WCC

The Edinburgh 2010 conference will open on Wednesday with the aim of providing direction for Christian mission in the 21st century.

Hundreds of leaders from around the world will gather in Edinburgh, Scotland, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first-ever global mission conference, Edinburgh 1910.

From June 2 to 6, mission experts will convene to discuss nine major themes, including Christian mission among other faiths, mission and post-modernities, and Christian communities in contemporary contexts. more >>

A Jewish human rights organization denounced an upcoming World Council of Churches’ peace event as “blatantly anti-Israel.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center was referring to the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel, which begins Saturday and will run until June 4. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the center, accused the WCC of never standing up for Israel in the 62 years of its existence but being “fixated” on the plight of Palestinians.

“It (WCC) never issued a single response to Arab attempts to annihilate it (Israel), to drive the Jews into the sea, to mass murder Jews at prayer through suicide bombings,” said Cooper. “It is remarkably fixated on the single democracy in the Middle East, while it cannot find its voice in countries that criminalize the practice of Christianity and tolerate the murder of Christians.” more >>

Though overshadowed by flying accusations between Iran and the U.S. on Monday, the opening day of the U.N.’s conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty offered some hopeful signs, said a global church body.

The United States, for the second time in its history, disclosed on Monday the number of nuclear warheads in its stockpile, pointed out the World Council of Churches, which has a long history of advocating for a nuclear-free world.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would pursue more “transparency” in its nuclear stockpile. Afterward, the Pentagon revealed that it has 5,113 nuclear warheads – active and inactive – in its stockpile, and thousands of more retired nukes awaiting dismantling. more >>

More than 100 church-based relief and development organizations worldwide have formally united under an umbrella group.

ACT Alliance, one of the world’s largest humanitarian bodies, was formally launched Wednesday with the main celebration in Geneva. The new body is a merger of the disaster relief network ACT International and its sister organization ACT Development.

Both ACT International, established in 1995, and ACT Development, formed in 2007, were created through the leadership of the World Council of Churches. The two bodies coordinate the work of agencies related to member churches of the WCC and the Lutheran World Federation in the areas of humanitarian emergencies and poverty reduction, respectively. more >>

The head of the largest ecumenical body in the world sent condolences this week after receiving news that Egypt’s top Sunni Islam cleric had died after suffering a heart attack.

“It is with great sadness that we received the news of the passing away of Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar mosque and head of the al-Azhar University,” wrote the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, in a letter Thursday.

Tveit, on behalf of WCC members, expressed the “most sincere condolences” to the al-Azhar mosque and university and to the Arab and Muslim world. He said Sheikh Tantawi will be remembered with “great respect and appreciation” for his Islamic scholarship and for his “prominent role and genuine commitment” to intercultural and interfaith dialogue. more >>

A Norwegian theologian was formally installed on Tuesday as the new head of the World Council of Churches.

During his installation service, the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit pronounced "Nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" as his first unity call to the worldwide ecumenical fellowship.

"The cross is and will forever be the sign of the church," the new general secretary said. "This is the symbol that we have together, the symbol of what we have together, the symbol of what the churches have to give to the world. From the beginning to the end." more >>