World Alliance of Reformed Churches News Release 12 October 2007
WARC Executive Committee: Trinidad and Tobago, 18-28 October 2007
Unity of the church against today's slavery is WARC Executive Committee's focus
Reformed church leaders from around the world will gather in Trinidad and Tobago, 18 to 28 October to consider several critical issues concerning the unity of the church.
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) Executive Committee meets under the theme "Called to be a communion: from Elmina to Port of Spain," to continue a poignant journey begun at the slave dungeons of Africa in 2004.
The 39-member body will be holding its second meeting since the 24th General Council in Ghana, where delegates came face-to-face with the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade at Elmina, a port from which slaves were shipped overseas.
In Trinidad and Tobago the WARC leaders will journey to Nelson Island, where British slave ships landed, and to Laventille, site of one of the first settlements of freed Africans, to take part in a memorial service, time of reflection, storytelling and meetings with African cultural and spiritual groups.
"The WARC leaders will grapple with how, as a body of Christ, we can stand together in this 200th year after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade to indicate our common front against any form of slavery - past or present - and hold one another accountable for such a common stand.
"When the body is wounded, processes of healing must be put in place," said WARC general secretary Setri Nyomi.
He said the WARC Executive Committee meeting - in its own small way - will be important to the shape of the worldwide church over the coming years, both within the Reformed family and beyond.
"I truly believe that the annals of history will record this meeting of the WARC Executive Committee as a pivotal occasion in our journey as a global Reformed family," said WARC president Clifton Kirkpatrick.
"We will make major decisions about the future shape of our fellowship, the financial viability of our Alliance and the faithfulness and effectiveness of our witness to justice in the economy and the earth."
The key issues concerning the unity of the church include: - whether to approve the formation of a wider ecumenical organization with the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC); - how to continue the conversation begun within the WARC Communion Network on whether WARC should move from being a fellowship of churches to a communion of churches; - whether to readmit into the Alliance the Nederduitsch Hervomde Kerk van Afrika (Dutch Reformed Church); - how to continue to work towards an ecumenical assembly led by the World Council of Churches, which includes the Christian world communions.
In March, REC's Executive Committee approved in principle the formation of a new Reformed body, tentatively called the World Reformed Communion. A survey of WARC's 214 member churches found that 41 churches were clearly in favour of the merger while six churches raised some questions. No church opposed it.
Conversations on the question of becoming a communion, a body that might have a greater sense of mutual commitment, accountability and vulnerability, revealed a range of opinions but no one suggested direction.
The Nederduitsch Hervomde Kerk van Afrika (Dutch Reformed Church) was suspended from WARC in 1982 because of its support for apartheid in South Africa and is in the final stages of a readmission process.
In May, WARC took part in meetings with the WCC and other Christian communions on how to help shape an assembly of Christian communions, likely in conjunction with a WCC General Assembly. A second meeting will take place in May 2008.
The theme of "Called to be a communion: from Elmina to Port of Spain" will be important throughout the meeting, as Executive Committee members reflect during worship and in the meetings on how the experiences at Nelson Island and Laventille might inform the work of WARC over the next two years.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade by the British House of Commons. WARC, along with other ecumenical groups, has called the trade an "African holocaust" that should never be forgotten.
A background paper prepared for the Executive Committee meeting reminds members that slaves in Trinidad and Tobago lived in horrible and inhumane conditions, with hard labour, poor food and cruel masters.
But the paper also states that slaves there resisted against this tyranny in many ways, creating family and community life and achieving their freedom in 1838, along with slaves in Guyana and other colonies.
The Executive Committee meeting is being hosted by the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad and Tobago.
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The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) brings together 75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries - united in their commitment to making a difference in a troubled world. The WARC general secretary is Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana. WARC's secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Contact: John P. Asling Executive Secretary, Communications World Alliance of Reformed Churches 150 Route de Ferney P.O. Box 2100 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland tel. +41.22 791 6243 fax: +41.22 791 6505 web: www.warc.ch
More about WARC: http://www.warc.ch/newsreleases/visibility.doc
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