World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 20/11/2006 11:58:26 AM
"REVERED, RESPECTED AND LOVED"
KOBIA PAYS TRIBUTE TO BISHOP K. H. TING AS "LIVING ECUMENICAL ANCESTOR"
Free photos available, see below
"In China, we say we are post-denominational and are engaging in theological reconstruction; we are no longer Presbyterian or Methodist or Anglican," Bishop K. H. Ting told a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation. "The church in China must be Chinese, and should not attempt to make itself foreign in any way," he said.
Speaking on 17 November to the visiting WCC delegation, Ting said that there are "fewer and fewer Christians" who insist on continuing some form of denominationalism in China. "I think a great contribution of this fading out of denominationalism is to make Christian groups more accountable," Ting said.
The WCC delegation, led by its general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, met Bishop Ting at his residence in Nanjing. Ting is the honorary president of the China Christian Council (CCC) and honorary chairman of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) of the Chinese Protestant Churches. Kobia paid tribute to what Ting has meant to Christianity in China and for his contribution to the WCC and the ecumenical movement as a whole.
"You have certainly been the pioneer of ecumenism in China. As theologian, scholar, pastor and leader, you have challenged the thinking of the broader ecumenical family, particularly in the area of ecumenical social thought. We acknowledge you not just as a great leader, but also as 'patriarch of post-denominationalism'," Kobia said.
The WCC general secretary referred to Ting as a "living ecumenical ancestor", borrowing an expression from Ghanaian Methodist theologian Dr Mercy Amba Oduyoye. "These are a few, rare individuals in the history of the ecumenical movement to whom we can go, and simply by being with them, begin to discern on a deeper level what ecumenism really means. You are one of these - revered, respected and loved within the wider ecumenical movement," Kobia told Ting.
The WCC general secretary also affirmed the Council's commitment to being in solidarity with the Christian Council of China. "We are here to say that the WCC is prepared to accompany the continuing process of theological reconstruction that you have already so well begun to articulate in China."
Formerly the head of the CCC and chair of the TSPM, Bishop Ting was born in Shanghai in 1915 and is the president of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. His mission, which has spanned more than six decades of change in China, has been to address reconciliation between church and society, Christians and non-Christians, China and the world.
The ecumenical delegation accompanying the WCC general secretary on his visit 15-22 November to China is composed of Rev. Dr Tyrone Pitts (WCC central committee member, general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, USA); Rev. Dr Seong-Won Park (WCC central committee member, from the Presbyterian Church of Korea, South Korea); Rev. Fr Gabriel Papanicolaou (ecumenical officer of the Church of Greece), Dr Mathews George Chunakara, (WCC Asia secretary) and, as consultants, Dr Monika Gaenssbauer (director of the China Study Project of the Protestant churches and mission agencies in Germany) and Rev. Deborah DeWinter (WCC programme executive for the United States).
For additional information about the visit see also: http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-13.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-11.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-06-45.html
A more detailed visit programme outline is available at: http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/chinavisit-06.html
Free high-resolution photos are available at:
http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China03.jpg http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China02.jpg http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China01.jpg
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 promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
