World Council of Churches

In 1925, archbishop of Sweden Nathan Söderblom, gathered more than 600 church leaders from 37 countries for a historic meeting in Stockholm. A century later, church leaders from around the globe will again convene in the Swedish capital, to commemorate the 1925 meeting and the achievements of the ecumenical movement ever since. 

Yvonne Apiyo Brändle-Amolo, in a keynote speech titled “The Global Persistence of Anti-Black Racism and Role of the Church,” on 19 May, analyzed the enduring issue of anti-Black racism rooted in historical legacies of slavery and colonialism.

Gathering in Nairobi from 28-29 May, religious leaders and people living with and affected by HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria analyzed global events affecting their people. 

Dr Anna Marie Aagaard passed away at the age of 90 on 24 May. She worked for the Faculty of Theology at Aarhus University in Denmark from 1961until her retirement in 2000 as associate professor. Her interests were missiology, dogmatics, and ecumenism, and in the late 1960s she studied in Rome. and was also influenced by liberation theology and women’s studies. 

At a 20th Believers Church Conference, being held June 1-4 in Amsterdam, Rev. Merlyn Hyde Riley, vice moderator of the WCC central committee and general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union, joined in commemorating 500 years of Anabaptist beginnings. 

Prof. Hulisani Ramantswana, a scholar from the University of South Africa, offered a keynote address, “Colonial Dynamics and the Impoverishment of Africa 140 Years after the Berlin Conference,” during an ecumenical gathering, “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision.”

An international conference, “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision,” acknowledged that the deep wounds of colonialism carved 140 years ago are by no means healed—but that churches can reframe relationships in a radical, de-colonial manner. 

On 1 June, at the Berner Münster in Bern, Switzerland, Ecumenical Vespers marked a celebration of joy and unity in faith organized by the Swiss National Council of Churches and the Protestant Church in Switzerland.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order is set for 24-28 October in Alexandria, Egypt around the theme “Where now for visible unity?”

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay brought joyful greetings to the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement. 

An Armenian Heritage Conference has closed with a statement urging coordinated international action to protect Armenian religious and cultural heritage, the human rights of its people, and the future security of the Armenian nation. The conference was hosted by World Council of Churches (WCC) in collaboration with Protestant Church in Switzerland, in Bern, Switzerland on 27-28 May. 

Armenian Christians are under siege with the destruction of religious, cultural, and historical heritage in Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh, and the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Swiss Protestant Churches have pledged to continue fighting for justice in the area.

Leaders of English-speaking churches in Geneva held a prayer vigil on 27 May at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, with money donated going towards supporting the work of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.

As the international community works toward achieving gender equality by 2030, faith leaders are stepping forward to address one of the most overlooked barriers to women's empowerment: menstrual stigma. A joint webinar on 4 June from 15:00-16:30 CEST will explore how religious communities can lead transformative change in making menstruation a normal fact of life globally.

In conjunction with the 78th World Health Assembly, which met in Geneva under the theme “One World, One Health,” the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing, led “listening sessions” on 22-23 May to  observe and analyse the discussions on global health issues.

In the lead-up to the World Council of Churches (WCC) 6th World Conference on Faith and Order, the Faith and Order Commission—together with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Lutheran World Federation—hosted a webinar titled “Bridging East and West: A Joint Statement on Filioque” on 27 May.

Nordic churches—including the those in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Finland—have released statements calling for restoring the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, releasing hostages, delivering food and medicine to Gaza, and ending violence against the Palestinian population of the West Bank.

A webinar on 5 June, entitled “Accompaniment, solidarity and joint action for justice and peace,” will be another milestone of the new World Council of Churches (WCC) campaign, “Stop annexation, end the occupation.”

As the world marked International Biodiversity Day on 22 May with the theme "Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development," religious leaders, Indigenous representatives, and environmental advocates joined forces in a global webinar. The event, organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development Working Group on Biodiversity and Creation Justice in collaboration with the Faiths for Biodiversity Coalition and the Ecumenical Season of Creation team, challenged the dominant worldview driving environmental destruction and proposed faith-based solutions rooted in ecological justice, peace with nature, and respect for all creation.

The latest issue of Current Dialogue, the World Council of Churches (WCC) journal on interreligious relations, focuses on “Reconfiguring Interfaith Work: Lessons from the Field.”