wfn.org | Title: Ecumenical reconfiguration: intensive discussion needed

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches 7 Press Update
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 24/11/2003 - pu-03-47

 New configuration of the ecumenical movement:
 Consultation prescribes intensive discussion, broad
participation

								
      
			Cf. WCC Press Update PU-03-41 of11
November 2003
			Cf. WCC Press Release PR-03-27 of 11
August 2003
			Cf. WCC Press Release PR-03-29.02 of 27
August 2003
								
      
Consultation report and youth statement available (see below)

Meeting in Antelias, Lebanon from 17-20 November 2003, a 
consultation of church leaders, ecumenists, theologians and
social scientists called for broad participation in more
intensive discussions about the future configuration of the
ecumenical movement.

Hosting the meeting, World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator
His Holiness
Aram I of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Cilicia) said in his
opening
address that "The ecumenical movement is not a fixed reality; it
is and has
throughout its history always been in constant re-evaluation." 
While the
consultation participants recognized the on-going nature of
organizational
change, they asked the WCC to take the lead in providing more
guidance to
the process.

Invited by the WCC in their individual capacities, the 36
participants were
drawn from different constituencies, traditions and regions.
They were
joined by young people who, earlier in the week, had met
separately to
discuss the same issue.  The consultation was held in the
Armenian
Catholicosate of Cilicia, where participants enjoyed the warm
hospitality
of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Analyzing changes in global realities over the past fifty years,
the
consultation considered the potential impact of these changes on
ecumenical
structures.  A statement from the earlier youth consultation,
for example,
stressed that the desire of many young Christians to solve the
current
problems of the oikoumene "is finding more and more expression
outside the
churches and ecumenical organizations".

Participants queried whether the new global realities are
leading us to
more emphasis on a life-centred vision of the ecumenical
movement.  They
agreed that the quest for unity and for common witness and
service to the
world must remain the movement's essential goals, and that these
are not
mutually exclusive, but rather are mutually enriching.

As WCC outgoing general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser
suggested: "At its
heart, the ecumenical movement is concerned with transforming
and deepening
the quality of relationships in and between the churches and in
the human
community, in response to God's promise to create a new human
community in
Christ, to bring about the reign of God [*] The values which are
included
in this relational understanding of the ecumenical movement
should find
expression in the ethos and culture of cooperation between the
different
partners."

 A consultation report entitled "From Antelias with Love"
offers
 reflections to guide the process.  It includes the
consultation's
 understanding of what is meant by a "reconfiguration of the
ecumenical
 movement" and its relationship to ongoing efforts to deepen
and broaden
 the ecumenical fellowship.

 Serious and participatory discussions about the configuration
of the
 ecumenical movement are needed if renewal and revitalization of
the
 ecumenical movement - to make it more responsive to the
concerns of the
 world - is to happen, participants affirmed.

 Some expressed a need, for example, for more flexible, dynamic
structures
 that can respond rapidly to changes in the world.  Others
highlighted the
 need for more coherence and collaboration between the diverse
array of
 ecumenical actors.  All agreed on the need to develop as
inclusive a
 process as possible in future discussions.

 "Questions of the reconfiguration of the ecumenical movement
are too
 important to leave to a small group of people," the document
affirms.
 Rather, the WCC is asked to invite a broad range of churches,
partners,
 movements, and other ecumenical actors to enter the
conversation on a
 future ecumenical reconfiguration.  Based on their responses,
the Council
 will convene a meeting next year of a representative group of
churches and
 other actors to decide on concrete next steps.

The full text of the "From Antelias with Love" report is
available on our
website at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/anteliasreport.html 

The statement from the youth consultation is also available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/antelias-youth.html 

For more information contact:
	 Media Relations Office
 tel: (+41 22) 791 64 21 / (+41 22) 791 61 53
 e-mail:media@wcc-coe.org 
 http://www.wcc-coe.org 

 The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
342, in
 more than 120 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.