News and stories

Escalating violence against civilians in Sudan’s disputed South Kordofan State is leading to major humanitarian catastrophe with an estimated 300,000 people besieged, cut off from relief aid, and unable to escape fighting, according to a number of aid agencies and witnesses in the region.

“If we don’t have dreams about what we want to become true, we are not quite realistic,” says the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). “A radical realism in the form of dreams is required to open the space for serious dialogue on the challenges we are facing together.”

Wealth and property shape a “false reading” of human value, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said recently at a Protestant convention in Germany.“Property and possessions have purpose in as much as they help us to live as the people God called us to be and no more,” Tveit said in a Bible study at the German Protestant Kirchentag which met in Dresden 1-5 June.

The experience of the German city of Dresden demonstrates how churches can be witnesses to peace and reconciliation.

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) released a message on Tuesday expressing their unified experience of a week-long exploration of a just peace and to navigate a path forward as they return to their homes and churches across the world.

Making peace, as an integral part of the life of church mission and witness, has not been as common as one might think.

As a 10-year-old schoolgirl, on 6 August 1945, at 8:15 a.m., Setsuko Thurlow, then Nakamura, suddenly saw a brilliant bluish light flash outside her schoolroom window. “I remember the sensation of floating in the air. When I regained consciousness, in the total darkness and silence, I found myself in the rubble.”

A number of workshops led by the Orthodox were presented at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, leading to deep reflection and robust and honest conversations.

The Rev. Joachim Mukambu Ya'Namwisi, who represents both the Church of Christ and the Mennonite Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he has watched churches develop increasing strength when it comes to standing up for basic human rights.

The story starts with Peter. Not biblical Peter, just a kid named Peter who's a little bit overweight, who has bumps on his face, and, oh, yeah – sometimes, he doesn't smell very good.