The head of the World Council of Churches will visit churches, faith initiatives and ecumenical bodies in Britain and Ireland in April-May. He will meet both enthusiasm and the struggle of post-Christendom.

A new look China Study Journal, produced by a British ecumenical network and a leading university department, will track the continuing massive changes on China's religious landscape.

Simon Barrow charts the struggle for an elected second chamber, the anomaly of Lords Spiritual, and a lurking theological question

Keith Clements argues that the Free Churches need to work rigorously for a genuinely ecumenical movement – not one dominated by established Anglican and Catholic interests

Simon Barrow suggests a different understanding of ecumenism

The leaders of Northern Ireland's four major churches have called for an end to sectarianism and prejudice in a joint New Year message. The move represents an increasing willingness among Protestant and Catholic leaders to speak together in the face of division.