Note #9106 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06065 Feb. 7, 2006
Transforming the world ? together
A prayer that WCC Assembly will start 'a new phase in the search for Christian unity'
by Samuel Kobia WCC General Secretary
Editor's note: This is the eighth and last in a series of background articles leading up to the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which starts on Feb. 14 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Two PC(USA) journalists will help cover the Assembly: Eva Stimson, editor of Presbyterians Today, will serve on the WCC staff as co-editor of the daily Assembly newspaper, and Jerry L. Van Marter, coordinator of the Presbyterian News Service, will serve as a reporter for Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - World Council of Churches Assemblies have been important events in the life of the ecumenical movement for almost 60 years.
I hope this Assembly, the first one of the 21st century, will mark the beginning of a new phase in the search for Christian unity and produce a vision of a new culture for the modern ecumenical movement.
An evolving context
The 9th Assembly comes at a time of widespread injustice, poverty and despair. The immense challenges which face humankind at this time call for careful discernment of the "signs of the times," and for courageous visions of hope from the ecumenical movement. Our world is in need of profound transformation.
We live in an era marked by destructive power and disgraced human dignity. Economic and cultural globalization, new forms of militarism and domination, and ecological destruction have rarely been so evident. The prevailing international economic and political models have failed to stem the tide of injustice and inequality.
The religious context is also evolving; religious identity has returned to the public sphere in various ways. While the 20th century was dominated by confrontations between ideologies, "identity" is emerging as a characteristic divisive feature of the 21st century. All Christians are being challenged to look at their identities in the context of a new religious plurality.
A renewed agenda
"God, in your grace, transform the world," the Assembly theme, is both a prayer and an expression of hope. It reminds us that God, in Christ, has offered humankind and all of creation reconciliation and new life. This inspires me to believe that the Assembly can produce an impulse towards a renewed ecumenical agenda for the 21st century.
Against the background of continuing conflict in Iraq and the war on terror, the Assembly will mark the completion of the first five years of the Decade to Overcome Violence, launched by the WCC in 2001 to mobilize the churches' peacemaking efforts and resources. The question for the churches remains: How can we foster a culture of peace and restore the authentic nature of our humanity in a context where violence is so prevalent?
During the last Assembly, in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1998, the council and the ecumenical movement made a commitment to walk in solidarity with Africa. Yet, as we meet again, entire regions of the continent are again facing famine. The condition of Africa challenges us to rethink what it would take to lift the continent out of poverty. It is evident that aid alone, however massive, is not the answer. It also is evident that Africans' moral strength must be at the center of any durable solution.
There are, of course, other critical issues that the churches cannot avoid addressing, including social and ethical ones. Since the Harare Assembly, the WCC has provided a platform for churches to discuss critical differences in a responsible way. It must continue to enable the churches to confront their differences in dialogue and to rediscover a common voice where possible. I would like to give greater attention to two particular areas. I hope the presence and participation of young people will be visible and substantial throughout the Assembly; their aspirations and interests need to be heard, and their involvement needs to continue well beyond the event. Secondly, I am convinced that the ecumenical movement will have to take spirituality much more seriously if it is to nourish and more fully undergird our ecumenical experience together.
A new ethos
The WCC is, first and foremost, a fellowship of churches. In recent years, we have consistently expressed a desire to deepen and broaden this fellowship. The Assembly is a unique opportunity for the churches to listen to each other. As we do so, I hope we can find ways of working together that will strengthen our sense of ownership and participation.
The special commission on Orthodox participation in the council, mandated by the last Assembly, has opened the way to important changes in the ethos and culture of the council, changes that will benefit our work and life together. I am convinced that the adoption of a consensus model of decision-making will greatly assist us to deepen the sense of fellowship and to approach difficult questions with discernment.
As the ecumenical movement has seen the proliferation of its structures at all levels, it has become clear that such a multiplication of bodies is not sustainable but can only divert human and financial resources away from ecumenical activities in the churches and society. I am keen that we develop a new approach to ecumenism in the 21st century, and that we seriously consider new forms and configurations.
WCC priorities
Promoting visible Christian unity remains the WCC's core mission. The Assembly may give an impetus to new forms of work, but as we evaluated our programs during the last period, it became clear that the WCC should do less but do it well.
The modern ecumenical movement emerged out of a series of historical streams - faith and order, life and work, the mission movement - as well as the dynamic efforts of youth movements. These have provided the framework for the council's activities. As we enter the 21st century, it is increasingly clear that the ecumenical movement has reached an important point of transition and that new categories of activity may be needed.
I therefore expect the council to engage in fewer programmatic activities, but to deepen its involvement in strategic areas. We have to find new ways of relating to and communicating with our member churches and ecumenical partners, and to move towards a more integrated, interactive and dynamic way of working with our constituencies.
Areas such as advocacy and diakonia are central to the mission and being of the churches. In these, we will need to reorganize our work to adapt to new opportunities so that we can integrate our actions on issues of economic justice, ecology and sustainable development.
Churches nurturing a culture of peace, becoming moral communities and refusing the intolerable will remain a central focus of the WCC's work. The ongoing tension between religious traditions points to the necessity of deepening our relations with neighbors of other faiths, moving beyond dialogue to active collaboration in areas of common concern.
In all areas, we need to find new ways of enabling youth participation and creative approaches to ecumenical formation and leadership training, so that we may see young people becoming central actors in the council, now and in the future.
Signs of hope
We will be meeting in Latin America, where many of the concerns and challenges that I have mentioned are matters of daily life and survival. The witness of the Latin American churches in the midst of extreme injustice can offer a model of prophetic resistance and hope to inspire us all.
We should not underestimate the potential of churches to contribute to the transformation of the world, despite the difficulties we face. With common faith and a renewed hope, anything is possible. May this Assembly again "set up signs" of a common Christian voice and witness for a transformed world.
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