wfn.org | General Secretary's report to Central Committee

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
11 September 1997

WCC GENERAL SECRETARY CALLS FOR CONSIDERED
RESPONSE TO  GLOBALIZATION; REVIEWS CURRENT WCC WORK
 
The globalization of economic markets is seriously harming the common
good, environmental sustainability and democracy, according to Rev. Dr
Konrad Raiser, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches
(WCC).

Dr Raiser made his comments to the WCC s central committee in Geneva
today when he singled out globalization as one of  the challenges of the
21st century.   The WCC s chief executive also gave an upbeat but
realistic review of his organization s current work, which he strongly
believes is beginning to suggest answers to some of the problems facing
the Church and the world.  The fruits of WCC work are now ready for
harvesting, Dr Raiser told the 156-strong central committee which meets
annually and is the WCC s governing body between assemblies, which
are held every seven years.  The next assembly is scheduled for
December 1998 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

On globalization, it is known Dr Raiser believes some critics use the term
in a simplistic,  catch all  way, and portray globalization as an anonymous
enemy rather than analysing the phenomenon properly.

The WCC general secretary told the central committee globalization was
a description of trends and developments which have been around for
more than twenty years, and it had contradictory faces. It increased
opportunities for cooperation and participation but also marginalized and
excluded.

Globalization, Dr Raiser believed, was to a large degree the result of
decisions of governments wedded to neo-liberal economic theory.  The
goal of the globalization of markets was replacing the search for a viable
order of world community and was being promoted as "unquestioned
truth" by such institutions as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank
and World Trade Organization.

However, other aspects of globalization included the global character of
ecological threats, the electronic revolution, particularly with its effect on
communication, transport, production and finance, and the disintegration
of the communist world, which had left western capitalism as the sole
competitor for global leadership.

Dr Raiser said the ecumenical movement must resist globalization as an
ideological and political project but could not easily opt out of the
"historical dynamic and ambiguities of global interdependence". 
Christianity, he said, was committed to the unity of humankind, and the
WCC could not "join hands easily with a wholesale rejection of
globalization".  Its task was to put forward an alternative understanding
and vision of the process which would lead to international behaviour for
the benefit of everyone and the environment.

Earlier in his address, Dr Raiser reviewed the current state of the WCC. 
He said that since the last WCC Assembly in Canberra in 1991, the life of
the Council had been "rich but increasingly difficult".  The central
committee this time would "take stock" of what the WCC had achieved
since Canberra and how it should move ahead.

Saying it was now time for "harvesting the fruits" of past work, Dr
Raiser highlighted three major areas where this had already begun.

In the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women, which
ends next year, 75 teams had visited nearly all the WCC s 330 member
churches, which was "a very remarkable achievement" said Dr Raiser.
However, a report of the visits which would be presented to central
committee showed "how far most of our churches have still to go to
embody the new and inclusive community they are meant to be in Christ. 
In particular, the extent of violence against women even in Christian
communities has come as a shock to many."  The WCC will be expected
to "take a lead in responding to this challenge", he added.

Secondly, Dr Raiser said the WCC has recently completed its Theology of
Life study. The study  aimed to find a language and a way of doing
theology and ethics to describe and affirm a vision of humanity which
cares for creation and in which all are entitled equally to enjoy life in its
fullness.  This study process, said Dr Raiser, had uncovered "hidden
sources of life from which those who struggle for survival draw their
strength and hope", and would "transform the approach to ecumenical
social thought and action in the years to come". 

The results of the WCC s Conference on World Mission and Evangelism
in Salvador, Brazil, last December would, said Dr Raiser, "continue and
transform ecumenical thinking and practice of mission".  The conference
had identified the challenge faced by the WCC and ecumenical movement
of how churches, locally and globally, can be true to the Christian Gospel
as they engage in mission which is sensitive to different cultures,
contexts and other faiths.

As further examples of the WCC s current activities, the general
secretary mentioned work done on the search for a common date of
Easter, a new statement on Mission and Evangelism, the Reconstructing
Africa programme, and the Programme to Overcome Violence including
the recent launch in Johannesburg of its Peace to the City Campaign,
which will focus on seven cities around the world in an attempt to help
replace the current global culture of violence with a culture of peace.

The general secretary also noted work done on uprooted people and by
the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund, which provides small amounts of
capital to those whom commercial lenders consider too high a risk.

He also said the WCC had made "new and promising" contacts with
Evangelical, Pentecostal and African-Instituted churches..

On staffing, Dr Raiser said 53 people had left during the last year and he
expected to have only 233 people on staff by January 1998.  (NB: This
includes around 200 'core' staff plus consultants, interns and others on
short-term contracts).  Some staff had left voluntarily, but others had
gone "as a consequence of the painful process of consolidating
budgets".  Dr Raiser said following instructions given by central
committee last year, a new programme and management structure for
the WCC would be presented.  The plan was in line with the current
Common Understanding and Vision process which sought, as Dr Raiser
termed it, "(an) ecumenical charter for the 21st century".  (Among other
things, it is proposed that the current five WCC work groups (Units I-IV
plus General Secretariat) be merged into one comprehensive and flexible
whole.)

On finance,  Dr Raiser said further measures taken since last year to
deal with the financial crisis now meant the situation had been
"consolidated" though at a "considerably reduced level".  Also, the future
was not assured so long as member churches and their agencies
refused to support the Council financially.  He pointed out that despite
past appeals, still almost 50% of member churches do not contribute
financially.  Dr Raiser stressed that membership "includes obligations"
and that contributions "have to become part of the discipline of
membership".

Dr Raiser admitted some of the decrease in income for projects was due
to a redirection of public funding in the areas of development, human
rights, health and education, etc.  However, rather than lamenting this
situation, he said the WCC should "rediscover the true source of the
strength of the ecumenical movement" which was "sharing and
solidarity".

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, in
more than 100 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 Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

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