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75th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: has your country ratified the UN treaty?

August 2020 will mark 75 years since nuclear bombs were detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki – devastating these cities and killing several hundred thousands. Since the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948 where those gathered declared that war with atomic weapons was a “sin against God and a degradation of man,” the WCC has continued to call for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and the existential threat that they pose to all humanity.

Tax justice in a time of COVID-19 crisis

When the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, was recently admitted to hospital with COVID-19, spending a few days in intensive care, a number of British politicians and journalists talked about how the virus was the great leveller. Everyone from street cleaners to world leaders could get the disease; no-one was immune, therefore, we must all follow the same social distancing guidelines. But as Iñigo Aymar of Oxfam has pointed out, COVID-19 is not so much the great leveller, but the great revealer.

“Working Together” meeting bonds WCC with specialized ministries

A series of online Working Together meetings last week helped strengthen collaboration between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its round table partner and specialized ministries, including ACT Alliance. The meetings, which normally takes place every May at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute was convened online by WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca.

COVID-19 reveals and deepens inequalities; where is the Economy of Life?

Television, FaceBook and WhatsApp chats bring news from Manila, much of it disheartening. In the early stages of the pandemic with nearly 1,500 cases as of this writing, the Philippines has already lost 12 frontliners to COVID-19 (comprising one-fifth of total fatalities), one of them a young Methodist doctor. This is disastrous for a country that has only 1.3 doctors per 1,000 people (in part due to the exodus of medical professionals to “greener pastures” abroad).

Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appointed acting WCC general secretary

Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca has been appointed acting World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary beginning 1 April. Sauca, who currently serves as deputy general secretary for the WCC programme on Ecumenical Formation and Bossey Ecumenical Institute, will hold the general secretary post until the WCC Executive Committee meets in June.

Tveit “Continue to be the light and the salt in this society”

Interview in written form with Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches. On the occasion of his farewell visit during the Fall Assembly of Delegates the general secretary of the World Council of Churches WCC, pastor Olav Fykse Tveit, gave the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches FSPC an exclusive and elaborate interview regarding the current ecumenical movement and its future prospects

Churches in southern Africa stand against violence, xenophobia

Churches across southern Africa are publicly saying #EnoughIsEnough,” with many denominations and congregations continuing to issue strong statements, arrange special prayer events, and speak out against rising levels of violence.

Both the Dutch Reformed Church and the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA) have been discussing gender justice and how to keep the momentum going on the unprecedented public demand for change.

When you strike the women, you strike a rock

As South Africa grapples with a gender-based violence crisis, president Cyril Ramaphosa is convening, on 18 September, the entire parliament for a special session on how to create a society in which women feel not only safe, but enjoy human rights equal to men. With 52,420 sexual offences reported in the last financial year - and many unreported - hundreds of thousands of people in South Africa are publicly saying “#EnoughIsEnough.” Churches and faith communities are a vocal, visible part of this call for change. Will the momentum grow? Will we stand with the women of South Africa?