wfn.org | Letter to WCC is 'energizing point', United Methodist delegate

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

says

Dec. 9, 1998	Contact: Tim Tanton((615)742-5470(Nashville, Tenn.
722}

NOTE:  An assortment of  photos are available on the WCC Web page:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/photo/assembly/assembly.html

By Tim Tanton*

HARARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) - A letter to the World Council of Churches
outlining initiatives for battling violence, racism and other ills is an
"energizing point" for taking action, a United Methodist delegate to the
WCC's Eighth Assembly said.

The letter, "From Solidarity to Accountability," was composed by a
diverse group of women and men following the Decade Festival of the
Churches in Solidarity With Women. The festival marked the end of a
10-year period set by the WCC in which women were encouraged, in the
words of the letter, "to share their spirituality, their daily struggles
and their gifts."

"This is an energizing point for us," said assembly delegate Lois
Dauway, assistant general secretary and head of the Section of Christian
Social Responsibility for the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries. "I think this will help us get our batteries recharged" with
respect to the issues raised in the letter, she said in a Dec. 8
interview.

The letter was presented to the Eighth Assembly on Dec. 7. Some 4,500
people are attending the Dec. 3-14 gathering at the University of
Zimbabwe. The WCC's assembly, convened every seven years, draws together
members of the Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and other churches. The
Roman Catholic Church also is represented at the meeting but is not a
WCC member.

The Decade Festival preceded the assembly. The letter resulting from it
calls upon the WCC members to embrace the vision "of a human community
where the participation of each and every one is valued, where no one is
excluded on the basis of race, sex, age, religion or cultural practice,
where diversity is celebrated as God's gift to the world."

The letter was received well by the assembly, some festival participants
said.

"It was a document upon which we struggled to reach consensus," said
Dauway, who was on the decade planning committee.
 
The letter spells out initiatives in three key areas: full participation
of all in the human community, the elimination of violence and racism;
and the establishment of a world of economic justice.

The letter urges the churches to direct WCC resources toward creating
programs, educational materials, networks and "opportunities that
support and empower women." Churches are asked to monitor their
structures and practices "so that all forms of exclusion are
eradicated."

Initiatives proposed to that end include providing theological education
opportunities and programs for women that honor their voices and
experiences; theological school materials that include gender studies
and women's perspectives; training for women, girls and boys in how to
live as just communities of women, men and children; liturgies, gender
and language policies that affirm all who participate; policies that
promote a balance of gender, age and race in leadership positions and
roles and that honor people's cultural identities.

The letter also condemns violence and racism. It sets forth initiatives
for creating opportunities for women to speak out about violence and
abuse that they have experienced; exposing sexual abuse, "especially by
those in positions of church leadership"; creating restorative justice
processes in which both victims and perpetrators can experience
forgiveness and reconciliation; denouncing wars and seeking nonviolent
alternatives for handling conflict; and denouncing female genital
mutilation, "sex tourism" and trafficking of women and children.

Toward a world of economic justice, the letter demands that the debt
burdens of the poorest countries be canceled and the resources that are
saved be used to help the poor, especially women and children.  It also
recommends the establishment of program desks on economic issues in
local, regional and national churches; asks for laws that protect
women's rights to property, reproductive rights and other rights; and
calls for structures that ensure justice, equal pay for equal work,
living wages and honorable labor practices.

The WCC's policy reference committee is working on a document that
responds to the decade letter. It will be presented during the assembly.

Dauway said she hopes people will be challenged by the statement.

"One of the things that was powerful about it was we named those things
that we knew we could not agree on," she said.

Those issues included the ordination of women, abortion, divorce and
human sexuality. "During the decade, human sexuality in all of its
diversity emerged with particular significance," according to the
letter. "... We acknowledge that there is divided opinion as women and
men on this particular issue. In fact, for some women and men in our
midst, the issue has no legitimacy. We seek the wisdom and guidance of
the Holy Spirit that we may continue the conversation in order that
justice may prevail."

One section of the letter forcefully addresses racism and related evils.
"We declare that racism and ethnocentrism are against the will of God
and have no place in God's household."

"The emphases in the decade that came out very strong ... had to do with
economic justice, overcoming racism and violence against women," said
the Rev. Janice Love, a United Methodist delegate from Columbia, S.C.,
and member of the WCC's Central Committee. "It's essential to keep
focusing on those because they are very real, ongoing, often crushing
circumstances of women's lives."

However, the area that will be difficult for keeping a continued
presence "without question is going to be women in theology," she said.

"I think it's quite clear there's been a backlash against feminist
theology in our church and all churches in the United States," she said.
"We're not unique there."

The United Methodist Church is better in some ways than others, Love
said. For example, women don't struggle so hard over participation. It's
now taken for granted that they will be bishops, district
superintendents, pastors and lay leaders. The delegation of 33 United
Methodists to the assembly included 20 women.

However, everyone has different revelations, understandings and pictures
of Christ, she said, and that is where some of the challenges arise. "I
want to stay focused on the centeredness in Christ, rather than the
limits to where our diversity lie," she said. Instead of regarding
someone as too far out in their beliefs, she wants to acknowledge that
person's Christ-centeredness and see how that challenges her, she said.

Dauway and Love plan to share the document with others when they return
home. Likewise, Stephanie Hixon and Cecelia Long, co-general secretaries
of the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women, will
provide it to their board members. 

Some of the calls made in the document resonate with them and also
relate to work going on throughout the United Methodist Church on behalf
of women, Hixon said. She cited work being done in the area of violence
against women as an example.

The letter calls upon the Eighth Assembly to declare that "violence
against women is a sin."

As many voices as possible were heard in the development of the
document, Long said. "There really was a consensus model being used." 

"It's kind of another way to be testing and sensing the pulse of what's
going on in the life of our churches." Hixon said.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/