Raytown Christian Church

Syria: Iraqi refugee women showing off their skills as beauticians

A team of church representatives from Portugal, Switzerland and Brazil is paying a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society organizations in Angola and Mozambique from 18 to 28 July.

Dispelling the myth of "a little peaceful country", an international ecumenical Living Letters team visited Uruguay and discovered how violence manifests itself at the levels of family life, the state and youth, and how the churches in this South American country seek to overcome it.

In a speech in Kinshasa on 13 July, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), challenged churches to end their denial of violence against women. "The churches still seem to relegate violence to the private sphere, and still understand violence as only physical," he said.

Following a week-long conference in Monrovia, Liberia, West African church leaders have called on African governments and the international community to aggressively respond to issues that contribute to poverty and unrest on the continent.

The 13th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) convened on Wednesday 15 July in Lyon, France. The meeting is made up of delegates and other representatives of some 120 European churches and 40 related organizations. The assembly, lasting until Monday 20 July, celebrates the 50th anniversary of CEC and will determine priorities for CEC and its member churches during the coming six years.

Even though a few families have chosen to return to their homes in Pakistan’s Swat valley, international aid agency Church World Service today urged continued support for the millions who remain displaced by fighting between army and Taliban forces, which began in early May.

A recent international consultation in Bucharest, Romania, saw representatives from 12 Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches debate on the teaching and practice of Orthodox ethics on peace.

A team of church representatives from Europe, Latin America and Africa will pay a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in Uruguay and Bolivia from 9 to 16 July. A second team will visit the Democratic Republic of Congo at the same time.

The United States' and Russia's public commitment to cut back their stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons "is an encouraging initiative and a step forward on the difficult but essential journey that the world must take to free itself from the spectre of self-destruction," the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said in a statement published 7 July.

At the third meeting of the Joint Consultation Commission (JCC) between Christian World Communions (CWCs) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), the agenda focused on a mid-term review of the work accomplished so far in this growing ecumenical partnership. The 14-member commission also looked toward continued collaboration in the future.

More than 300 theological educators from all major theological education institutions of South Africa and a number of theological institutions throughout Africa met in the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University in South Africa from 22-26 June 2009 for the Joint Conference of Academic Societies in the Fields of Religion and Theology.

Officially recognized refugees living in Indonesia number only about 350, but neither they nor the Indonesian government are inclined toward local integration.

Two Kenyans who helped refugees in their home country have kept refugees in mind during their studies in the United States.

In refugee resettlement lingo, it’s called "secondary migration." It’s when a person resettled by the U.S. refugee program to one city and placed under the sponsorship of a local resettlement agency there chooses to move to another city for work or to join friends, for example.

Speaking at the Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan, 1 July, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said that religious leaders should play a role in building a peaceful society as living models of dialogue and by encouraging youth initiatives.

The Assembly of the Council for World Mission has appointed Rev. Dr Moiseraele Prince Dibeela as moderator to lead CWM's Trustee Body for the next three years.

The World Council of Churches' search committee for a general secretary met 23-26 June 2009 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The committee was elected by the Central Committee in February 2008 and led by the moderator, Dr Agnes Abuom.

The Anglican primate of Ireland, directors of Christian development organizations in Europe and church leaders in Jerusalem have acted and spoken on peace for Israel and Palestine based on what each of them has seen on the ground.

"We believe that this is a moment where we are invited by God to commit ourselves to be instruments of change in the church and the wider society," participants in an international conference on "Churches against Racism" have said, 17 June. The message was read in the presence of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands during a closing worship service.