News and stories

In a 13 January solidarity letter to the churches in Malaysia, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed deep concern and profound sorrow about recent attacks against church buildings in the country following a controversy over the right of Christians to use the term "Allah" to refer to God.

"We are here to let everything begin in the name of Jesus: the New Year and the new decade for the world and for the ecumenical movement; and also the new phase in each of our lives – both individually and for all of us together," the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a sermon at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 January 2010, assuming his office as general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The prayer service was...

This year's Christmas message from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is available in 17 languages reflecting the linguistic diversity of the WCC member churches: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish and Swahili.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has invited the submission of workshop proposals for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) to take place in Jamaica in May 2011. Proposals must be submitted by 31 May 2010.

At an impressive ceremony which brought together a wide spectrum of Palestinian civil society, including church leaders, and over 50 people from every region of the world, Palestinian Christians launched the document popularly referred to as the Kairos Palestine Document.

On the International Day for the Eradication of Violence against Women, 25 November, the World Council of Churches (WCC) announced a series of Lenten study resources for congregations and individuals who want to do their bit to end violence against women.

For nearly four hours, church activists participating in the World Council of Churches' (WCC) United Nations Advocacy Week meetings in New York delved deeply into the tragedies and injustices of the current bloody conflict in Colombia.

"Telling Peace" is a collection of liturgical resources for the four Sundays of Advent. It is the second in a series of collections from different regions of the world, prepared in the framework of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation 2011. This year's resources, including four complete worship orders, liturgical texts and songs, come from Asia. You can listen to the songs and download the tunes and music scores for free from...

Churches and other ecumenical partners of the World Council of Churches (WCC) have received an appeal to "mobilize their members and the public" in resistance to Israel's approval for the construction of 900 new housing units in the Gilo settlement on traditionally Palestinian land in East Jerusalem. The WCC general secretary, the Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, called on organizations related to the Council "to act with resolve, in...

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has asked the United Nations secretary-general to make sure that recommendations of a key report about war crimes committed during the conflict between Israeli and Palestinian armed forces in Gaza at the beginning of 2009 are properly followed up.