wfn.org | Disciples leaders reflect on World Council Assembly

["Wilma Shuffitt"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date: December 29, 1998
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
Email: CMiller@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

98a-77

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- The World Council of Churches Eighth Assembly 
didn't change the world. But Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
delegates say the assembly transcends individual issues and 
Disciples' participation is a natural expression of the 
denomination's historical commitment to global church unity, and 
vital for the future of that vocation. 

	 "The World Council of Churches is the most effective, 
representative ecumenical body," said the Rev. Paul A. Crow, Jr., 
outgoing president of the Council on Christian Unity. "We're prone to 
be highly American. It's in the World Council...that global 
fellowship becomes a reality, and that we are perceived by other 
traditions that have never known about us. Without the World Council 
of Churches, our membership in it, and our very active participation 
in it we would be a small church in a sectarian eddy." 

	Crow and five other Disciples delegates represented the church as a 
whole at the assembly Dec. 2-14 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Stan Litke, 
Executive Director of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 
Canada also served as a delegate. While Canada is considered to be a 
region within the U.S. and Canada denomination, the World Council 
recognizes the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada as a 
national church of that country, and named Litke to represent it. 
More than a dozen other North American Disciples attended the 
assembly in Africa as accredited visitors. 

	The assembly elected Disciples General Minister and President 
Richard L. Hamm to the 150-member WCC central committee. That body 
meets once a year, and carries on the business of the council between 
its every-seven-year assemblies. New to the central committee, Hamm 
doesn't have a formal agenda, but he does have some ideas for change. 
"I think I would design the assembly for more intentional interaction 
between the people of different nations and cultures. There is 
interaction, but it depends upon the willingness of the individuals 
to do it. So I think I would structure it more carefully," said the 
Disciples leader. Noting a large proportion of male heads of 
communion on the central committee, Hamm said "I want to help the 
council find a way to provide for broader representation of the 
various categories of humanity while at the same time enabling 
leaders to have ownership and to lead." 

	In one of its statements on global affairs, the assembly appealed to 
leaders of the world's wealthiest nations to cancel the debts of the 
poorest countries "to enable them to enter the new millennium with a 
fresh start," and to reduce substantially the debts of middle-income 
countries. The WCC says it "accepts that tough conditions should be 
imposed on debtor governments," but these must not be a prerequisite 
for cancellation.

	Stan Litke, reflecting on his first assembly, said he attended a 
number of the assembly's Padare sessions -- topical workshops, 
dramas, exhibits and discussions apart from the assembly's 
deliberative sessions. Comparing opinions and information he heard in 
the Padare to the assembly's official action on debt forgiveness, 
Litke concluded that the assembly didn't listen attentively to what 
many African churches were saying.

	"My feeling was that really what they were trying to say to us is 
that a lot of the governments are extremely corrupt and what we 
should be concentrating more on instead of forgiving debt, is on 
methods by which we can assure there are democratic governments in 
place," said the Canada Disciples executive. He heard calls for 
responsible and transparent government for African countries. "The 
debt relief was a secondary concern," Litke said. 

	During the Harare assembly, the Rev. Robert K. Welsh, president of 
the Council on Christian Unity as of January 1, 1999, was elected to 
a new seven-year term as moderator of the board of the WCC-related 
Bossey Ecumenical Institute, Céligny Switzerland. As chair of the 
Bossey board, he will serve on the WCC central committee. As the 
Disciples ecumenical officer, he'll assist and advise GMP Hamm on the 
central committee as well. "I think that's good. It gives our church 
a couple of representatives, rather than just one -- and a couple of 
different voices and perspectives," said Welsh. 

	Both Welsh and Hamm said they were deeply touched by a speech 
delivered to the assembly by South African President Nelson Mandela. 
He expressed his appreciation and that "of the entire continent" to 
the WCC, saying it has always "been known as a champion of the 
oppressed and the exploited." Noting that his generation was a 
product of church education, Mandela said, "If it was not for the 
Church, I would not be with you here today. The government of the day 
had no interest in educating Africans, Colored and Indians."

	Summing up his observations on the World Council of Churches Eighth 
Assembly, Hamm said, "Someone said that it felt like the closing of 
an era, but it didn't feel like a new era was opened. I think we're 
in a transition period over the next seven years as we find our way 
into whatever is next in the worldwide expression of the ecumenical 
movement. It's an exciting time to be part of it." 

	Fast approaching his retirement from his position as the Disciples 
ecumenical officer, Crow hoped the WCC would change as new leaders 
take it into the 21st century. "I would seek to focus the World 
Council as a fellowship of churches who are committed to each other 
-- and minimize the council acting on behalf of the churches. There's 
a difference between a fellowship of churches and an ecumenical 
institution," Crow observed. "What all ecumenical institutions need 
now is to give up this idea that they are the privileged instruments 
of the ecumenical movement. Their function is to draw the churches 
into a deeper unity -- not to be the symbol of unity themselves." 

	-- end --

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