This day begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The theme: “You shall love the Lord your God … and your neighbor as yourself” from Luke 10:27 answers the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” How am I assured to have life with God beyond this life? Jesus’ simple (yet not so simple) answer was to say: Do what’s written in the law: Love God with all of who you are, and your neighbor like you love yourself, and you will live. I often wonder about the “as you love yourself” command. Does that mean that we don’t love ourselves because there are so many hurting and suffering people in the world? People to whom we do not show mercy and kindness?
For the first time in 500 years, an ecumenical peace pilgrimage was undertaken earlier this month to South Sudan by Catholic, Anglican and Protestant church leaders.
The World Council of Churches Central Committee on Thursday elected Bishop Dr. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria as its new moderator.
Amidst the wrap-up of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches Thursday, Dr. Dianna Wright took the time to reflect on the gathering in Karlsruhe, Germany, of 352 member churches.
The World Council of Churches’ 11th Assembly elected eight new presidents, six regional and two from Orthodox churches, in a vote Monday with 574 delegates present.
Plans are under way to begin the ninth round of Roman Catholic-Reformed dialogue in the United States. The group of 14, which includes two elected people from each of the four Reformed denominations — the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, along with six Roman Catholic representatives, will review the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), approved by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church.
