wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Living Letters solidarity visit to Tuvalu

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>World Council of Churches - News

>LIVING LETTERS SOLIDARITY VISIT TO TUVALU

>For immediate release: 18 May 2010

A team of church representatives will pay a solidarity visit to
churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in  Tuvalu
from 25-27 May 2010. The team will be travelling as "Living Letters
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fb410f5f79997c2ce498 )"  on
behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Tuvalu is a small island nation made up of nine tiny atolls near  Fiji that
stands barely a metre above sea level and is threatened by rising  sea
levels. In the past years alone, Tuvalu has already lost one metre  of land
around the circumference of their largest atoll.

According to climate scientists, the 12,000 people living on Tuvalu  and the
inhabitants of other small islands in the South Pacific are facing  the
risk of being submerged within the coming decades, because of the
consistently rising sea level.

The case of Tuvalu clearly shows how human induced climate change  affects
the livelihoods and safety of people, and therefore becomes a challenge  to
peace.

"The role of the church is to accommodate any issues that jeopardize  the
way forward for our people ... because the people are carrying God’ s
image" said the Rev. Tofiga Falani, president of the Congregational
Christian Church of Tuvalu, during the United Nations climate change
negotiations, COP 15, in Copenhagen (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f38848bd7b5cf329f31d
) (Denmark). We rely so much on hope and your prayers," he said.  "Our
petition is that we want to survive."

Living Letters are small ecumenical teams visiting a country to  listen,
learn, share approaches and help to confront challenges in order  to
overcome violence, promote and pray for peace.

The “Living Letters” team travelling to Tuvalu in  May 2010 will be
composed of:
Bishop Sofie Petersen, Lutheran, GreenlandElias Abramides, Ecumenical
Patriarchate, Argentina, member of the WCC Working Group on Climate
ChangeNikos Kosmidis, Church of Greece, member of Echos (the WCC
Commission on youth in the ecumenical movement)Arthur Shoo, director,
Empowerment and Capacity Building, All Africa Conference of Churches
(AACC)
Host: Rev. Tofiga Falani, president of the Congregational Christian  Church
of Tuvalu

Country profile and WCC member churches in Tuvalu (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0558c3d4d71225a18266 )

WCC activities for climate justice (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=1e193fc24923395e33a3 )

Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=39a2da53c7aae8c4a766 )

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=31bd3342d34898b5822e )

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 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.