wfn.org | "Radical Changes" Ahead for World Council of Churches

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17-September-1996 
 
 
96357 "Radical Changes" Ahead for World Council of Churches 
 
                         by Stephen Brown 
                  Ecumenical News International 
 
GENEVA--The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), 
Konrad Raiser, has called for radical changes in the structure of the 
Council. 
 
     The WCC, which is based in Geneva and will celebrate its 50th 
anniversary in 1998, runs a wide range of theological, educational and aid 
programs in cooperation with its 330 member churches around the world. The 
member churches represent all the mainstream traditions of Christianity, 
with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church, which is not a WCC member, 
although there is ongoing cooperation between the WCC and the Roman 
Catholic Church. 
 
     Presenting his report to a meeting of the WCC's Central Committee, 
which began in Geneva Sept. 12 amid widespread concern about the WCC's 
financial situation, Raiser, a prominent German theologian and ecumenist 
who took up his post of general secretary at the beginning of 1993, warned 
that traditional income from churches and church bodies would decline 
further and no substantial increases could be foreseen. 
 
     There was little prospect of "immediate relief " by finding new 
sources of income, he added. 
 
     He told the 156-member Central Committee that the ability of the WCC 
to respond to its "basic mandate" was not in jeopardy.  However, its income 
was no longer sufficient to maintain its present level of activities. 
 
     Possibilities for savings through further staff reductions within the 
existing WCC structure were "virtually exhausted," he said.  To regain 
financial viability, Raiser said, the WCC had to implement "basic changes" 
before its next assembly in 1998 in Harare, Zimbabwe. 
 
     Raiser said that when the theme of the Zimbabwe assembly -- "Turn to 
God, Rejoice in Hope" -- was first proposed, "few could anticipate that the 
invitation to  conversion' might so soon be addressed to the WCC itself." 
 
     The WCC stood at a crossroads, Raiser said,  adding that "it will be 
decisive which way we turn.  Painful as it is, the financial crisis has 
perhaps come at the right moment." 
 
     Pointing out that the word "crisis" could mean both "danger" and 
"opportunity," Raiser challenged the Central Committee to "seize the 
opportunities offered to us and shape them constructively." 
 
     Highlighting the attempt to develop a new "common understanding and 
vision" for the WCC before the Harare assembly, Raiser said that only 
through a "shared conviction among the member churches about the future 
role of the Council"  would the WCC be able to overcome the "present 
crisis" and "develop a new, more sustainable shape" for the WCC. 
 
     In a hard-hitting speech, Raiser said that there was "ample evidence" 
that the WCC's institutional structure -- with its multiple levels of 
governing and advisory bodies -- had become "too heavy," and that too much 
time and energy was spent on activities which had only "limited effect on 
the life of member churches." 
 
     Fixed quotas in the WCC's decision-making bodies for women, youth, 
laypeople, regions and confessions were a sign of a desire for 
participation in the WCC's work, but "at the same time they further the 
institutional captivity of the WCC." 
 
     He warned that the WCC had "probably reached the end of a road that 
began some 30 years ago," since the end of the Second Vatican Council -- 
which ushered in radical changes in the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
     Although ecumenical activity had expanded enormously since the 1960s, 
Raiser said, the expectations, habits and institutional arrangements "into 
which we have comfortably settled during this period are rapidly becoming 
barriers to the way." 
 
     Raiser spoke of the "steady decline of the WCC's total income." 
Membership contributions had remained relatively stable, although less than 
50 percent of member churches made such contributions in 1995, but there 
had been a drop in activities income for specific projects. 
 
     Although 1992 and 1993 had been good years for the WCC financially, 
Raiser said, WCC finances had been hit hard by "accumulated negative 
results" in 1994 and 1995, and that a further shortfall was predicted for 
1996. 
 
     There had been signs of problems emerging since the beginning of 1995: 
"declining income, losses on investments and forward currency contracts, 
unrealistically high budget exchange rates diminishing our reserves." 
 
     Despite staff reductions of almost 20 percent, in the face of further 
heavy shortfalls predicted for 1997, there was still a remaining deficit in 
the 1997 budget of about 1.35 million Swiss francs, Raiser said. 
 
     Raiser acknowledged in his speech that "mistakes were made" this year 
at the time that the WCC's staff were being reduced. 
 
     "The whole process has been a severe test of confidence and staff 
cohesion and it cannot be said that we have passed it altogether very 
well," Raiser said, adding that he wished to express gratitude to those who 
had helped to find a responsible solution. 
 
     Given the need to reduce almost 20 percent of the core staff positions 
within six months, "it is not surprising to encounter tension and the 
tendency to place blame on others and to identify those who supposedly are 
responsible for the whole mess."  

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