NEWS
News from our member churches and the wider ecumenical movement, with our monthly roundup and a library of stories from ecumenical bodies around the world.
An Armenian reflection opens the Week of Prayer in Geneva
At a morning prayer at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 19 January, Archimandrite Garegin Hambardzumyan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in Armenia reflected on this year’s Week of Prayer material, which draws on the heritage of St Nerses the Gracious, the twelfth-century catholicos and hymn writer.
A church in Whāngārā, scanned in 3D
Pātoromu Church in Whāngārā, dedicated to St Bartholomew, is the first church to be scanned in 3D by He Taonga Tuku Iho, the Anglican histories project.
Week of Prayer 2026: one hope, one calling
The theme for the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity came from Ephesians 4:4: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.” The prayers and reflections were prepared by the Armenian Apostolic Church with Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Christians, drawing on hymns and prayers that in some cases go back to the fourth century.
A new year letter to Quaker meetings
In a new year letter to Quaker meetings, Tim Gee, general secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, reflected on peace in the life and teaching of Jesus, and announced that the committee’s next World Plenary Meeting is planned for 2030, two thousand years after Jesus began his ministry, on the theme “Blessed are the Peacemakers”.
A new year prayer from the Pacific
Writing on the WCC blog for Epiphany Sunday, the first Sunday of 2026, Rev.