WCC News: WCC speakers will share insights at “Resisting War” conference

The John Knox International Center will host a “Resisting War” conference on 12 September. The event, marking the Centenary of the World Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm (1925-2025), is co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and partners.  Mural by Banksy (Bristol, UK) Photo: NSS magazine 05 September 2025 Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, WCC programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace; and Dr Stephen Brown, researcher and editor of the WCC journals, will be among the speakers.  The conference will explore how a world without war appears to be a utopia, and how the ways of waging war are rapidly evolving. Speakers from the WCC and other organizations will reflect on how we can envision revisiting war.  Discussions will centre on how we face the financial and political forces that upend the life of various democratic countries throughout the world and that support violence, the exclusion of minorities, and the annexing of territories.  A key question throughout the conference will be: Which resources – humanist, political, theological, philosophical, and juridical – can be enlisted toward a necessarily realistic and multi-faceted resistance? By gathering thinkers and scholars from distinct fields, the conference will seek to better understand various forms of war and resistance to war today. In-person and online participation is invited.  Learn more about the “Resisting War” conference 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 356 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 Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland