The actions of a group of German church members in 1934 to resist the Nazi regime still serve as a powerful model for churches today according to the head of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, But there is a dark side to the story, too.

Leaders of indigenous American Indian tribes are being invited to participate in celebrations in the United States to mark the launch of a new global church organization.

Calvinists are being urged to celebrate the 500th anniversary of their founders' birth by working for the unity of the church, promoting social justice and respect for creation, and by addressing war and violence.

An ecumenical Christian commemoration of the millions of Africans who died in the barbaric cruelty of the transatlantic slave trade is also highlighting the continuing oppression of their descendants around the world.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has said that a South African church, suspended from the grouping in 1982, cannot be readmitted because it has not renounced the support for the apartheid ideology that led to its exclusion.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), which brings together 75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries, has moved decisively to increase its global reach on economic and ecological justice issues.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has agreed to unite with the Reformed Ecumenical Council to create a new "global entity" that will group 80 million Reformed Christians.

Leaders of the world's biggest grouping of Reformed churches have compared the effects of neoliberal economic globalisation to the transatlantic slave trade, and said that Christians need to combat this modern form of "enslavement".

The general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches has renewed calls for greater efforts at achieving equality and justice in global Christian mission relations, continuing a long-standing debate.