wfn.org | Evangelicals plan lobby effort at WCC's Zimbabwe meeting

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 11, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
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WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Challenging the World Council of Churches (WCC) to
reaffirm its evangelical foundations, leaders of several church renewal
organizations have named a United Methodist to head a team carrying the
message to the WCC Assembly in Zimbabwe, Dec. 3-14.

The Rev. Thomas C. Oden, a Drew University theological school faculty
member, will lead the Jubilee Appeal Project of the Association for
Church Renewal, an organization of church renewal leaders from several
North American mainline Protestant denominations. Vice chairperson of
the project will be another United Methodist, Janice Shaw Crouse,
director of the Ecumenical Coalition on Women and Society.

The association released a document titled "Proclaim Liberty: A Jubilee
Appeal" at a press conference on Nov. 9. Four United Methodists and
several other members of the association spoke about the group's
concerns and called for renewal of the WCC as it observes its 50th
anniversary.

"This could be the last assembly of the World Council of Churches,"
declared Oden. He said the Orthodox member communions are in the process
of withdrawal from the WCC. The orthodox have chosen to send a very
low-level delegation to Zimbabwe and have chosen not to vote there, he
added.

Oden accused the WCC of pushing out evangelical Christians like those
represented by the association. "Under a rhetoric of inclusiveness,
evangelicals have been systematically excluded," he said. "Our
disenfranchisement has been almost complete for a number of years."

Another United Methodist, the Rev. James V. Heidinger II, president and
publisher of Good News magazine, said the WCC member churches
represented by the association, want the world organization "to be what
it was meant to be" with its roots in mission and evangelism. 

Crouse urged the WCC to reaffirm Jesus Christ as savior and son of God,
recognize the authority of Scripture and establish of religious liberty
as a priority.

"We urge the WCC to affirm that the gospel is the most effective force
in history for raising the dignity of women," she said.  "And, we urge
the WCC to proclaim that women are the beneficiaries, not the victims,
of the Christian faith, despite its imperfect outworking in history."

Faye Short, president of the RENEW Network for United Methodist women,
said the WCC's "Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Solidarity with Women"
was subverted into radical feminism in North America.  She called on the
church to address this "misdirection," to examine injustices, to speak
on controversial subjects and to share its message of equality for all
in Christ.

In addition to Oden and Crouse, Diane Knippers, an Episcopalian and
president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), will be part
of the team representing the association's point of view, reporting on
and lobbying at the Zimbabwe meeting. Knippers, a former staff member of
Good News,  is vice chairperson of the association. Other team members
are the Rev. Parker Williamson, executive editor of the Presbyterian
Layman; his spouse, Patricia Williamson, an active Presbyterian
laywoman; and the Rev. Donna Hailson, a member of the board of directors
of the American Baptist Evangelicals organization.

Other speakers at the press conference included, Alan F. H. Wisdom, vice
president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy.  He addressed the
biblical concept of jubilee among the Hebrews in which every 50 years,
all slaves were freed, debt was forgiven and land was restored to the
original owners.

He expressed concern that the WCC might focus exclusively on the
forgiveness of foreign or international debt, rather than the need to
practice stewardship of all the earth's resources. He particularly urged
the WCC to acknowledge the corruption of some governments.  Rather than
give relief through the governments, he proposed promoting
micro-enterprise that would benefit families.

In response to a query from United Methodist News Service, Jan Love, a
United Methodist member of the WCC, said from her home in Columbia,
S.C., that she welcomes the potential for dialogue with association
members.

"I'm delighted that they're interested enough in the World Council of
Churches that they take the assembly seriously and want to have an
impact on it," she commented. She said the evangelicals' perspectives
are welcome at the assembly, where "the point of the whole gathering is
to have dialogue across different Christian understandings."

Love expressed the belief that the association has passionate concern
for particular issues. But, she said, the data its members are using
about the Orthodox position dates from earlier in the year when
representatives of the Eastern Orthodox churches met in Thessaloniki,
Greece. Some of these organizations were so discontent that they decided
to downgrade their participation, she said. (See UMNS story #637, "WCC
to ponder future at assembly in Zimbabwe.")  The Oriental Orthodox
churches were not at the meeting and have never threatened to withdraw
from the council, Love stressed.

"The World Council has never abandoned evangelism and mission as its
primary emphasis," Love asserted. The previous general secretary, who
left office in 1993, "came enthusiastically and whole-heartedly out of
that stream of the council's work," she said.  

Every time council members gather they declare Jesus Christ as savior
and affirm the centrality of that declaration to "who we are," she
added.

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