WCC news: WCC moderator delivers greeting to Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe assembly

World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm delivered greetings at the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe assembly, being held 28 August through 1 September, in Sibiu, Romania. Sibiu, Romania. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 28 August 2024 The assembly theme is “Time of hope: Churches as actors in overcoming war and conflict.”  Bedford-Strohm’s greeting addressed the persistent barriers to peace, and how prayer is the most powerful force to widen empathy.  “I welcome very much that you have chosen for this meeting to focus especially on war and violent conflict,” he said. “The most persistent barrier against ways to peace are the walls we build to limit our empathy to our own reference group.” Bedford-Strohm put further prayer as a most powerful force to widen our empathy.  “As Christians and as churches, we present a credible witness to the world only when we are also willing simultaneously to face and address our own shortcomings, failings, and patterns of inauthenticity,” he said. “Addressing the conflict, coercion, and violence implicit in ourselves, our relationships, our churches, and our institutions is a catalyst for addressing the overt violence and war around us.” Read the full message 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 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. 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