WCC news: WCC to join Season of Creation prayer amid climate extremes

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will join the global Christian family in opening the 2026 Season of Creation, the ecumenical world's month of prayer and action for creation. Communities on every continent have already lived through record heat, wildfires, and flooding in 2026, many of them home to WCC member churches.  A flower in the Ituqui River near the Quilombo Bom Jardim, outside Santarem, Brazil. The Ituqui flows into the nearby Amazon River. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/Life on Earth Pictures 27 August 2026 “The season of creation, with the “Feast of Creation in Christ” on 1 September at the center, is a time of witness to God’s love and our human responsibility. Confessing God as the creator means a commitment for us as human beings to “tilling and keeping the earth” (Gen 2,15)” highlights WCC central committee moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. “In a time in which the destructive consequences of human-made global warming become increasingly apparent and cause much suffering, praying to God and doing justice to human beings as well as to the earth is inseparable.” The season will open on 1 September with a Global Prayer Service for Creation Day or for the Feast of Creation in Christ: 9 am in New York, 6 pm in Los Angeles, 4 pm in Nairobi and 9 pm in Manila, live-streamed. Along with many other church leaders, three voices will lead it: the Rev. David Coleman, environmental chaplain for Eco-Congregation Scotland; Maria Jose Tejedor, team assistant with ACT Alliance; and Dr Louk Andrianos, WCC consultant for creation care, sustainability, and climate justice. All three will draw on this year's theme, "Living Water" (Ezekiel 47:9, 12): "Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live . . . Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing" (NRSV). "Ezekiel saw water flowing from the temple until it reached the sea and made it fresh, trees on its banks bearing fruit for food and leaves for healing," said Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, WCC general secretary. "That is the promise this Season of Creation holds before the churches: where the waters of God's presence flow, what is dying can live again. Many of our member churches are among the communities already living this crisis, in drought and flood. For them, prayer and action are not two callings but one: the churches are called to become part of the river's healing, not to stand at the bank and watch." The World Meteorological Organization confirms 2026 as the warmest July on record. The year brought monsoon floods to Bangladesh, saw 700,000 evacuated in China, wildfires burning 250,000 hectares in Europe, and near 49°C heat in North Africa. On 28 July, UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell said the climate alarm was "blaring from every direction." The Season of Creation invites Christians worldwide to pray, learn, and advocate for creation. Worship resources, educational guides, and advocacy toolkits, including this year's Celebration Guide, are available in multiple languages online. Churches are invited to join the prayer service online and to take part in the Season of Creation activities through 4 October. Against that backdrop, the season forms one chapter in the WCC's Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action (2025–2034), launched in Johannesburg in 2025. Watch the Prayer Service for Creation Day Season of Creation 2026: Living Water Care for creation and climate justice Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland