Member Church News: Protecting, Fasting, Inviting

Alessandra Trotta, moderator of the Tavola Valdese, attended the Synod of the Iglesia Evangélica Valdense del Río de la Plata and shared her thoughts on the experience.

The Reformed Alliance has produced a book commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in Zurich: The Other Reformation: Contributions to the Swiss anniversary year 2019. The articles in the fourth volume of the series “Texts on Reformed Theology and Church” draw attention not only to Ulrich Zwingli but also to to Heinrich Bullinger, who succeeded him as pastor of the Großmünster and played a decisive role in the European history of the Swiss Reformation.

Protecting Creation in Lebanon: The Near East School of Theology recently joined the Christian conservation organization A Rocha for a day of projects aimed at protecting God’s many beautiful creations in Lebanon.

Day of Prayer and Fasting: On Ash Wednesday, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (USA) is being called to come together, to pray together, to fast together and to act together as ONE body in Christ.

Presbyterian Church of Kabuga, Rwanda, transforms two schools, showing how small actions can be of great importance. They have become the high-quality schools they are today by building one classroom a year.

Despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus, church leaders in China aren’t completely stopping their activities and services. Though their doors may be closed, many church communities are turning to online-based worship services, and the Christian Reformed Church in North America is helping to make that possible.

Lyim Hong-Tiong, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, offers his thanks for prayers and support during his recovery from illness.

Building bridges between South Sudan’s Dinka and Nuer tribes in Uganda’s refugee camps: The Resource Center for Civil Leadership (RECONCILE International) is a grassroots nongovernmental organization in South Sudan supported by WCRC members. It aims to contribute to nation-building by equipping communities with knowledge and skills for peacebuilding through trauma recovery, civic education and advocacy.

The World Council of Churches is inviting prayer and music submissions for its 11th Assembly to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2021. Guidelines for submissions have been released, describing how materials will ideally reflect the assembly theme “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) invites applications for the Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI), an annual month-long ecumenical training programme that focuses on the ecumenical formation and leadership development of prospective ecclesial and ecumenical leaders. The AEI-2020 will be held from 13 August to 11 September 2020 in Kerala, India, in conjunction with the 15th General Assembly of the CCA. Over the course of 4 weeks, its sessions will be held in three different cities in Kerala, namely, Kochi, Kottayam, and Thiruvananthapuram.