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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 07/12/2004

A CALL TO GO BEYOND INSTITUTIONS:
CONSULTATION ON ECUMENISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY

"The table is big enough for all of us" said the World Council of Churches
general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia at a 30 November-3 December
unprecedented meeting near Geneva, affirming the World Council of Churches'
(WCC) role of "facilitating the further and deeper participation of all those
involved in the ecumenical movement, including those that are not members of
the WCC."

More than 100 participants from WCC member churches, from the Roman Catholic
Church and from Pentecostal churches as well as from ecumenical
organizations, Christian World Communions (CWCs) and church-related agencies
came together to share their visions of ecumenism and to seek more effective
ways for the churches to work together in today's changing global context.

"People are tired of institutional ecumenism. They are challenging the
ecumenical movement to liberate itself from the narrow confines of
institutions and to reaffirm itself as a future-oriented movement," said His
Holiness Aram I, Moderator of the WCC, in his keynote speech, stressing that
"an ecumenical vision for the 21st century must be Gospel-centered and
mission-oriented."

The consultation's final statement emphasized the urgency of seeking new
forms of ecumenism. It also underlined the WCC's role to provide a forum for
"exchange and common advocacy against injustice", to "foster accountability
in the quality of relationships among churches and partners" and to "provide
space for the ecumenical movement to formulate a common ecumenical vision for
the 21st century".

"WCC is willing to change", underlined Kobia, "but this process is not
primarily about the WCC. It's about a new configuration of the whole
ecumenical movement. I am pleased to see the willingness of all the
participants at this consultation to change."

As further recommendations, the participants confirmed the importance of
ecumenical formation and an enhanced collaboration between the WCC, CWCs and
other members of the Christian family. The participants also identified the
necessity to clarify the relationship between the WCC, Regional Ecumenical
Organisations (REOs) and National Councils of Churches (NCCs) to achieve
greater ecumenical coherence and to explore alternative ways of funding for
greater financial stability. The church-related agencies present at the
consultation made a move towards closer cooperation in order to clarify their
role within the ecumenical movement.

The participants agreed to establish a continuation group for the
reconfiguration process and to carry out a mapping study of the existing
programmatic work of ecumenical and denominational bodies in 2005. The
15-people group will include representatives from WCC member churches and the
Roman Catholic church, as well as representatives from Pentecostal churches,
youth organizations, REOs, CWCs, NCCs, agencies and from the
non-institutional part of the ecumenical movement (e.g. Iona or Taizi
communities).

Bishop Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All African Conference of
Churches (AACC), praised the "sense of impatience and the purposefulness of
the reconfiguration process". He feels "greatly inspired by the constant call
that we have to go beyond the institutions, driven by clear visions of what
the world can be". Although affirming that the "challenge does not address
any single institution," he reaffirms the "pivotal role of the WCC as the
catalyst that makes the ecumenical movement vibrant again." 

The full texts of keynote speeches by the WCC moderator and general secretary
are available on our website at, respectively:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/aram-reconfiguration04.pdf 

http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/kobia-reconfiguration04.pdf

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in more
than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions.
The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with
the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which meets
approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary Samuel Kobia
from the Methodist church in Kenya.