News and stories

On a visit to the German Federal Defence Ministry in Berlin on Tuesday evening, members of a delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) asked questions about German arms sales and about whether wars, such as the Iraq war, can ever solve problems.

German churches' experience with the issue of "domestic violence" will play an important role in a Peace Declaration of the World Council of Churches planned for 2011. "The churches have denied the existence of this issue for a long time", said Georges Lemopoulos, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), speaking on Saturday 28 June in Frankfurt.

Zimbabwe's run-off presidential election should be postponed, according to a young leader of the country's Student Christian Movement, who is in Switzerland to request the churches support for addressing the humanitarian crisis in the South African country.

"Living Letters" from member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Burundi, Brazil, Greece and the United States will come to Germany, 27 June - 4 July, for an exchange of experiences in overcoming violence.

Two international ecumenical bodies called on the UN, the South African Development Community and the African Union "to increase [their] efforts to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe". Emergency aid, postponement of the run-off election and the responsibility of the international community to intervene in protection of the people are amongst the main concerns.

Churches around the world will pray for the peoples of the Pacific as an international church initiative against violence focuses attention on the region this year. Pacific churches themselves will pray and reflect together on how best to promote peace in their communities.

Peace and ethics are the two concepts that Baketik, a peace centre established in 2006 in the Basque Country, brings together in its "ethical management of conflicts", a new approach to deal with conflict resolution.

In a letter to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed continued concern about the situation in Zimbabwe and asked the world body to utilize its resources to assure an end to pre-election violence in the southern African country and a free and fair election on 27 June.

In Australia a broad spectrum of church leaders came together to address national public opinion makers on the Israel-Palestine conflict and launch a parish awareness kit. In Scotland a cross-party group in Parliament met with Christian, Jewish and Muslim representatives. In Budapest, Hungary's second largest church sent letters about peace for Israelis and Palestinians to the national and foreign governments. In Norway the foreign minister...

Churches worldwide are being invited to celebrate a day of prayer for Zimbabwe on Sunday, 22 June, as the beginning of a season of prayer for the people and government of the African country, which is facing a critical time.