WCC news: WCC joins youth-led global prayer to close Season of Creation 2024, call for climate action

On 4 October, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will join global faith leaders and youth in a prayer service to close the Season of Creation. Themed “To Hope and Act with Creation,” with a focus on the Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Initiative, this youth-led event calls on faith communities to unite in prayer and action to address the climate crisis. 2 September 2022, Karlsruhe, Germany: Climate protest at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August to 8 September, under the theme "Christ's Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity." Photo: Gjermund Øystese/WCC 03 October 2024 The event will feature prayers, reflections, and poetry, including contributions from the WCC Youth Engagement representatives, Don Bosco Green Alliance, Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Climate YES South Africa, Green Anglicans, and A Rocha Lebanon. Youth leaders will share stories of hope and commitment to climate justice, inspiring collective actions to safeguard our planet. Rev. Dr Rima Nasrallah, an ordained minister in the Protestant Church in Beirut and a founding member of A Rocha Lebanon, will speak on the importance of faith communities in advocating for the vulnerable and acting in solidarity with creation. The event will also highlight the global push for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, encouraging faith-based leadership in this movement. Dr Louk Andrianos, WCC consultant for Care for Creation, Sustainability, and Climate Justice, emphasized, “As communities of faith, we are called not only to pray but to act, especially for those most impacted by the ecological crisis: human and non-human suffering creation in every part of the Earth. As Apostle Paul said, in Romans 8:22, ’the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now,' because of humankind sin. Our collective prayers must turn into policies that protect our common home.” Follow the live streaming here  Register here if you need interpretation in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian  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