Media accreditation opens for WCC Central Committee 2018

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will meet 15-21 June for its third gathering since it was elected at the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea in 2013. The meeting will take place at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

The Central Committee, which meets every two years, serves as the chief governing body of the WCC until the next assembly. It is responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the assembly, reviewing and supervising WCC programmes and the budget.

The group of 150 Central Committee representatives from WCC member churches will review WCC programme planning for 2018-2021 and participate in a series of plenaries and committee meetings. The theme of the meeting is “Walking Together. Serving Justice and Peace”.

In addition, there will be a series of plenary sessions on the Living Fellowship, such as ”Breaking Barriers: the Search for Unity Today”and Ecumenical Diakonia, Experiences from the Pilgrimage and the WCC 70th Anniversary”.

The 70th anniversary of the WCC in 2018 is an opportunity to mark the achievements of the past 70 years in working for Christian unity and action, and to look to challenges ahead as a fellowship of churches responding to God’s call for unity, mission, justice and peace.

The Central Committee will also receive the report from the Mid-Term Evaluation Team and the document ”Called to Transformative Action Ecumenical Diakonia”, which clarifies the understanding of ecumenical diakonia and provides a common platform for acting and reflecting together.

A new Ecumenical Global Health Strategy will it be presented to battle the public health threat of HIV and AIDS.

A new and revised Communication Strategy for 2018-2021 will also be presented with special focus on the living fellowship.

The Central Committee will focus on expanding and deepening the churches’ understanding of their common pilgrimage, and how committee members can best communicate the concept of pilgrimage and the living fellowship when they return to the churches they represent.

On June 17, a church service to celebrate WCC 70th Anniversary will be held at the St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva with a sermon by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople.

Media are invited to apply for accreditation to the Central Committee meeting by completing attached accreditation form and return it to WCC Communication Department via email: media@wcc-coe.org. Deadline 31 May 2018.

Daily press briefings  will be held at at the Ecumenical Centre until 20 June.

The briefings will be live streamed on the web www.oikoumene.org

Pope Francis visit, 21 June:

The landmark visit of Pope Francis to the World Council of Churches on 21 June will be a centrepiece of the ecumenical commemoration of the WCC's 70th anniversary.

Special accreditation needed to attend the Ecumenical Pilgrimage with Pope Francis