The head of the World Council of Churches has welcomed Metropolitan Kyrill of as the new patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, highlighting his desire for positive global inter-church relations.

Viable alternatives to the international financial architecture responsible for the current global crises will be topics explored by members of a World Council of Churches delegation at the World Social Forum.

At a service attended by Barack Obama after his inauguration, the president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), called on the leader to chose compassion, faithfulness and love over vengefulness, anger and fear.

Poverty, violence and war are among the challenges representatives of member churches of the World Council of Churches in the USA have pointed out to President Barack Obama on the occasion of his inauguration.

Churches around the globe have mobilised to assist those affected by the conflict in Gaza and to lobby their governments for a cease-fire in the packed territory where 1.5 million Palestinians live.

World churches are making a strong appeal for a much more principle-based approach to the planet's ecological challenges at the United Nations Climate Change Conference meeting in Poznan, Poland.

A delegation of Christians has returned from Pakistan with warnings about the disastrous consequences on local Christians of Pakistan's location as a front-line state in the 'war on terror'.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions has been welcomed as a "humane and historic victory" by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia.

Leaders of 24 US churches gathering in Washington DC next week will deliver a message to President-elect Barack Obama, outlining hopes for the new administration in working for peace with justice.

Christians from the Pacific islands have appealed for worldwide solidarity with regard to climate change, a question of life and death in their communities.