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The World Council of Churches (WCC) will host a panel at the Geneva Peace Forum on 15 October to explore the role of faith-based actors in peacebuilding. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation (EEF) concluded its meeting at the WCC Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, reviewing ongoing initiatives and discerning priorities for the future of ecumenical education and formation.

Should we livestream the death penalty?

Dr Sureka Goringe is national director of UnitingWorld, the international aid and partnership agency of the Uniting Church in Australia. She took time to reflect on how the organization supports Thursdays in Black—and how the campaign is able to spark important conversations.

WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT 13, 2026—Church World Service (CWS) today condemned a new Trump administration policy making it easier to terminate the legal status of resettled refugees. Under the new regulation—set to go into effect tomorrow, October 14—the response time during which refugees can appeal efforts to terminate their status will be reduced from thirty to ten days. The rule strips ...

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The post New Rule Eliminating Due Process for Refugees Will Upend Communities, Separate Families  appeared first on CWS.

[Episcopal News Service — Washington, D.C.] In Episcopal worship services, acolytes are the lay volunteers who assist with the Gospel procession, tend to duties on the altar and help set the table for the Eucharist. They are responsible for routine tasks that rarely draw attention away from the clergy leading the services, yet those worship services often wouldn’t go as smoothly if not for the acolytes. Washington National Cathedral acknowledges the acolytes’ importance and has celebrated their roles since 1979 by hosting the annual Acolyte Festival. Some 700 acolytes from 68 Episcopal churches in 15 U.S.-based dioceses and an Anglican congregation in Caruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil, attended this year’s festival on Oct. 10. The acolytes’ estimated ages ranged from as young as 4 years old to as old as 80. The cathedral celebrates acolytes because “they’re supporting what’s happening for people to come and to receive the sacrament, and to enter into that closer relationship with God in Christ,” the Rev. Rosemarie Logan Duncan, canon precentor of Washington National Cathedral and a former acolyte, told Episcopal News Service. The Acolyte Festival’s centerpiece was the opening worship service and procession, when all the acolytes, servers, clergy and vergers processed from the cathedral’s Great West Doors down the center aisle wearing their vestments and holding traditional procession items, including the book of the Gospels, processional crosses, thuribles, candles, liturgical banners, kites and streamers. “I really liked how everybody carried themselves at the procession,” Isabel Oria, a 17-year-old crucifer at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, told ENS. “It was really cool to observe all the other acolytes, especially the ones for [Washington National Cathedral], because their footsteps were so synchronized.” During the worship service, Duncan presented the acolytes to the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, as they recommitted themselves to their ministry. The service included readings from Jeremiah 1:4-9, Colossians 3:12-17 and Matthew 9:35-38. West Virginia Bishop Matthew Cowden preached. During his sermon, Cowden acknowledged that many acolytes, especially the children, may “feel a little too small” in the space they were sharing. However, referencing Jeremiah 1:4-9, the biblical account of the young prophet Jeremiah’s call and commission by God, Cowden said, “feeling small before God is not a new experience.” “You might say … ‘I’m only the backup acolyte. I’m just driving the van on this mission. I’m just here to carry the banner,’” Cowden said. “God has a mission and a ministry for your service and love in the world, and participating as an acolyte is one of the ways we tune our ears, our heart and our stomach to hear the call of God. Wherever you go, wherever you are called to carry the light into the world, do it in the name of Jesus, who speaks for you and has compassion for you.” Many of the acolytes attend the festival every year, not just for the festivities, but also the educational workshops and networking opportunities. “We’ll take inspiration from what we see with other churches and bring them back to our church,” Austin Ochoa, a 15-year-old crucifer at All Saints’, told ENS. “I’m also excited to see how thurifers work because I’m not very good at handling the thurible yet.” A thurifer is an acolyte or altar server who carries and swings the thurible – a metal incense burner suspended by chains. Duncan taught the hands-on thurible workshop. Other workshops included a lecture on the history of acolytes and hands-on demonstrations on how to make liturgical kites and streamers. “I love teaching the acolytes how to make the liturgical kites every year because I think they’re significant. I think they’re definitely a sign of the Holy Spirit,” the Rev. Sue Von Rautenkranz, archdeacon emerita of the Diocese of Washington, told ENS. “They’re symbolic, but liturgical kites are also fun, and I think church needs to be fun sometimes.” The Acolyte Festival is also a rare opportunity for many acolytes to visit Washington National Cathedral – officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul – which is the seat of the presiding bishop and the bishop of Washington, as well as the second-tallest church building in the United States and six-largest cathedral in the world. Because of this, family-friendly activities were offered for participants to experience the cathedral up close, including tours, stained-glass window puzzle and coloring activities, an organ demonstration and mini recital, as well as a presentation on the cathedral’s historic “treasures,” such as different chalices. Acolytes could also test their masonry skills by carving blocks of Indiana limestone like many stone masons and master carvers did throughout the cathedral’s 83-year construction period. The acolytes also added bricks to contribute to the cathedral’s ongoing Lego model project, which is a 1:40 scale community-built replica that will be 13 feet long and 8 feet tall and made with more than 500,000 Lego bricks when complete. The cathedral launched the project in 2019 as a fundraising initiative for ongoing preservation, maintenance and repair work. “Experiencing the cathedral in Washington, D.C., is a really big experience among acolytes of our church. We have to drive six hours up from Tennessee to get here, which is a big investment for us,” Willis Bidgood, a 16-year-old acolyte at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Johnson City, told ENS. “This journey creates a really close bond for the acolytes because we get to share this incredible experience together.” For Hollerith, seeing so many congregations of various sizes from different dioceses gather “like a family” is a major highlight of the festival, describing the day “like a homecoming.” He additionally told ENS that, based on his experience as a teenage acolyte at Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, serving as an acolyte can inspire and “open the doors” to pursue other callings of leadership in the church. “One of the great gifts of being an acolyte is all that you’re exposed to, and I got exposed to really […]

