wfn.org | [ACNS] Anglican Digest 23 Sept 2005

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

The following is a roundup of the recent ACNS Digest stories, with
reports from  US, ACO, England, Lambeth and Nigeria. The ACNS Digest can
be found here:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/digest/index.cfm

(468) 21-September-2005 - Special Commission on Episcopal Church - USA

The first meeting of the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and
the Anglican Communion will take place Monday, November 7, at the
Episcopal Church Center in New York.

The 14-member commission was appointed by Presiding Bishop Frank T.
Griswold and the Very Rev. George L. W. Werner, president of the House
of Deputies. They charged the commission with preparing the way for
General Convention to receive and respond to the Windsor Report, the
February 2005 communique of the primates from Dromantine, and the
actions of the June 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council.

The Windsor Report was released in October, 2004 by the Lambeth
Commission on Communion, established by the Archbishop of Canterbury in
2003 in response to reactions in the world-wide Anglican Communion to
the election and consecration in 2003 of V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of
New Hampshire. Robinson is an openly gay man who lives in a committed
relationship with his long-term partner.

The report also addressed the decision of the Canadian diocese of New
Westminster to permit the blessing of committed same-gender
relationships.

The primates of the Anglican Communion issued a communique at the end of
their meeting in Dromantine in Northern Ireland. The primates asked,
among other points, that the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of
Canada "respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the
questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they
consider their place within the Anglican Communion."

In June, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the principal
deliberative body of the Anglican Communion and one of its four
"instruments of unity," agreed with the primates' request that ACC
members from the United States and Canada voluntarily withdraw from
active membership on the council for the time leading up to the next
Lambeth Conference in 2008. Those members did withdraw and attended the
June meeting as observers. They and others made requested presentations
to the ACC about both church's experience with same-gender
relationships.

Griswold and Werner asked the commission, on which they both will serve
as well, to consider those reports and actions "as they pertain to the
life of the Episcopal Church and our relationship to the other provinces
of the Anglican Communion."

"In doing so, the Special Commission will need to consider how we within
the Episcopal Church can be faithful to God's mission in the  world as
we continue to live with divergent points of view held by faithful men
and women," the two wrote in a letter to the members.

"We were seeking a group of people of diverse opinion of the highest
quality who can handle such complex issues as these," Werner told
Episcopal News Service. "I am deeply grateful to those who have accepted
this appointment."

The Special Commission will prepare a report with proposed resolutions,
if any, for the Blue Book of the 75th General Convention next June. The
Blue Book is each convention's official compilation of reports and
proposed legislation from the committees, commissions,	agencies, and
boards of the General Convention.

The commission's members are: Sarah Dylan Breuer of Frederick, Maryland
(Province III); the Rev. Dr. Ian T. Douglas of Episcopal Divinity School
(Province I); the Rev. Mark Harris of Lewes, Delaware (Province III);
the Rev. Dr. Katherine Grieb of Virginia Theological Seminary (Province
III); the Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson Jr., bishop of Upper South
Carolina (Province IV); the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop
of Nevada (Province VIII); the Rt. Rev. Henry Louttit Jr., bishop of
Georgia (Province IV); the Rev. Charles E. Osberger of Wye Mills,
Maryland (Province III); the Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk, bishop of New York
(Province II); the Rev. Canon Rosemari Sullivan of Virginia Theological
Seminary (Province III); Katherine Tyler Scott of Indianapolis, Indiana
(Province V); the Rev. Francis H. Wade of Washington, D.C. (Province
III); Christopher Wells of South Bend, Indiana (Province V); and the
Rev. Sandra A. Wilson of South Orange, New Jersey (Province II).

Article taken from Episcopal News Service -  Mary Frances Schjonberg

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(467) 21-September-2005 - Updates for Anglican Cycle of Prayer now
available - ACO

The Anglican Communion Office has now updated the Anglican Cycle of
Prayer (ACP) web site with material for the fourth quarter
(October-December 2005). The ACP is available for download in three
formats at www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/downloads.cfm. The main
calendar page can be found here

Anglican Cycle of Prayer has been available from the Anglican Communion
web site since January of last year.

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(466) 20-September-2005 - Church of England - Caterpillar: No current
grounds for disinvestment - England

A robust and rigorous review of the Church of England's shareholding in
Caterpillar Inc - the US-based manufacturer of construction and mining
equipment - has resulted in a decision by the Church's Ethical
Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) not to recommend disinvestment at this
time.

