to work towards further unity in both the life of the churches and in Christ’s work. This stood in some contrast to the 1927 “World Conference on Faith and Order” which was committed to the unity of the church based on a common faith and a reconciled church order.

The division within the ecumenical movement between these three streams – Evangelism, Life and Work, and Faith and Order – continually threatens the faithfulness of this enterprise. In 1952, the newly-formed World Council of Churches (WCC) asked the churches “whether they should not act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately?”
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Working for Christian unity and engaging in formal theological dialogues to promote it obviously raises questions about what the nature and mission of the church is. In a project that took two decades of work by Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, Catholic and Pentecostal theologians, the World Council of Churches in 2013 published a document summarizing the points of greatest consensus. In late October, the Vatican gave the WCC its formal response to the document, which was called “The Church: Towards a Common Vision.”

The response, coordinated by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and posted on its website, included input from Catholic theologians from around the world, bishops’ conferences and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What is meant by “church” is a key ecumenical question as Christians work and pray for the unity Jesus wanted his followers to have, the Catholic response said. Or, as the WCC document said, “agreement on ecclesiology has long been identified as the most elemental theological objective in the quest for Christian unity.”
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC ) have met formally on 25-27 June in Paris.

This meeting, under the theme “The normalization of hatred: challenges for Jews and Christians today,” took place at a time of challenges both to religious life in general and to each of our communities in their various contexts,” reads a communique released by the two groups.

“Among the issues that informed this gathering were: the rise of xenophobic nationalist movements in much of the world; suspicion of the agendas of religious communities and institutions, especially in Europe; the resurgence of overt antisemitism; the prevalence of Islamophobia; newly emerging anti-Christian attitudes; the continuing non-resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; worldwide hostility to vulnerable minorities; and the shocking erosion of civil society in many places and ways.” reads the communique. “We are particularly horrified by the recent increase in murderous attacks on places of worship in different parts of the world.”
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At a conference with the theme “Promoting Peace Together” held in Geneva on 21 May, religious leaders focused on two historic documents related to peace-making. The first, “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” was jointly signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi in February. The second, “Education for Peace in a Multi-Religious World: A Christian Perspective,” jointly prepared by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Council of Churches (WCC), was officially launched at the conference.

Anne Glynn-Mackoul, moderator of the opening session and a WCC Executive Committee member who represents the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (USA), expressed her appreciation for those gathered who are inspired by a common vision to promote peace together. “Today we will explore together two documents which affirm, each with compelling fervor, the possibility of peace,” she said.

The two documents, Glynn-Mackoul added, “help us, each in its own way, to think of religions not as fortresses to be defended but as wellsprings for the flourishing of all life.”
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Pope Francis has given a strong message about the ecumenical journey during a visit to the World Council of Churches‘ headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In a homily during a prayer service in the Ecumenical Centre, Pope Francis spoke about the journey towards Christian unity and the pitfalls on the way. “For us as Christians, walking together is not a ploy to strengthen our own positions, but an act of obedience to the Lord and love for our world,” he said. “Let us ask the Father to help us walk together all the more resolutely in the ways of the Spirit.

“I wanted to take part personally in the celebrations marking this anniversary of the World Council, not least to reaffirm the commitment of the Catholic Church to the cause of ecumenism and to encourage cooperation with the member churches and with our ecumenical partners.
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Pope Francis will travel to Geneva on June 21st to mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches. The announcement was made on Friday at a press conference in the Vatican by the WCC General Secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit and by Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The WCC was founded in 1948 with a membership of 147 Christian Churches, largely in Europe and North America. Today it brings together 348 members in countries across the globe, including most of the world’s Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well as many United and Independent churches.

Since 1965 the Catholic Church has worked closely together with the WCC through a Joint Working Group, as well as through participation in specific commissions or practical initiatives.
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An address by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, regarding relations between the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (WCC). At a press conference held Friday 2nd March in the Vatican, the WCC General Secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit and Cardinal Kurt Koch announced that Pope Francis will be travelling to Geneva on June 21st to mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches.

The visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva during the year of the 70th Anniversary of the foundation of the World Council of Churches (WCC), will be a sign of recognition of a unique contribution of the WCC to the modern ecumenical movement. It will be an expression of the personal commitment of the Holy Father to the goal of Christian unity as expressed in many occasions. In visiting the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Pope Francis will follow the steps of his two predecessors Paul VI, who visited the WCC in 1969 (10 June), and John Paul II who did the same in 1984 (l2 June). The visit will be an occasion to give thanks to God for a longstanding and rich collaboration which the Catholic Church maintains with the WCC for more than half a century. Indeed, our relations began during the preparation of the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II committed the Catholic Church to the modern ecumenical movement and opened a new page in the history of our relations with the World Council of Churches generating a spirit of rapprochement and mutual understanding. Although the Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, various dicasteries of the Roman Curia and different Catholic organizations or religious communities collaborate closely with its different programmatic areas. There is a sustained collaboration in the field of justice and peace, human rights, works of charity and humanitarian aid, especially regarding migrants and refugees, protection of creation, the youth, interreligious dialogue, mission and evangelism. The most developed is the collaboration between the WCC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), which also takes place through various channels.
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“There is a remarkable change towards acknowledging the role of faith-based communities and their resources to address humanitarian needs,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), during the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), held in Istanbul, Turkey, 23-24 May.

“This is promising for those who need more assistance, and it is promising for the constructive cooperation needed,” he added.

The summit was the first of its kind in the 70-year history of the United Nations. The motivation came from the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, who called for humanity to be placed at the heart of global decision-making.

The framework of the summit was built upon the principle that, in order to deliver for humanity, stakeholders must act on five core responsibilities: preventing and ending conflict; respecting rules of war; leaving no one behind; working differently to end need; and investing in humanity.

The WCC was represented at the WHS by the general secretary Tveit and the council’s representative to the United Nations in New York, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, as well as by several member churches, national councils of churches and partner organizations, such as ACT Alliance and its members.
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The leadership and representatives of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) met in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland to explore and discuss possible areas of future cooperation.

The 20 May meeting featured introductions to the work of the WEA and the WCC, and participants reflected together on current developments in society and churches, and on evangelical and ecumenical movements. The WCC general secretary and WEA secretary general took part.

The two organizations shared current plans and discussed possibilities for closer collaboration on thematic areas such as “public witness and peace-building in inter-religious contexts” and “theological reflection, education and formation.”

This was the second meeting with the leadership and representatives, although it was the first meeting with both heads of the organizations present and where perceptions about both the WEA and WCC were discussed.
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Starting preparations for a Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) in the context of the 2018 World Mission Conference in Africa was a tangible result of a meeting of 20 ecumenical educators from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. They met from 22-24 May in Halle (Germany) at the invitation of the World Council of Churches project on Ecumenical Theological Education (WCC-ETE).

Together they discussed ways of networking to enhance ecumenical theological education, which include curriculum development, sharing of learning models and new forms of partnerships between theological institutions and churches.

The meeting was motivated by the need to strengthen ecumenical education so theological institutions do not become more inward-oriented. To make the cooperation concrete, the group agreed to start the process for the formation of a network of ecumenical educators by contributing to preparations for GETI, planned for March 2018 in close collaboration with the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) and the Mission and Evangelism team of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
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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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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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“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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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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