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[World Council of Churches] A new publication from the World Council of Churches Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation brings together the voices and theological reflections of young ecumenists from around the world who attended the 2025 WCC Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI). It brings fresh inputs to the pressing question for the churches today: Where now for visible unity? “GETI 2025: Voices and Visions of Transformative Unity,” edited by Ani Ghazaryan Drissi and the Rev. Teddy Chalwe Sakupapa, was published Oct. 8 during the Ecumenical Education and Formation Commission’s biannual meeting. “The fruits of ecumenical dialogue must take root in the lives of our churches,” Ghazaryan said. “The GETI 2025 message brought this bold challenge to the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order and the wider ecumenical movement: let the unity we confess become the life we share.” Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] Calvary Episcopal Church in Charleston, the oldest historically Black parish in the Diocese of South Carolina, on Oct. 10 will unveil and dedicate an icon altarpiece signifying the church’s ongoing work of racial reconciliation, restorative justice and inclusion in a city that once was central to the transatlantic slave trade. The large icon, designed and created by British Jamaican artist Graeme Mortimer Evelyn, will permanently hang with two of the church’s original stained-glass windows indenting into the top center. Looking up, Jesus stands with his arms raised as stripes of different colors fan out like a sunrise from the middle of his body. “Jesus is making sure that all are welcome, which is symbolized by the various colors, and it shows the availability of everybody to be in communion with hospitality and welcoming,” the Rev. Ricardo Bailey, Calvary’s rector, told Episcopal News Service. “And in the theology of the church, everything leads to the altar. So, by this icon being an altarpiece, it … represents the fact that we sacramentally meet Jesus in the celebration of the Eucharist at the altar, and then we’re also sent forth by the altar to be a blessing.” More than 160 people are expected to attend the worship service dedicating the icon. The service will include readings from Revelation 7:2-4 and 9-14, 1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12a. South Carolina Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley will preside. “To me, this icon signifies both the resurrection of our Lord and the resurrection, the rising of a people who follow Jesus amid such hardship and are not turned around,” Woodliff-Stanley told ENS. “Instead, they are pushing forward and they are moving outward.” Discussions on creating the icon for Calvary began in 2023, when Evelyn gave a presentation on iconography at South Carolina’s diocesan convention. Grace Wingfield, a Calvary parishioner, left the presentation inspired to start a project for her parish. Wingfield served as project coordinator throughout the multi-year process. Reflecting Calvary’s congregation, the icon’s development process symbolically incorporated elements of oral history, which is a crucial pillar of preserving Black history. Parishioners were invited to participate in painting the icon, making it a community project instead of the artist’s sole work. View this post on Instagram It was “a lot of thorough work,” according to Bailey. “As a community working with the parish, the diocese and the local artistic community, we decided to do some research – oral histories and deep dives into the parish’s historical records. From there, we were able to supply the narrative, and the whole idea of this icon came to fruition,” Bailey said. “The end result is expressing the Christian narrative of salvation.” The Calvary icon is the second of Evelyn’s planned series of icons housed in key geographic places in the transatlantic slave trade, which lasted from the early 16th to the late 19th centuries. The first icon was installed in 2011 at St. Stephen’s Church in Bristol, England. The other icons are planned to be installed in Ghana and Barbados. Calvary was chosen as the second site because Charleston, founded as a “slave society,” was the largest slave-trading and auction city in the United States, and it had the highest number of enslaved people in the country. Gadsen’s Wharf was the largest single point of entry for enslaved Africans. Calvary was founded in 1847 as a church for many of those enslaved people, as well as for freed people. “This [icon] image is of moving out into the world with this force of love and resilience and courage and joy and not naively moving out in the face of really unjust systems to nevertheless bring the love of the resurrected Christ into the world,” Woodliff-Stanley said. “That’s a very personal message for the people of Calvary because they … have raised up generations in strength. You can really see it today. Calvary is thriving now, and it has a great future.” Woodliff-Stanley and Bailey work closely with the rectors of Charleston’s two other historically Black Episcopal churches, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. As a coalition called the Three Churches United, Calvary, St. Mark’s and St. Stephen’s have hosted and participated in several events as part of the diocese’s commitment to racial reconciliation and justice work through its Diocesan Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Part of those efforts include regularly hosting “learning day” events to teach the history of the Diocese of South Carolina. “Sharing with our local community, the whole church and the world our story helps ensure that the stories of The Episcopal Church and Calvary are not erased,” Bailey said. “So much has happened here, and we look forward to seeing what God will do in the near and far future.” –Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at [email protected].

United Methodist Men has ended its affiliate relationship with the National Association of Conference Presidents, a fellowship that supports conference men’s ministries. Still, both groups hold out hope for reconciliation.

Grassy Narrows community members and supporters walked from Grange Park to Queen’s Park in Toronto to raise awareness of their ongoing fight for justice over water poisoned by mercury from the Dryden… continue readingcontinue reading

The World Council of Churches is commending the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law. 

World Council of Churches (WCC) commission leaders in Chiang Mai, where those gathered are exploring how are churches called to witness together today, took time to reflect on what it means to re-articulate ecumenical social ethics today, and their hopes for the impact of the conference. 

[Anglican Journal] Worship at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, a historic Anglo-Catholic parish in downtown Toronto, Ontario, invariably provokes one of a few strong reactions from newcomers, according to the parish’s rector, the Rev. Nathan Humphrey. Some people, Humphrey told Anglican Journal, ask him, “Wow, where has this been all my life?” Others who come from Protestant or evangelical backgrounds can have a strong knee-jerk reaction against worship that seems to them “too Catholic,” even “weird” or “idolatrous.” “I don’t think anybody ever comes to the service at St. Thomas’s and has the attitude of ‘meh,’” Humphrey said. “A good Anglo-Catholic parish worth its salt won’t ever result in a ‘meh’ reaction from somebody who comes through the doors, because there’s always a particular identity that it’s conveying.” Read the full article here.

[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally issued the following statement on Oct. 7, the third anniversary of the 2023 attacks. Three years on from the horrific Hamas-led terror attacks of 7 October 2023 in Israel, I pray for all who continue to grieve those who were killed, for those who survived, and for all who still carry the trauma of that terrible day. I pray especially for Jewish people here in Britain and around the world, for whom this anniversary brings grief, trauma and renewed anxiety, and I reaffirm my solidarity with all who have been affected by antisemitism and hatred. Earlier this year I visited the Nova Exhibition in London, and I was profoundly impacted by meeting relatives of people who died or were taken hostage, and hearing the testimonies of those who survived and the life story of each precious person who was killed that day. In the name of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace, let us pray too for all the peoples of the region. May every person – Israeli and Palestinian; Jewish, Muslim and Christian – enjoy the peace, freedom, justice, security and dignity that belong to them as equally beloved children of God. The immense suffering and loss in the Middle East have also been acutely felt by many in this country who are connected to Israel and Palestine by faith, family or heritage. Let us pray for a renewal of trust, solidarity and understanding between Britain’s faith communities, the rejection of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred, and a fresh commitment to loving our neighbours as ourselves.

United Methodists in Masvingo town are counting their losses after a severe hailstorm smashed church properties and members’ homes.

Listening before speaking and walking before leading set the tone for the Joint Conference of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commissions and Reference Groups on Life, Justice, and Peace, taking place in Chiang Mai, Thailand this week.