World Council of Churches

Dr Nora Bayrakdarian, current vice moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, and former member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, has been appointed Minister of Youth and Sports in the Lebanese Republic; and Dr Tarek Mitri, former WCC staff, has been appointed deputy prime minister.

On 8 February, the St Thomas Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Chunakkara, India, celebrated its 125th anniversary, marking a long history of spiritual service and community involvement.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay will visit India from 8-14 February to attend the largest annual Christian gathering in Asia, as well as meet with the National Council of Churches in India.

On Valentine’s Day—celebrated 14 February in many countries—the World Council of Churches Thursdays in Black campaign is celebrating love with a new set of ready-to-send social media cards.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay welcomed the decision by Israel's Supreme Court, ordering the return of Khirbet Zanouta Palestinians to their village in Hebron’s Masafer Yatta area in the West Bank, by 16 February, after they fled due to settler violence. 

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, in a letter to church leaders and communities in Sweden, expressed grief over reports of a deadly assault at the Campus Risbergska educational complex in Orebro.  

The Universal Periodic Review—a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 5 years—of Angola and Madagascar took place on 23 and 27 January.

In our brief article, as an expression of love and deep appreciation for the esteemed Archbishop of Tirana, Anastasios, we present, as much as possible, his significant contribution to interfaith dialogue and his active involvement in actions and initiatives aimed at establishing peaceful and just coexistence among all people, regardless of their cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs, or cultural identity.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has offered the first in what will be a series of training workshops on climate litigation. In partnership with the Caribbean and North America Council for Mission (CANACOM), the WCC led the training through a lens of child protection and our future generations.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay called for resuming dialogue that supports peace in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where conflict has escalated following an incursion of Rwandan troops into Congolese sovereign territory on the Goma/Rubavu border.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of US President Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed Prof. Dr Karen Nazaryan, executive director of the Armenia Roundtable Foundation, to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva for a series of strategic meetings aimed at strengthening cooperation in ecumenical diakonia and social development.

World Council of Churches central committee moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm will kick off a ten-month series on “Hope for…” moderated by Anne Freudenberg-Klopp, Theology and Sustainability, Ecumenical Center of the North Church and Astrid Hake, coordinator of the Ecumenical Network for Climate Justice.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and King’s College London, with Our Children’s Trust and Generations Together, have released a new report, “Accelerating climate solutions through youth-focused litigation: Report and findings of roundtables held at King’s College London on 5 April 2024 and 6 December 2024.” 

Amidst interethnic conflicts, armed attacks, and increasing humanitarian emergencies, churches in South Sudan, on 27 January launched guidelines to help communities deal with the persistent violence and strengthen peace.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Gender Justice Reference Group engaged in a series of visits in Harare, Zimbabwe during its meeting in December. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has launched the “Turn Debt into Hope” campaign, a global call to address debt injustice and climate inequality, which prevent vulnerable nations from meeting fundamental human rights.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) received Finnish ambassador Jan Wahlberg to discuss peace-building, with a special focus on Colombia, the Middle East, and Africa. WCC staff and Wahlberg also reflected together on inter-religious dialogue, climate justice, and mental health. 

Moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, speaking at the funeral of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, reflected on how much the archbishop was loved in Albania and across the world.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva are inviting a special screening of the documentary: "Via Dolorosa: The Path of Sorrows", on 18 February at the United Nations in Geneva.