News about the WCC US office

The the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches honored five individuals or groups who had rendered outstanding service in the cause of peace during its 2-4 December annual meeting.

Church leaders attending the annual meeting of the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches in Washington began drafting a message to President-elect Barack Obama that they plan to send to him prior to his inauguration on January 20.

The United States Conference for the World Council of Churches, meeting in Washington, D.C. in annual session under the theme of "Making peace: Claiming God's promise," is hearing from Christian activists who have dedicated their lives to making peace a reality.

A just peace around the world was on the hearts and minds of nearly 60 persons attending today's opening session of the Annual Meeting of the US Conference for the World Council of Churches in Washington, D.C.

Leaders and representatives of 24 US churches gathering in Washington, D.C. next week will deliver a message to President-elect Barack Obama, outlining hopes for the new administration in leading the nation forward and working for peace with justice.

Straddling the equator in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Australia and Hawaii, is the small island country of Kiribati. The vast majority of its 33 coral atolls never exceed three meters above sea level, making Kiribati's 94,000 inhabitants vulnerable to a rare danger: their country is sinking.

This message from WCC's Moderator, Dr. Walter Altmann, is addressed to all the "brothers and sisters" in the US member churches on this historic post-election day.

"Heartfelt congratulations" were expressed to the US President-elect Barack Obama by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. In a 5 November letter congratulating Obama on his election to the presidency of the United States, Kobia hailed him as "a leader not only in the United States, but in the hopes and dreams of so many people across the globe".

Rev. Dr. Larry Rasmussen, who was Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York from 1986-2004, is one of the leading voices in the Christian community speaking on the intersection between Christian ethics and the environment. On 2-4 December 2008 at the US Conference Annual Meeting, Rasmussen will speak at a plenary on climate change, primarily about theological and ethical dimensions to...

Dr. Elizabeth G. Ferris, Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and Co-Director of the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, will be speaking on Climate Change at the Annual Meeting of the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches on 2-4 December 2008 in Washington, D.C.