WCC NEWS: WCC holds first in-person Staff Planning Days in more than two years

World Council of Churches (WCC) staff gathered from 5 to 8 April for the first in-person Staff Planning Days in more than two years. Gathering also in a hybrid fashion, the aim was to strengthen collaboration, continue planning for the WCC 11th Assembly and initiate planning for 2023.  WCC staff gathered for the Staff Planning Days, meeting in person in the Visser 't Hooft hall of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and online. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 07 April 2022 In introductory remarks, WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca focused on the WCC executive committee meeting in May, the central committee meeting in June, and the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany in August-September. Sauca also offered an update on ongoing response to the conflict in Ukraine including when he convened an ecumenical roundtable consultation on the situation in Ukraine, which took place 30 March at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute. “Together, we called for diplomacy instead of threats, dialogue instead of confrontation,” said Sauca. “Our work will continue: this is one of several roundtables that the WCC will convene, and I know you all will work and pray with me as we see the first lights of peace—and I believe we will!” WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri and WCC director for international affairs Peter Prove offered an update on a delegation from the WCC and ACT Alliance visiting Hungary, Romania and Ukraine. WCC director of the Office of the General Secretariat Doug Chial reflected that these Staff Planning Days were certainly not business as usual. “It is a unique moment – to do something new, to change something, to apply what we have learned,” said Chial. “It is a time to be critical, creative and innovative.” In addition to initiating planning for 2023, the Staff Planning Days also included workshops on unconscious bias training and the WCC Gender Justice Principles, approved by the central committee for WCC staff, governing bodies, commissions and reference groups. Sessions included a time for “learning together” with the lead question “what do we want to take forward and what could we maybe leave behind” as well as time for dreaming together, looking ahead, about the future of the fellowship of churches. Photos from the WCC Staff Planning Days See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland