wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Bible is the "ultimate immigration handbook"

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World Council of Churches - News Release

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

>For immediate release - 15/06/2009 08:54:52

>BIBLE IS THE "ULTIMATE IMMIGRATION HANDBOOK"

In a worship service opening the "Churches against Racism" conference in  Doorn, Netherlands, 14-17 June, World Council of Churches (WCC) general  secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said the Bible was the "ultimate immigration  handbook". Kobia asked Christians to apply the parable of the "good  Samaritan" to the current context in which they live.

"It speaks to us in this week after virulently anti-immigrant parties made  unprecedented gains in European elections", he said. "This parable of  Jesus calls us again to consider, 'Who is my neighbour' and how are we to  live out that relationship? Christ calls us to be neighbours of immigrants,  of oppressed minorities within our own nations, of all who are in need of  a neighbour."

The service was held to give thanks for the WCC Programme to Combat  Racism. Launched 40 years ago the programme assisted the victims of racial  discrimination in different parts of the world, most prominently in South  Africa under the apartheid regime. Some fifty church leaders, activists  and theologians are attending the international conference.

Expected outcomes of the conference are theologically founded strategies  and networks to advocate against racism within society and the church. A  message of commitment will be read during a closing worship service 17  June in the presence of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

The conference was organized by the WCC in cooperation with the Council of  Churches in the Netherlands ( http://www.raadvankerken.nl/ ), the  association of migrant churches in the Netherlands SKIN ( http://www.skinke rken.nl/ ), the missionary and diaconal agency KerkinActie ( http://www.ker kinactie.org/ ), the interchurch organization for development cooperation  ICCO ( http://www.icco.nl/delivery/icco/en/ )and the ecumenical advocacy  group Oikos ( http://www.stichtingoikos.nl/?nid=70000 ).

Media contact in the Netherlands: Henk van IJken +31 (0)30 880 1791 H.van.IJken@kerkinactie.nl

Full text of the sermon by the WCC general secretary: http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6859

WCC work on just and inclusive communities: http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3105

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.