News and stories

Cries of Anguish; Stories of Hope - a series of online Lenten study resources on the struggle to end violence against women will be launched 15 February during a prayer service at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

pief.oikoumene.org is a new website launched by the Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum geared to providing a springboard for advocacy, public education, and mobilization.

The role of the church in building just peace was highlighted last week in Addis Abba, Ethiopia where three World Council of Churches (WCC) advisory groups met to recognize the culmination of the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) and the forthcoming International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) scheduled for May 2011.

Konrad Raiser, former general secretary of the World Council of Churches (1993-2003), was awarded an honorary doctor's degree by the University of Hamburg's faculty of evangelical theology on 18 January. The title recognizes Raiser's contributions in sharpening the theological profile of the WCC and the momentum he has more than once given to the ecumenical movement as a whole and to the ecumenical awareness of German churches in particular.

In a 13 January solidarity letter to the churches in Malaysia, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed deep concern and profound sorrow about recent attacks against church buildings in the country following a controversy over the right of Christians to use the term "Allah" to refer to God.

"We are here to let everything begin in the name of Jesus: the New Year and the new decade for the world and for the ecumenical movement; and also the new phase in each of our lives – both individually and for all of us together," the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a sermon at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 January 2010, assuming his office as general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The prayer service was...

This year's Christmas message from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is available in 17 languages reflecting the linguistic diversity of the WCC member churches: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish and Swahili.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has invited the submission of workshop proposals for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) to take place in Jamaica in May 2011. Proposals must be submitted by 31 March 2010.

At an impressive ceremony which brought together a wide spectrum of Palestinian civil society, including church leaders, and over 50 people from every region of the world, Palestinian Christians launched the document popularly referred to as the Kairos Palestine Document.

On the International Day for the Eradication of Violence against Women, 25 November, the World Council of Churches (WCC) announced a series of Lenten study resources for congregations and individuals who want to do their bit to end violence against women.