World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay addressed the Africa and African Diaspora Conference in Johannesburg on 27 October.

Another installment of the Online Learning Series on Interreligious Dialogue was held 26 October, focusing on Hindu philosophy, practice, pluralism, and interreligious dialogue. The speaker was Prof. emeritus Jaya Krishnakumar, from the Institute of Economics and Econometrics, Geneva School of Economics and Management University of Geneva.  

Three UN conferences meet in 2026 on three crises: desertification, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Jocabed Solano, an Indigenous Gunadule theologian from Panama, does not see three. "The world calls these climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification, but for us they are one wound," she said in Yerevan, Armenia, on 20 October. 

A gathering in Berlin, under the theme “What Connects Us," on 14 October drew representatives from politics, churches, and civil society to discuss the values that should guide international interests.

A special webinar during the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order meeting on 30 October will offer a glimpse into “Visible Unity in a Changing North: Ecclesiology, Leadership, and the Future of the Churches.”

A newly launched Report on the Sixth World Conference of Faith and Order reflects the range and depth of the event, held 24-28 October, 2025 at the Logos Papal Center at St Bishoy Monastery in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt.

World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm offered opening reflections at a Sant’ Egidio International Meeting for Peace in Assisi, underway 25-27 October.

The meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order opened in Lund, Sweden, on 26 October, marking the second time in history that the commission has met in Sweden. 

An online interfaith dialogue series on the “Advancing the Responsibility to Protect the Rights and Dignity of the Child” will continue on 5 November. The series is organized by Arigatou International, Religions for Peace, World Council of Churches, and the United Religions Initiative.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned an attack on Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud, Karak on 23 October.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Young People in the Ecumenical Movement (Youth Commission) will hold its second in-person meeting in Accra, Ghana, from 3–9 November 2026, under the theme “Journeying Together: Creating Healing Spaces.”

As a special gathering on 10 October marked the 60th Jubilee of Focolare’s arrival in Sweden—and then to all of Scandinavia—those gathered heard messages of gratitude and joy. 

Margareta Ingelstam is a Swedish educator, author, editor, and peace activist. She is widely recognized for her pioneering work in international adoption, media democratization, and global peacebuilding.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group held their 2026 Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, from 12 to 18 October. At the same time, churches and civil society met at the International People's Assembly with a different question. How can money for climate action reach the countries that need it without adding to their debt?

Becoming an Intercultural Church: Companionship in a Wounded World, by Hyuk Cho, has been published by the World Council of Churches (WCC). The book is written for churches, particularly in North America and Europe, that find themselves between inherited certainties that no longer hold and futures not yet visible.

Three UN conventions were born at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and in 2026 all three hold their Conference of the Parties (COP). After the desertification COP17 in Ulaanbaatar in August, the biodiversity COP17 opened in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October. From Mongolia to Armenia, the World Council of Churches (WCC) brings the same case: the crises of land, biodiversity, and climate are bound together, and none can be solved without the communities who live with them.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay offered a keynote address during a World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) conference on “Standing Where God Stands: 40th Anniversary of the Belhar Confession,” underway from 19–23 October, in Pretoria, South Africa. 

Young people presenting at the conference of World Council of Churches (WCC) commissions and reference groups held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, voiced their reflections on what it means to be church in the world today. 

A World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar, held 20 October and entitled “Life Doesn't Stop at Menopause: Faith, Health, and Flourishing Beyond Midlife” asked how faith communities can become safe spaces for women in this transition.

Kenneth R. Ross's new book, Spirit of Mission: Essays on Ecumenism and Evangelism, is now available in an international edition co-published by Mzuni Press, Regnum Books, and the World Council of Churches.