In May of this year, the EIAG committed itself to a period of
consultation and engagement following representations made to it about
the Church's investment in Caterpillar.  The Group was informed in its
decision by the fact that there have been no sales for some years now,
and this, together with possibilities in the present delicate political
negotiations, made it the wrong time to recommend disinvestment.
However, the EIAG was clear that, were sales to resume, the matter would
have to be revisited.

The EIAG has now issued this response to the interested parties:

In May, following representations made about the use of Caterpillar
equipment in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Ethical Investment
Advisory Group (EIAG) gave careful consideration to the Church of
England's investment in Caterpillar Inc.  As a result it committed
itself to a period of consultation and engagement with all interested
parties encompassing the company, and groups representing Jewish,
Palestinian and Christian opinion. This was carried out over the summer.
The Group is grateful for the thoughtful contributions made by all those
whom it has consulted, and to whom it has listened.  Engagement with
Caterpillar and other parties will continue.

The EIAG met on 12 September to reflect further on the representations
it had received.  The Group has listened with care to the many points
that have been made and has sought to balance its recommendation with
its reflections on the information that has been gathered.  As a result
of this process the EIAG has determined -

that its May decision not to advocate disinvestment from Caterpillar
should be continued, particularly at the present time of political
fluidity given Israel's disengagement from Gaza.

However, the EIAG is concerned at the uses to which the Israeli
authorities have put Caterpillar machines in the past.	It will
therefore actively monitor the situation, and review this decision
rigorously if further sales are made that appear likely to result in the
destruction of infrastructure or to place lives or livelihoods at risk.

As part of its reflection, the EIAG affirms support for prayerful
efforts towards lasting peace in the Middle East. To that end the EIAG
believes that a dialogue around investment and reconstruction in both
Israel and Palestine is crucial if conditions that allow peace and
justice to prevail are to be nurtured.

EIAG Chairman, the Ven Ian Russell (Archdeacon of Coventry 1989-2000),
said: "We have now looked with great care at issues both of fact and of
principle in a situation which is neither simple nor static.  Strongly
held views have been put to us with conviction and force.  We have
concluded that current circumstances do not justify a recommendation to
disinvest, but that it will be essential for us to continue to keep in
close touch with relevant developments".

Notes for editors:

The Church of England established the EIAG in 1994 to offer advice and
guidance, and to co-ordinate policy on ethical investment issues for the
Church's central investment bodies: the Church Commissioners, the
Central Board of Finance, and the Church of England Pensions Board.  The
EIAG is also responsible for keeping the policy under review to ensure
its continued relevance.

The EIAG has no investment powers of its own but acts in a wholly
advisory capacity.  It is the responsibility of the Trustees of each
separately constituted investment body to decide whether to implement
the advice given.

The Church's investment in Caterpillar Inc was valued at the end of the
last financial year at just under £2.2 million.  The Church
Commissioners owned shares worth some £2 million, and CBF Church Funds
£190,000.

Further information from:
Louis Henderson or Peter Crumpler		tel (020) 7898-1326

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(465) 17-September-2005 - Archbishop of Canterbury Addresses opening
ceremony for Sant'Egidio - Lambeth

The Archbishop of Canterbury

Address at opening ceremony Sant'Egidio International Meeting of Prayer
for Peace - Palais de Congress, Lyons

Sunday 11 September

My diary for the seventh of July involved a very early start from London
in order to travel to the North of England. I was due to meet a number
of Muslim leaders in West Yorkshire - a region with a very high Muslim
population - and to visit some of their institutions. The invitation
arose from the close partnership in the area between the Anglican
diocese of Wakefield and several local Muslim groups.

We had almost arrived in the town where the first meeting was to take
place when the message came through on my chaplain's mobile phone that
the London Underground had been closed because of what looked like a
bomb attack. We managed to confirm that my daughter, who travels across
London to school each day, had got there safely. By the time we arrived,
it had become clear that more than one incident had happened, and that
the likelihood was that a terrorist group had been responsible.

This meant that already when I stepped out of the car at the Muslim
madrasa where the first meeting was to occur, there was a great deal of
emotion in the air. My Muslim hosts were anxious and confused; everyone
was apprehensive. When I emerged from going around the madrasa, a
television crew had assembled, and several local journalists. I was able
to make a first, unscripted statement on television, directly in front
of one of the largest Muslim institutions in Northern England, to speak
not only of the shock and condemnation which I wanted to express but of
the revulsion of those who stood around me at this indiscriminate and
brutal violence.

