News and stories

Several key leaders of the Christian churches in Iraq met with international church leaders, including members of the WCC Central Committee, in Geneva this week about the ongoing situation in Iraq.

The image of Madagascar was deeply tarnished by the political crisis of 2009. For their part, the churches there have a role in helping to maintain the peace.

“There is no theological reflection that does not take place in God’s vulnerable world and in the midst of the joy and suffering of ordinary people,” said the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in his report to the first meeting of the WCC Central Committee that he has addressed as general secretary.

Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the WCC Central Committee, argued forcefully today that unity as well as justice and peace should be included in the theme for the next assembly of the world’s largest ecumenical body.

Graduate study in peacemaking will be available for academic credit at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, held 17-23 May in Kingston, Jamaica. A course for seminarians and other graduate students will be offered on “Overcoming Violence: An Engagement with the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation”.

The World Council of Churches is hosting an international exhibition of textiles, arpilleras and quilts from 16 February to 18 March at its Geneva headquarters. The curator Roberta Bacic, a former member of Chile’s truth and reconciliation commission, will officially open the exhibition on Wednesday 16 February, the first day of the WCC Central Committee meeting, together , with moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altmann and general secretary Tveit.

The WCC condemns the vicious attack on innocent worshippers in the Saints Church in Alexandria, Egypt when a bomb was detonated at the conclusion of the celebration of a New Year’s midnight mass. As a result, at least 21 people have been killed and more than 80 injured.

The WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, on behalf of the fellowship of WCC member churches and the entire ecumenical family, expresses profound sorrow as well as...

The nativity of Jesus Christ is proclaimed by angelic choirs in the heights of heaven, and the joyous news is echoed afterwards by modest shepherds in fields near Bethlehem. Meanwhile, a mother and father care for their newborn child. No place for this family could be found in the inn, so they shelter among livestock. The circumstances are strikingly humble, yet their infant is the occasion of the angels’ song: “Glory to God in the highest...

Following a vote by the US Senate to ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty as proposed by negotiators representing the governments of the United States and Russia, an affirmation of the treaty was issued by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches. “Such a decision is especially meaningful in what is for Christians the season of peace,” wrote Dr Tveit. He concluded, “The ratification by Russia of the...

Thirty women gathered in Bethlehem on 13-18 December to celebrate the first anniversary of the “Kairos Palestine” document on the quest for peace and human rights in Palestine and Israel. The gathering also reflected theologically on the content of the text. Participants came from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Latin America and Australia.