News and stories

The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee today condemned extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and called on the government of the Philippines to disband "death squads", private militias and paramilitary forces operating with impunity in the country.

The main points of focus for the 2007 Decade to Overcome Violence focus on Europe will be migration and working on a theology of a just peace.

"Praying for peace is an essential part of Christian worship and, indeed, of human existence," says World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia about the International Day of Prayer for Peace, to be celebrated on 21 September 2006.

"Why such awful destruction?" was the question heard over and over again by members of an ecumenical pastoral delegation in relation to Israel's attacks on Lebanon. Entrusted by the WCC, the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) with the mission of expressing global ecumenical solidarity with churches and people affected by the conflict in the...

Entrusted with the mission of expressing global ecumenical solidarity with churches and people affected by the current conflict in the Middle East, a three-member ecumenical pastoral delegation composed of representatives of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the Catholic Bishops' Conference of France, and the World Council of Churches (WCC) today left Cyprus by boat en route for Beirut.

A joint appeal signed today by the leaders of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) calls "upon Israel and Hezbullah to end the fighting in Lebanon" and "upon the United States, the European Union, and the Arab States to exercise their influence toward this end". It also calls "upon the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority,...

An appeal to "do whatever is possible to stop the bombings, negotiate a cease-fire and a comprehensive peace settlement" has been addressed today by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia to "the leaders of the international community, especially to those from the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom".

The new wave of violence in the Middle East is a cause for alarm around the world, and all sides should cease the violent confrontation and ensure the protection of civilians, the World Council of Churches (WCC) appealed today.

The churches' understanding of, and response to, two critical contemporary issues - justice and violence, and to the complex relationship between them - is often limited. Justice can be narrowly understood in legal or traditional retributive terms; whereas violence can merely be seen as the outcome of personal sin. But as churches increasingly see their role as peacemakers in a conflict-torn world, where religion itself is misused and abused to...

On behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which has a two-decades-long record of supporting the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, its general secretary Rev. Dr Sam Kobia, today wrote to WCC member churches and the national council of churches in South Korea condemning the test launching of seven missiles, including the long-range Daepodong- missile 2, by the People's Republic of Korea on 4 July 2006.