Throughout that extraordinary day the same message was reinforced time
and again. As more and more details came in, the local Muslims involved
in the meetings went out of their way to offer words of condolence and
to insist that this action was 'not in their name', whoever was
responsible.

It was a day of cruel ironies. The substance of our discussions was the
prospects for more and better co-operation between Christian and Muslim
communities in the work of urban regeneration in a very poorly-resourced
region. Several of the Muslims present - including a Member of
Parliament and many involved in local government - manifestly saw
themselves as a natural part of the political landscape in Britain. Some
of my own contribution to the discussion drew upon my experience a few
weeks earlier, when I had chaired a lengthy consultation in Sarajevo on
the theme of how Muslims and Christians could identify a common agenda
in the western social context, sharing their perspectives on matters
like the support of stable families, the place of faith in education,
and how the law could take better account of the convictions of
religious believers, rather than assuming that faith was always
necessarily a private concern only.

Sarajevo had involved leading Muslim academics from across the world, as
well as Christians of all confessions, working together against the
background of a recent history of brutal slaughter and civil strife. We
daily walked past buildings still scarred by bullets and shells or
burnt-out by bomb-blasts. But there was a powerful common willingness to
find ways of identifying the common good for a religiously and
ethnically plural society, a common good defined not by the abstract
legal unity that a secularist would assume but by some sort of
convergence about what was sowed to human beings as God's creatures and
the objects of God's calling.

Those Christians and Muslims who were working together in West Yorkshire
had already begun to make such a vision a practical reality. During that
long and hard day, with everyone's mind partially distracted in thinking
about what London was suffering and fearing, the reality of a common
task already understood and begun helped us carry on. The destructive
ideology of those who caused the carnage in London could not be the
whole story; and there were many people there in West Yorkshire
determined that this is how it would remain.

For me as a Christian that day, the gift was to see how the hospitality
of local Christian communities in West Yorkshire had opened up relations
with others, so that fear and resentment could be expressed, explored
and dealt with. When I returned to London, it was with a strengthened
sense of how in the long term it seems that hospitality changes things
in a way that aggression and counter-aggression do not - but also with a
strengthened sense of how hospitality can, in the eyes of a compulsively
(and understandably) anxious world, look like foolishness. The
foolishness of the cross, ultimately.

+Rowan Williams 2005

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(464) 17-September-2005 - From the Interfaith Office NIFCON - ACO

Communique for the Anglican/al-Azhar dialogue committee

The Joint Committee, which is composed of a delegation from the Anglican
Communion and from the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar al-Sharif for
Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions, held its fourth annual meeting
in Al-Azhar at Lambeth Palace, London on 15 September 2005 which
corresponds to 11 Shaban 1426. This was held in accord with the
agreement signed at Lambeth Palace on 30 January 2002 by the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar.

The theme of our dialogue in 2005 has been Christians and Muslims as
minorities and majorities in the Middle East and the West. The Joint
Committee learned about developments in various parts of the world and
in particular from the Most Revd Alexander Malik about the situation in
Pakistan. The Joint Committee heard and discussed the following papers
presented by Christian members of the Committee:

The relationship of religion to the state, to law and to peace - (The Rt
Revd Dr Michael Nazir Ali)

Christian minorities in Islamic countries - (The Rt Revd Dr Mouneer H
Anis)

Political, Legal and Social Questions for minorities and majorities - a
Christian perspective from Britain - (The Revd Canon Dr Christopher
Lamb)

The Joint Committee also heard and discussed the following papers
presented by Muslim members of the Committee:

Minorities in the Islamic Community - (Shaykh Fawzy el-Zefzaf)

Muslims as Minorities in the West - Dr Zaki Badawi)

The role of the media in enhancing interfaith - (Dr Ali El Samaan)

All members of the Committee for dialogue strongly condemned the
terrorist attacks which took place in London and Sharm el-Sheikh during
July 2005.

Such recent events in both the Middle East and the West reminded us
strongly how important it was for religious minorities, both Christian
and Muslim, to be able to live in peace and security, and as full
participants in the political and social life of the country of which
they were citizens. The majority religious community has the duty to
facilitate this, both as a religious obligation and for the well-being
of society.

