wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Kobia calls for risky, change-provoking ecumenism

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 01/04/2005

KOBIA CALLS FOR RISKY, CHANGE-PROVOKING ECUMENISM

The ecumenical movement must remain a ferment of change, recovering the
spirit that led it to take risks, World Council of Churches (WCC) general
secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia told a gathering of Asian church leaders.

"The need for the ecumenical movement to maintain its character of
supplying the ferment of change" in spite of "recent preoccupations with
internal institutional challenges," was stressed by Kobia speaking on
Friday 1 April to representatives of over 100 Asian churches gathered in
Chiang Mai, Thailand, at the 12th general assembly of the Christian
Conference of Asia.

Kobia affirmed that the ability "to read the signs of the times, often
ahead of member churches and society in general" had been at the root of
the ecumenical movement's "stirring achievements  in the past. Among them
he highlighted its "bold and prophetic involvement in the struggles
against apartheid, military dictatorship and the suppression of human
rights".

But today, he said, "we seem to have lost some of the spirit that led us
to take risks". Among the reasons for this he mentioned the preoccupation
with "self-preservation", which leads organizational structures "to be
embroiled in the task of taking care of internal, institutional and
programmatic survival".

To reverse the "inwardly-directed obsession with our own structures," the
WCC general secretary proposed an "active encounter and creative engagement with the issues and challenges facing our world of today".

Among the current trends the ecumenical movement cannot ignore is the
"contemporary yearning for more experiential dimensions of faith," which
he sees especially among the younger generations. They are "crossing
boundaries of tradition and forming new spiritual and moral networks", he
said.

Another equally relevant trend is the "spirituality of life as experienced
among the poor and the social movements that support their cause." This is
bringing about "new alliances for life, [...] coalitions of resistance to
injustice, oppression and exclusion."

"We need to draw these two streams together into a creative dialogue,"
Kobia stated.

Kobia advocated an active search for "new meaning and new ways of being
the ecumenical movement," highlighting Asia's contribution to ecumenism.
That has been, he noted, the conviction that its purpose "is not to serve
its own interests and those of the institutional structures of the
churches, but to serve the causes of justice and peace in the world."

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The full text of the WCC general secretary's keynote speech is available
upon request.

For additional information see WCC press release of 23 March 2005 at:
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-05-08.html

This material may be reprinted freely.

- - -

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 347, 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.