Member church news: Encounters, Protests, Celebrations, Stories

Thomas Baldwin of the Church of Scotland meets the Rola Sleiman, the first female ordained minister in the Middle East.

Holy Cow! A Philadelphia pastor hangs on as huge cow escapes live nativity scene: He juggles a lot of responsibilities as the pastor of one of Philadelphia’s oldest churches, but wrangling a huge cow on a city street in the early hours of the morning during a snowstorm is not something Michael Caine ever thought he would be called to do.

Three protestant churches in Poland have asked their parliament to withdraw a bill commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

In a new book Swiss theologian Daniel Marguerat revisits Christmas and Easter in the form of tales and stories.

Bankstown District Uniting Church (Australia) welcomes many newcomers and is helping them deal with the pressures of resettlement. On Sunday they came together for their annual Christmas International service with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian as a guest of honour.

Information is available in English and Mandarin about the upcoming Taiwan Ecumenical Forum.

At a World Council of Churches consultation in Seoul on December 7-11, participants from churches throughout northeast Asia shared insights on diakonia and how vital it is to the nature and mission of the church.

In a statement issued on the International Migrants Day, Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) has urged European Union institutions to critically assess their actions in Libya.