wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Indonesia: International ecumenical team on solidarity visit

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

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

>For immediate release - 16/07/2008 08:23:00

WCC SOLIDARITY TEAM VISIT TO STRENGTHEN INDONESIAN CHRISTIAN EFFORTS IN  OVERCOMING VIOLENCE

Churches working for peace in Indonesia - a country which over the last  decades had to cope with repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious  conflicts, the integration of internally displaced people as well as  refugees from outside its borders - will receive a solidarity visit of an  international ecumenical delegation sent by the World Council of Churches  (WCC) from 17 to 24 July.

The delegation members (see list below) will learn about peace-building  projects by Indonesian Christians and share experiences made in their own  churches in Australia, USA, Germany, Korea and Sudan.

After a general introduction in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, the  delegation will split into two groups in order to visit different regions.

While Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, has a  tradition of tolerance, the regions of Central Sulawesi and the Moluccas  have been the scene of Muslim-Christian fighting after 1998. Meetings on  18-20 July in Poso (Central Sulawesi) and Ambon(Moluccas), including an  encounter with Muslim leaders, will be an opportunity to learn about  initiatives to tackle radicalism.

>From Sulawesi, the first group will travel on to Kupangin the western part  of the Timor island, capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa  Tenggara. The province has seen a considerable influx of refugees and  deportees following the independence referendum in East Timor in 1999.

Meanwhile, the second group will pay a visit to West Papua, where tensions  between the traditional Christian majority and Muslim migrants arriving  from other Indonesian islands have led to "the emergence of new, exclusivis t groups in both religious communities", according to a recent report by  the International Crisis Group. Over the past years the WCC has also  repeatedly expressed its concern over human rights violations against the  .

On 24 July, both groups will be back in Jakartafor an evaluation session  with the executive board of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI),  who hosts the visit.

The ecumenical delegation is sent to Indonesia as "living letters" to  express the solidarity of the WCC fellowship, which comprises 349 churches  worldwide. Until 2010, several Living Letters visits take place each year  throughout the world in the context of the WCC's in order to prepare for  the in 2011.

Indonesia, the world's 4th most populous nation, is also the country with  the biggest number of WCC member churches, 27 in total.

Group visiting Poso and Kupang:

Rev. Vanessa D. Sharp, theologian; executive board member of the Presbyteri an Health Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) representing the  Presbyterian AIDS Network; co-chair of SisterLove Inc. Board of Directors  (Atlanta, USA/South Africa); Presbyterian Church (USA) Mr Yoonsuk Sol, theologian; general secretary of the national federation  of PCK youth; Presbyterian Church of Korea, South Korea
Staff: Rev.Gomar Gultom, executive secretary of Diaconia Cluster, Communion of  Churches in Indonesia Ms Maria Baile Rubio, Ecumenical Solidarity and Regional Relations project  assistant, WCC

Group visiting Ambon and West Papua:

Rev. Prof. James Haire, professor of theology; executive committee member  of the Christian Conference of Asia; director of the Public and Contextual  Theology Research Centre and the Australian Centre for Christianity and  Culture (Canberra, Australia); Uniting Church in Australia Dr Monika Lude, sociologist; executive secretary for ecumenical learning,  Association of Churches and Missions in South Western Germany (EMS);  co-ordinator of a 2004-2006 international EMS peace campaign, former  ecumenical staff in Salatiga, Indonesia (adult education and gender  trainings); Germany Ms Beatrice Mukhtar-Mamuzi, teacher; volunteer in Christian education,  youth and music ministries; Episcopal Church of the Sudan
Staff: Ms Norita Yudiet Tompah, executive secretary of Koinonia Cluster,  Communion of Churches in Indonesia Dr Mathews George Chunakara, WCC programme executive for Asia Mr Peter Williams, WCC visual arts coordinator

More information on the Decade to Overcome Violence:
http://www.overcomingviolence.org

More information on the Living Letters visits:
http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc/living-letters-visits.html

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

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 349 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.