[Anglican Taonga] The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has empowered its Climate Commission to develop a churchwide climate resilience strategy over the next two years. Elisiva Sunia moved the motion on climate resilience, speaking from her experience reducing disaster risks for communities. Sunia said that while climate change affects every part of the church, its impacts are experienced differently in each community. “A churchwide strategy will give us a shared direction, while still allowing dioceses and Hui Amorangi to respond to their own local realities,” she said. Read the full article here.

[Anglican Communion News Service] Throughout the Anglican Communion, churches, communities and individuals are advocating to restore and protect the “lungs of the Earth.” Creation care is a core pillar of the Anglican tradition, reflected in the Fifth Mark of Mission, which urges Anglican to “safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the Earth.” The Episcopal Church of South Sudan is implementing this vital charge in the form of intentional tree planting, water source care and waste management in churches and beyond. Kenyi Emmanuel Dube, a team leader for the Episcopal Church of South Sudan Environmental Network (ECSSEN), shared with Anglican News the changes that are being implemented in parishes and regionally. “Through ECSSEN, we mobilize Christians to become better stewards of God’s creation and actively promote the Green Anglican Movement in South Sudan,” Dube said. “This year, in collaboration with the Catholic Church, we jointly launched the Season of Creation, during which we engaged in prayer and practical actions such as cleaning water sources, as part of our commitment to caring for creation.” Read the full article here.

[Anglican Journal] Every year for the last decade, the Rev. Catherine Askew has attended the Ottawa ceremony commemorating Canada’s National Indigenous Veterans Day, which recognizes the contributions of Indigenous military veterans – particularly in the two world wars and the Korean War. It takes place annually on Nov. 8, three days before Remembrance Day, known as Veterans Day in the United States. Askew, a military chaplain, co-chair of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples and member of Moose Factory Cree Nation, supports Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones, the Canada-wide association that organizes the ceremony at the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument. She says the Anglican Church of Canada should observe National Indigenous Veterans Day as part of its commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous people. “It’s so incredibly important to remember that when Indigenous people weren’t even considered persons under the law, when their children were being taken away to residential schools, when they were still restricted by a pass control system on the reserves and could only leave with an Indian agent’s permission, they were still volunteering to fight in World War I and World War II at a higher rate than any other people in Canada,” Askew said. Read the full article here.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay met with the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Denis Mukwege on 13 October to discuss calls for stronger international action to end violence and advance lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.