It is equally important that religious minorities should seek to abide
by the law of the country where they are resident, or of which they are
citizens. We noted specifically that Islam calls for Muslims to abide by
and respect the laws and regulations of the non-Islamic countries where
they live.

We had a particular concern for freedom of religion and the right to
worship. We hold that this is an important human right, and that there
should be reciprocity in this respect between communities which are
predominantly Christian and those which are predominantly Muslim.

We acknowledged that in our 'globalised' world, international events and
conflicts often contributed to, or exacerbated, regional, national or
local tensions, or were used by extremists to try to justify terrorist
activity. We call upon political and religious leaders to work to
resolve such conflicts in a way that respects the right to
self-determination of all people. In the awareness of the changing
political situation in the Palestinian territories, we expressed our
hope that developments there might be an important step on a path that
would eventually allow for both the right of the Palestinian people to
national self-determination and to the right of Israel to live in peace
and security.

A particular focus of the dialogue meeting in 2005 was the signing of a
study exchange agreement between members of the Joint Committee in the
presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Egyptian Ambassador to
the United Kingdom, to inaugurate a study exchange process which would
allow younger scholars, both Christian and Muslim, from Egypt and the
United Kingdom, to spend time studying in religious institutions of the
other faith. We believe that it is particularly important at the present
time that the commitment to work toward inter faith understanding should
be owned by younger as well as older members of our faith communities.

We agreed that the Joint Committee should meet again in autumn 2006.

Signed

Rt Revd Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester Chair

Sheikh Fawzy el Zef-zef, Al Azhar Dialogue Committee

Rt Revd Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt Vice-Chair

Dr Ali El Samman, Al Azhar Dialogue Committee

Most Revd Alexander Malik, Bishop of Lahore, Moderator of Church of
Pakistan

Dr Zaki Badawi

Canon Christopher Lamb

For further information, please contact Clare Amos, NIFCON Coordinator,
who assists in administering the dialogue
mailto:clare.amos@anglicancommunion.org

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(463) 16-September-2005 - Church of Nigeria News - Nigeria

15th September, 2005.

Press Release :

Church of Nigeria Redifines Anglican Communion.

With a careful rewording of her constitution, the Church of Nigeria
(Anglican Communion) redefined her relationship with all other Anglican
Churches.

All former references to 'communion with the see of Canterbury' were
deleted and replaced with another provision of communion with all
Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the
'Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline  of the one Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church'.

Emphasis was also placed on the 1662 version of the Book of Common
Prayer and the historic Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.

The Constitutional change also allowed the Church to create Convocations
and Chaplaincies of like-minded faithful outside Nigeria. This
effectively gives legal teeth to the Convocation of Anglican Nigerians
in Americas (CANA) formed to give a worshiping refuge to thousands in
the USA who no longer feel welcomed to worship in the Liberal churches
especially with the recent theological innovations encouraging practices
which the Nigerians recognize as sin.

Excerpt of the minutes read;

At the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion holding
in Onitsha Diocese on the Niger on the 14th day of September, 2005, the
Constitution of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 2002 was
amended as follows:

Chapter 1 Section 3

Chapter 1 Section 3 was amended by deleting sub-sections 1, 2, and 3,
and replaced with new section 3, thus.

'The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) hereinafter called 'The
Church of Nigeria' or 'This Church' shall be in full communion with all
Anglican Churches Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the
Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church as the Lord has commanded in His holy
word and as the same are received as taught in the Book of Common Prayer
and the ordinal of 1662 and in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.'

Chapter IX Section 39 (a)-(f)

Add a new sub-section (c) and re-number the section thus:

(c) to create convocations, chaplaincies of like-minded faithful outside
Nigeria and to appoint persons within or outside Nigeria to administer
them and the Primate shall give Episcopal Oversight

Chapter 16 Section 75 add a new sub-section 8 thus:

(8) Convocation shall mean non-geographic collection of Churches and
Mission

And re-number the rest of the sub-section.

To ensure adequate care for the existing Convocation, the Episcopal
Synod which met on Wednesday after the Holy Communion Service set up an
Advisory Committee comprising of eight bishops, one Priest, and the
Registrar of the Church.

The Most Rev. Maxwell Anikwenwa,   Dean and Archbishop Province of the
Niger
The Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, Bishop of Enugu
The Rt. Rev. Segun Okubadejo, Bishop of Ibadan-North
The Rt. Rev. Benjamin Kwashi, Bishop of Jos
The Rt. Rev. Caleb Maduoma, Bishop of Ideato
The Rt. Rev. Peter Adebiyi, Bishop of Lagos-west
Barrister Abraham Yisa, Registrar
Ven. Sola, The Director of Global Anglican Relations

They will initiate policy, and monitor implementation of the programmes
of CANA under the supervision of the Primate of All Nigeria.

