Category: Assembly

[World Council of Churches] In an address before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Jan. 27, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew spoke of how religion can provide a unique perspective in the objective to eradicate poverty and hunger, to address fundamentalism and racism, and to advance tolerance and dialogue.

“Churches and religious communities are not only pivotal in people’s personal or spiritual lives,” he said. “They also reserve a critical role in mobilizing institutions and societies on manifold levels.”

He also emphasized the urgency of protecting our planet. “We are convinced that what we do for the earth is intimately related to what we do for people, whether in the context of human rights, international politics, or world peace,” the ecumenical patriarch said. “In other words, the way we respond to climate change is intimately connected to the way we respond to human challenges.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew serves as the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

Read Ecumenical Patriarch addresses how “the world has truly become a global village” for the entire article.

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Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.

[Episcopal News Service] The World Council of Churches’ 11th Assembly, described as “the most diverse Christian gathering of its size in the world,” opened August 31, 2022, in Karlsruhe, Germany, with leaders expressing a desire for a new era of Christian unity to counter the proliferation of global crises in the 21^st century.

Delegates from the WCC’s 352 Protestant and Orthodox member churches have traveled to Germany for the weeklong conference, including House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris and four other Episcopalians.

Opening Assembly press conference

At an opening press conference, Acting General Secretary the Rev. Ioan Sauca noted that since the 2013 Assembly, the world has seen massive changes, many of them arising from political and cultural divisions. The Assembly’s theme – “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity” – is more relevant than ever, he said.

“Karlsruhe will be a new beginning,” Sauca said. “We have to come together as Christians, more united in addressing the challenges of the world. Because Christian unity is linked to the unity of all creation.”

Assembly opening address

WCC Moderator Agnes Abuom, in her opening address, added a tone of urgency to the Assembly, telling delegates that unity is the only way to address the existential crisis of climate change.

“Listen carefully to youth among us,” Abuom said. “They are the generation that is experiencing the first catastrophes of [the] climate crisis and the last generation that can take any action to stop global warming.”

She also expressed hope that the Assembly would rise to the challenge.

“At its best,” Aboum said, “the Assembly is a spiritual celebration of the power of God’s love to renew our minds and hearts so that we may become a countercultural force driven by solidarity with the most vulnerable people and God’s creation.”

Assembly news updates can be found here.

Livestreams and recordings of Assembly proceedings can be found here.

World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, “so that the world may believe.” (John 17:21)

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity. 

Church of the Redeemer

Welcome to Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.