An ecumenical team of church representatives began their solidarity visit to churches and ecumenical organizations in war-ravaged Sudan on Wednesday.

The international team, organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), will visit Darfur, Khartoum, Rumbek and Yambio before joining a conference in Juba with Sudanese church leaders, women and youth during their weeklong visit to Sudan, which ends on April 2.

WCC General Secretary Dr. Samuel Kobia, the first African head of the WCC, will lead the team, and the ACT-Caritas Darfur Emergency Response Operation will facilitate the visit in Darfur. more >>

Hundreds of Christian leaders marched to Capitol Hill to meet with their representatives and convey their message of social justice and peace to cap off a large annual ecumenical gathering Monday.

The President of the National Council of Churches USA, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, in preparation for Monday’s advocacy told participants of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days that Christians have a biblical responsibility to help the poor and ease suffering around the world, according to NCCUSA.

Aykazian gave the Sunday message standing on a platform surrounded with portraits of Iraqi refugees and the boots of American soldiers killed in Iraq – symbols of people who need Christian support. more >>

More than 1,000 Christian leaders are expected to gather beginning Friday for the 2008 Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference to discuss and advocate for a wide range of U.S. policy issues outside of Washington, D.C.

The sixth annual conference, Mar. 7-10, brings together leaders from the ecumenical Christian community to learn, discuss and then mobilize the Christian voice to be a witness for justice and peace in regards to U.S. domestic and international policies. Attendees will hail from around the world including from Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Participants will explore new ideas on how U.S. policies can be transformed to embrace more just, peaceful and effective actions at home and abroad to improve security for the United States, its neighbors and around the world. more >>

The World Council of Churches (WCC) closed a weeklong conference in Geneva on Wednesday with a commitment to make progress on the ecumenical movement and released several public statements on key global issues.

"This meeting allowed us to foster the programs of the Council and, in a number of respects, move forward our ecumenical journey as churches, with the aim of calling one another to visible unity," said the Rev. Dr. Walter Altmann, moderator of the WCC central committee.

The central committee met Feb. 13-20 addressing challenges facing the church, including climate change, HIV/AIDS, and the Kenya crisis as well as WCC's contribution to the ecumenical movement. The world body represents more than 560 million Christians in some 110 countries. more >>

Leaders at a meeting of the world’s largest ecumenical body this week emphasized the importance of staying united during a time of many changes in Christianity.

New expressions of the Christian faith, growing prominence of the global South, and increasing religious diversity are some of the factors that are contributing to a “rapidly changing ecclesial context” that is testing the bonds of Christian unity, pointed out the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, on Thursday.

Kobia was speaking at the annual WCC Central Committee Meeting, which is being held Feb. 13-20, in Geneva. more >>

The Church of England General Synod opened in central London Monday with a wide-ranging address from the Archbishop of Canterbury on his recent Sharia law comments and the forthcoming Lambeth Conference.

In a clear display of support for their leader, Synod members broke into rapturous applause when Dr. Rowan Williams entered the assembly hall to open three and a half days of debate and Church legislating.

Williams began his address by saying he takes full responsibility for any distress that might have been caused by “unclarity” or a “misleading choice of words” in a lecture he gave at the Royal Courts of Justice on religious rights and the accommodation of aspects of Sharia law in the British legal system last Thursday. more >>