wfn.org | WCC UPDATE: Ecumenical institutions are not eternal, Kobia

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

World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 24/10/2005

ECUMENICAL INSTITUTIONS ARE NOT ETERNAL, BUT NEW WAYS OF WORKING TOGETHER
ARE POSSIBLE, WCC GENERAL SECRETARY SAYS

	Free photos available, see below

"Today's constellation of ecumenical organizations is not immutable,"
according to the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary. Rev.
Dr Samuel Kobia suggested that for this reason, those involved in the
ecumenical movement have to seek new "ways of working together in more
suitable patterns".

Although "the ecumenical movement has produced a number of institutions
through the years" in order "to meet the needs of a particular moment,"
and although many of them "have adapted to address changing needs," "yet
none of these institutions - not even the World Council of Churches - is
eternal," Kobia noted at a symposium in New York on 22 October.

According to the WCC general secretary, "the ecumenical movement is not
ultimately about such instruments", but "fundamentally about faith in God,
proclamation of new life in Christ, confidence in the Spirit to lead us
into visible expressions of the unity we possess as God's gift to the
church".

It is because of the conviction that the ecumenical movement will only
"prosper through God's grace", that "ecumenical institutions are freed to
exercise discernment as to whether our own agencies remain instruments
relevant to the demands of this hour - or if God is calling us onward into
other manifestations of Christian ministry," Kobia said.

Noting that the map of Christianity "is being radically redrawn", Kobia
suggested that "new configurations of the faith community will require a
re-conceptualization of relationships". This should, in turn, help to
reveal "ways of working together in more suitable patterns, more creative
environments, more faithful ministries of service".

The WCC general secretary went on to suggest that this search for new
relationships should be characterized by the "imperative of learning to
listen", in order truly to "understand the weight of the burdens carried
by others, and also to discover their capacity to care". It should
likewise be marked by a "spirituality of engagement" that links "things of
the spirit with action for liberation, justice and peace".

In order to achieve renewed relationships, Kobia highlighted the need for
"multilateral dialogues among the churches" that allow a "universal sense
of Christian identity" to be established, as well as the "unavoidable
necessity of engaging ecumenically in what some call 'a broader ecumenism', that of inter-religious dialogue".

The WCC general secretary shared these considerations in his keynote
speech at a 22 October symposium on "Challenges facing the ecumenical
movement in the 21st Century" at the Interchurch Center in New York.

Jointly sponsored by the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and the WCC, the
symposium was organized in honour of Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian
Apostolic Church (See of Cilicia) and moderator of the WCC central
committee, who is marking the tenth anniversary of his election as
Catholicos.

> Tribute to His Holiness Aram I

In a tribute paid at a banquet celebrated on 23 October, Kobia highlighted
three areas in which Aram I had made a "prophetic contribution of immense
value to ecumenical thought".

Through his "remarkable reflection on catholicity as an alternative
reality to contemporary globalization," Aram I offered "hermeneutical keys
to an authentic and fresh approach to 'being church'" to the ecumenical
movement, Kobia said.

Secondly, Aram I brought inter-religious dialogue and relations "to the
forefront of our ecumenical life". According to Kobia, this area is all
the more important since "historical circumstances and tremendous changes
taking place in our societies call all religions to engage in a critical
process of self-understanding".

Finally, Aram I shared the "rich theological, spiritual and cultural
heritage of the Armenian people, this small nation that was privileged to
receive the gospel so early" and which witnessed faithfully to it "up to
the point of becoming the victims of a cruel genocide". The central
committee moderator's particular contribution here was to suggest
"restorative justice" as a possible "model both for the Armenian genocide
and for other crimes against humanity still awaiting justice".

Free photos are available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/photo-galleries/meetings/symposium05/symposium-ny-oct05.html

See also our press release of 12 October 2005
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-05-60.html

Media contacts:
- Caroline Hennessy, 212-870-2192 917-407-6172 (mob.)
- Philip E. Jenks, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA,
212-870-2252
- Armenian Apostolic Church of America, 212-689-7810

This material may be reprinted freely.

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, 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 Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.