WCC NEWS: WCC Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group will convene for first in-person gathering

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group is convening for the first time in-person at the WCC Ecumenical Institute at Bossey from 12-13 October to plan the work ahead.  The main objectives will be to build community and begin to shape plans and priorities.  "Affirming the Wholeness of Life’ plenary, 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2022, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 26 September 2024 A part of the reference group will also participate, from 13-15 October, in a seminar on Indigenous spirituality, land rights, and climate justice. Seminar participants will share papers, poetry readings and storytelling, and enter into dialogue with WCC staff from the Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development. They will also hear an overview on climate-responsible banking and how it relates to child rights. The seminar, entitled “The Intersection of Indigenous Spiritualities, Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice – Meeting of Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network,” is supported by a grant from the German Foreign Ministry.  Climate justice is inextricably linked to the human rights of Indigenous peoples, particularly as Indigenous communities occupy 20-25% of the Earth’s land surface. Eighty percent of that land mass holds the world’s remaining biodiversity. The meeting and seminar will explore the interrelated threads of Indigenous people’s spiritualities, Indigenous rights, and climate justice.   Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Mission from the Margins Commission on World Mission and Evangelism "Convening in Kenya, WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism maps out work" (WCC news release, July 2024) 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