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.

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.

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