World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 24/11/2006 12:48:55 PM
KOBIA ENDS CHINA TRIP WITH PRESS CONFERENCE, VISIT TO CENTRE FOR PRISONERS' CHILDREN, SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, ANCIENT CHRISTIAN
MONUMENT
Free photos available, see below
A press conference and a visit to a church-supported village for prisoners' children were among the highlights at the end of a 15-22 November visit to China by World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.
At a press conference on 21 November, held after the WCC delegation had met with China government officials, Kobia affirmed that "it is in the best interests of the government to actually expand the space for the practice of religion".
The WCC general secretary said he had been impressed by the way in which Christian communities are growing in the country, and by the enabling and safe environment in which Christians practise their faith.
He encouraged the government to ensure wider participation and involvement of religious people in efforts to bring about the Chinese vision of a "harmonious society". "It would be detrimental to the government if it is not seen to be providing freedom of religion," he said.
"If China wants to be the kind of global player that it is clearly becoming, then there are norms and standards" in terms of religious freedom "which will be expected of its government, and I think they are aware of this," he said.
Love, education and hope for destitute children
On 22 November, Kobia and members of an ecumenical delegation visited the Dong Zhou Children's Village in San Yuan County, Shaanxi Province.
They spent time with 29 children under the age of 14 whose parents are in prison, executed or unable to meet their basic needs. "Although the parents of these children paid for their own crimes, their children are innocent," an official told the delegation.
The Village, which is supported by the Amity Foundation, the Shaanxi Christian Council and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), aims to provide a healthy environment and protect the children from becoming child labourers, garbage collectors, street children or falling into illegal activities.
The official praised the role played by Christians in supporting the Village in order to help "these children who should have lived a life like those growing up happily with their families".
"Love, education and hope are the three words that characterize what I have seen here," Kobia told the staff and supporters of the Village. "This project was born out of an active, practical love. And when the children feel loved and have been given education and training here, then they have hope for the future. There is no better gift that this community can give to these children than hope," Kobia said.
The delegation was moved by the response of a 9-year-old girl who expressed gratitude on behalf of the children.
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
On the previous day, Kobia visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and addressed a group of scholars.
Dr Zhuo Xinping, and other scholars affiliated with the Academy, who focus their research on a wide variety of specializations within Christianity, engaged in dialogue with Kobia and members of the delegation.
The WCC general secretary presented an overview of the changing landscape of Christianity today.
Testimony of an ancient presence
On 22 November, the WCC delegation visited the province of Shaanxi, whose long history of Christian presence dates back to 635 AD and the Tang Dynasty when Nestorianism was introduced to the area.
In Shaanxi, the delegation visited a 7th-century Nestorian tablet. Inscribed in both Chinese and Syriac, it is the oldest record of early Christian presence in the area.
Although Nestorianism did not take root in this land, the Protestant church in Shaanxi Province has about 400,000 members, 554 churches and 1206 gathering points. The delegation also met with the leadership of Shaanxi Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriot Committee.
The ecumenical delegation accompanying the WCC general secretary on his visit 15-22 November to China was composed of Rev. Dr Tyrone Pitts (WCC central committee member, general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, USA); Rev. Dr Seong-Won Park (WCC central committee member, from the Presbyterian Church of Korea, South Korea); Rev. Fr Gabriel Papanicolaou (ecumenical officer of the Church of Greece), Dr Mathews George Chunakara, (WCC Asia secretary) and, as consultants, Dr Monika Gaenssbauer (director of the China Study Project of the Protestant churches and mission agencies in Germany) and Rev. Deborah DeWinter (WCC programme executive for the United States).
The full text of Samuel Kobia's lecture at Nanjing Union Theological Seminary is available at: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2668
Presentation by Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia on "New visions and challenges to ecumenism in the 21st century" at a meeting with ministers of the Shanghai Christian Council/TSPM on 16 November 2006: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2683
For additional information about the visit see also: http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-17.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-16.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-15.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-14.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-13.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pu-06-11.html http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-06-45.html
Free high-resolution photos are available at:
http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/DSC02253.JPG http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/DSC170156.JPG http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China04.jpg http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China03.jpg http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China02.jpg http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/images/wcc-main/news/autumn2006/China01.jpg
A more detailed visit programme outline is available at: http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/chinavisit-06.html
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 promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
