wfn.org | WARC Endorses Proposal for World's Churches to Meet

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

26-August-1997 
97332 
 
    WARC Endorses Proposal for World's Churches to Meet 
    in the Name of Unity 
 
    by Stephen Brown 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
DEBRECEN, Hungary--The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) -- the 
world's most important Reformed church organization -- has given its 
support to a proposal for the main Christian traditions to start talks in 
the year 2000 to settle outstanding differences and take a major step 
toward church unity. 
 
    An Aug. 18  meeting in Debrecen of WARC's General Council gave its 
support to the proposal by Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World 
Council of Churches, and said that "WARC should, in principle, participate 
in such a preparatory process." 
 
    According to Raiser, the world's main Christian traditions -- the 
Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal churches -- should 
start preparations in the year 2000 for a universal church council to 
resolve the main issues -- including that of the primacy of the Pope -- 
that divide Christians. 
 
    WARC has 211 member churches, with a combined membership of 70 million 
Christians. 
 
    The WARC meeting also gave its backing to a proposal that future 
meetings of its General Council "should, if possible, be organized jointly 
and concurrently" with the meetings of governing bodies of the World 
Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation. 
 
    The three organizations -- all with headquarters in the Ecumenical 
Center in Geneva -- have overlapping membership, and all three are holding 
major assemblies in 1997 or 1998. This  has provoked criticisms of 
unnecessary duplication by some member churches increasingly hard-strapped 
for cash. 
 
    According to a background paper, WARC's "commitment for Christian unity 
and the encouragement of greater ecumenical expression ... compels WARC to 
work with other world Christian assemblies where appropriate." 
 
    The proposal is complicated, however, by the fact that some of WARC's 
member churches do not belong to the WCC and indeed are critical of the 
organization. The General Council stressed that at any joint meeting "all 
administrative business of WARC should be conducted separately." 

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