Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

• World Council of Churches Begin Meeting

• Christian Leaders Debate Government's Responsibility for the Poor

• Presbyterians Take Closer Look at Trinity

• Two Suspects Believed Responsible for Church Fire Spree

World Council of Churches Begin Meeting

Leaders and envoys from across Christianity opened their most ambitious gathering in nearly a decade Tuesday, the AP reports. The World Council of Churches meeting - its biggest since 1998 – contains a full agenda: from the faith's many internal rifts to easing discord with Islam. Attendees will seek to clarify new priorities for a membership that covers more than 500 million followers: mainline Protestant denominations, Anglicans and Orthodox churches. The Roman Catholic Church is not a full WCC member, although it cooperates closely in many areas. The Christian congregations fully outside the WCC fold are likely to be a recurring theme during the 10-day assembly of more than 4,000 clerics, scholars and religious activists. The stunning growth of Pentecostal and other evangelical-style churches has left many WCC members struggling with shrinking congregations and declining influence in some regions - particularly in Africa, Latin America and increasingly China. At the same time, the mainstream denominations are watching church attendance fall steadily in Europe and elsewhere. "Christianity is undergoing radical changes," said one of the policy documents for the conference. "While Christianity appears to be on the decline in some parts of the world, it has become a dynamic force to others."