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.
Asian church leaders call for a renewed ecumenical vision
More than 70 church and ecumenical leaders met in Chiang Mai from 31 May to 3 June for a Christian Conference of Asia consultation on ecumenism in Asia, and were joined by representatives of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences and the Asia Evangelical Alliance.
Bishop Susan Wallace ordained for Te Waipounamu
Bishop Susan Hinemoa Wallace was ordained and installed as Bishop of Te Hui Amorangi ki te Waipounamu, the Māori Anglican church in the South Island, at the Transitional Cathedral in Christchurch on 6 June, with more than 500 people present.
Young ecumenists meet online
The WCC’s network of Young People in the Ecumenical Movement held its second online Connection Gathering on 10 June, inviting young people from every region to meet in small groups and share their experience.
Two hundred years of Christianity in Tonga
Leaders of Te Hāhi Weteriana o Aotearoa, among them the president, Te Aroha Rountree, the vice-president, Rev.
Five licensed for ministry at Te Maungarongo Marae
In early May, five people who had completed Amorangi training, in partnership with the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, were licensed for ministry in Te Aka Puahou at Te Maungarongo Marae in Ōhope, the Presbyterian Church’s national marae.
A Pentecost festival for Oslo’s many congregations
The Christian Council of Norway held a Pentecost festival at Grorud Church in Oslo on 25 May under the theme “Together as God’s Family”.
Essays on Nicaea at 1700
The WCC has published Towards Nicaea 2025: Exploring the Council’s Ecumenical Significance Today, a collection of essays marking 1700 years since the first ecumenical council and the Nicene Creed.
A New Zealand response to Pope Leo’s letter on artificial intelligence
Bishop Richard Laurenson of Hamilton welcomed Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, which was published on 25 May and is about protecting the human person in an age of artificial intelligence.
A day like Taizé in Baden
At Pentecost, on 24 and 25 May, two Taizé brothers took part in “A Day Like in Taizé” in Baden, Switzerland.
Young Anglicans at the Asian Ecumenical Youth Assembly
Six young adults from all three tikanga of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia joined about 200 young Christians at the Christian Conference of Asia’s Asian Ecumenical Youth Assembly in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 17 to 21 April, sharing in Bible study, worship and seminars on the pressures facing their generation.
Together We Pray: a prayer book by Lutheran women
The Lutheran World Federation announced Together We Pray, a collection of prayers written by lay and ordained women from its member churches, due to be released online on 27 May in English, German, French and Spanish.
Faith and Order symposium in Romania
An international symposium in Sibiu, Romania, on ecclesiology, moral discernment and the mission of the church took up the work of last year’s Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order.
Applications open to study at Bossey
The WCC’s Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, near Geneva, is taking applications for its 2027 to 2028 programmes in ecumenical studies, which it runs with the University of Geneva.
Asia Sunday 2026
Member churches and councils of the Christian Conference of Asia kept Asia Sunday on 17 May, with the theme “Hope for Redemption of Groaning Creation Amidst Bondage to Decay”.
The WCC presidents’ Pentecost message
In their message for Pentecost, the presidents of the WCC called on Christians to let the Holy Spirit form new and renewed communities that show love, practise peace, care for creation and seek justice.
Anglicans pray with the National Dialogue in the Week of Prayer
Anglicans in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia joined other churches for the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, kept here between Ascension and Pentecost, from 17 to 24 May.
Pope Leo’s message for Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Kingdom Come, the global prayer movement that runs from Ascension Day to Pentecost, began its 2026 novena on 14 May, and Pope Leo XIV sent its participants a video message of support.
Australian churches pray together for unity
The National Council of Churches in Australia and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference held an ecumenical prayer service at the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in Sydney on 12 May, ahead of the Week of Prayer.
The United Bible Societies at 80
The United Bible Societies marked eighty years of work with a fellowship event in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 7 to 11 May, under the theme “A Legacy of Purpose, A Future of Possibility”.
An Armenian homily for the Week of Prayer in Australia
The National Council of Churches in Australia announced that its annual Prayers for Christian Unity on 20 May would be held online, with a recorded homily by Bishop Vardan Navasardyan, Primate of the Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand, and hymns from the choir of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Resurrection in Chatswood, Sydney.