Signed: The Rev. Canon Akin Tunde Popoola Director of Communication

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(462) 15-September-2005 - York Diocese and Minster Support Katrina
Victims - ACO

Helping the Churches of Mississippi help the victims of Hurricane
Katrina York Minster is linking up with St Andrew's Cathedral, Jackson,
Mississippi, to channel donations from northern England to church relief
efforts in the devastated Gulf Coast of America.

The Anglican Diocese of Mississippi, working in close partnership with
other Christian churches, is spending thousands of dollars a day to meet
the immediate needs of a huge number of evacuees left destitute and
displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi is the poorest State in
America, and much of the burden of helping those who have lost
everything has fallen on local church communities. Urgent needs include
food, water, housing, household goods, clothing, shoes, schooling,
medical care and more.

Donations given to York Minster will go directly to Jackson Cathedral to
help the churches of Mississippi help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Former North Yorkshire Vicar the Reverend Tim Jones is now Vicar of St
Paul's, Corinth, in northern Mississippi. Shortly after the hurricane
struck he contacted York Minster to ask for support for the churches'
efforts to help people in need. "Towards the coast there is a vast
swathe of utter devastation, still occupied by thousands of people who
are in need of help. Having watched some of the BBC coverage I find
myself very frustrated at the relative lack of coverage about what is
happening on the Gulf Coast."

On hearing that York Minster Hurricane Katrina Appeal had been launched,
the Reverend Tim Jones said, "Thank you - you have no idea how
encouraging this is."

Canon Theologian of York Minster Dr Jonathan Draper said, "Church
members in Mississippi are in the front line of helping needy people
from day to day. People of good will in the north of England will want
to stand alongside them and those they are helping, and the York Minster
Hurricane Katrina Appeal is one way they can do that. Through the
cathedrals of York and Jackson, every penny will help local churches to
help hurricane victims rebuild their lives."

Donations may be sent to: York Minster Hurricane Katrina Appeal, Church
House, Ogleforth, York YO1 7JN, or placed in a designated collecting box
in the Minster. Cheques should be payable to York Minster Hurricane
Katrina Appeal.

For further information contact Martin Sheppard, Diocesan Communications
Officer, on 01904 699530 (martin.sheppard@yorkdiocese.org), or Eleanor
Course, York Minster Media Co-Ordinator, on 01904 557216
(eleanorc@yorkminster.org).

Notes for Editors:

1. Information on church action in the hurricane zone may be found at
the following web sites, and direct donations can also be made through
them:

Diocese of Mississippi: www.dioms.org

Episcopal Relief and Development: www.er-d.org

2. The Reverend Tim Jones, 38, was Vicar of East and West Rounton and
Welbury, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, and Cleveland Archdeaconry
Youth Officer until 2002 when he became Vicar of St Paul's, Corinth, in
northern Mississippi.

See www.stpaulscorinth.org

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(461) 15-September-2005 - Anglicans Join Ecumenical Partners in Global
Poverty Forum - ACO

A Call to Partnership- Communique from the Consultation of Religious
Leaders on Global Poverty

September 13, 2005

Please note: Attending the consultation: the Secreary General of the
Anglican Communion Canon Kenneth Kearon, Lord Carey of Clifton,
Archbishop Ndungane of Cape Town, the Archbishop and Primate of Canada,
Bishop John Chane, and some 30 other global Christian leaders.

Ed.

Preamble

At the urgent call of Church leaders in the southern hemisphere, we came
together at Washington National Cathedral as Christian leaders from
diverse traditions and places, both rich and poor, South and North,
united in a common concern for those of us living in poverty. We see
their faces; we hear their voices; they are a part of us, and we are a
part of them.

As the United Nations reaches its 60th anniversary, we give thanks for
its work in peacemaking and global reconciliation, particularly the
historic commitment to eradicate poverty in the Millennium Declaration
of 2000. Five years have passed, and despite this triumph of principle,
there has been a failure in practice. In this communiqu?, we offer our
partnership to the leaders gathered at the World Summit at the United
Nations in building a global movement to make real the promises of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a crucial step toward a more just
world for all God's children.

Declaration

We believe that God calls us to place people struggling with poverty at
the center of our concern. Globalization has brought unprecedented
economic growth. At the same time, one-sixth of the world's people still
fight daily for survival under the crushing burden of extreme poverty.
The increasing concentration of wealth in our world, while so many
suffer, is a scandal that impoverishes us all.

We believe that the spirit of partnership between rich and
poor,exemplified in the MDGs, is a way the world can address poverty in
all its dimensions. In particular, we support the Goal of a 'global
partnership for development' and believe that the Churches can make a
unique contribution
to that partnership.

We believe that our communities of faith, representing millions of
people and sponsoring numerous human-development initiatives, can
provide new models for advancing a global movement against poverty. The
Churches have a vast network of institutions, trusted relationships with
millions of people, and access to countless local communities, all rich
resources for development.

Call to Governments

In light of the urgency of the needs of the most vulnerable, we call
upon governments to take the following actions:

Create a Just Society: We recognize that poverty cannot be uncoupled
from
structrures of injustice in the world. We call upon governments to
protect human life, defend human rights, foster just economies, and
create conditions in which all people can fulfill their human potential.

Build Partnerships: In many countries productive partnerships have been
established between government and Churches, but more possibilities lie
ahead. We call on governments to facilitate partnerships with Churches
and religious organizations so that the poor become protagonists in
their own destinies.

Promote accountability and transparency. Corruption and a lack of
transparency and accountability rob the poor of significant resources
and pose an obstacle to development in many countries. We know that
nations and international institutions have undertaken anti-corruption
initiatives; we commend these and urge that far greater resources be
devoted to their implementation.

Cancel Debt: We commend this summer's debt cancellation agreement of the
G-8 as a significant advance, and urge world leaders to build upon this
agreement. Too many nations still labor under a burden of debt that does
not allow them to invest in the health, education, and economic
development of their peoples. We call upon creditor nations and
international institutions to cancel the remaining debt of all nations
struggling with extreme poverty.

Increase Development Assistance: We commend those countries that have
increased development assistance in response to the Millennium
Declaration and the Monterrey Consensus. We challenge all nations to
fulfill the commitments they have made to increase development
assistance dramatically.

Promote Trade Justice: Too little progress has been made in making the
World's trade systems fair and just for developing countries and
peoples. We call upon the nations of the world to level the playing
field for trade.

Security: In too many regions and countries, armed conflict exacerbates
extreme poverty, which in turn sows the seeds of future conflicts. We
call upon the leaders of nations to protect innocent populations, reduce
the flow of arms, and support peace building.

A Call to the Church

In making these calls to governments, we know that the Churches
themselves must be active partners in the work of development and
building a just world economy. We affirm the work of countless Church
communities and faith-based relief and development agencies that work
for and with those living in extreme poverty. At its best, this work
acknowledges the leadership of persons in poverty, engages poor
communities as partners in human development, moves us to work across
denominational and faith lines, and brings us into productive
partnerships with governments and the private sector.

Our call to the churches builds upon our strengths. At the same time, we
humbly recognize our weaknesses. As Christian leaders we challenge our
own Churches to pursue partnerships with governments, international
organizations, civil society, and across confessional lines. Without new
strategic partnerships, the world will fail to fulfill the aspirations
of the Millennium Declaration.

We encourage the Churches to deepen and intensify efforts to promote
transparency and accountability, both in their own development work and
in the work of their governments. Locally rooted church communities, in
collaboration with civil society, can help governments monitor
distribution of resources and evaluate results.

Our hope and Commitment

In faith and obedience to God, and in humility, we are compelled to be
agents of hope, doers of justice, and lovers of kindness. We believe the
Millennium Development Goals can be achieved by 2015. These targets of
basic material well-being can only be reached in the context of peace,
human rights, environmental sustainability, and gender equity.

Building a just society involves costs and risks. We will stand with
courageous political, religious, and community leaders. We commit
ourselves to work as partners with all who work to achieve a more just
and peaceful world. As the United Nations reaches its 60th anniversary,
we give thanks for its work in peacemaking and global reconciliation,
particularly the historic commitment to eradicate poverty in the
Millennium Declaration of 2000. Five years have passed, and despite this
triumph of principle, there has been a failure in practice. In this
communique, we offer our partnership to the leaders gathered at the
World Summit at the United Nations in building a global movement to make
real the promises of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a
crucial step toward a more just world for all God's children.

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