wfn.org | WCC NEWS: German ecumenical convention sends message of hope

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>World Council of Churches - News

GERMAN ECUMENICAL CONVENTION SENDS MESSAGE OF HOPE

>For immediate release: 20 May 2010

An ecumenical church convention which had attracted more than 130  000
participants from the whole of Germany and beyond, 12-16 May, has  given a
crucial impetus to the ecumenical movement in the country.

This positive evaluation was given by the two presidents of the  Second
Ecumenical Kirchentag, as the event is officially known, at the  final
service celebrated in Munich's Theresienwiese by a crowd of 100  000.

"Ecumenism is alive" said the Roman Catholic president Alois Glück.  The
"dream of unity and diversity of the churches" has partly become  true
already in Munich, his Protestant counterpart Dr Eckhard Nagel added.

The Munich convention, under the theme, "That you may have hope",  was the
second Ecumenical Kirchentag; the first one took place in Berlin  in 2003.

"The Ecumenical Kirchentag is unique in the ecumenical movement,  mobilizing
and bringing together so many people to celebrate the common faith,  and to
discuss our common call to unity and work for peace," the Rev. Dr  Olav
Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches  (WCC)
said.

"I was impressed by the strong involvement of so many young people.  More
than 100 000 participants from Germany but also 4000 international  guests
came here. However, it's not just the numbers that make this event
important beyond the national German context. The Ecumenical Kirchentag  is
a laboratory where crucial issues pertaining to Christian unity  are
raised. It is a showcase for the most important ecumenical trends."

Tveit's participation at the Kirchentag, where he spoke at the opening
event and took part in a number of panel discussions and liturgical
celebrations, was his first official visit to Germany since he took  office
as WCC general secretary in January.

The Kirchentag in Munich was the first one with full and equal
participation from Orthodox churches and the German Evangelical  Free
Churches. One of its highlights was an Orthodox Vespers service  on the
Odeonsplatz square in the centre of Munich. It was followed by an
ecumenical sharing of blessed bread in which close to 20 000 faithful
participated.

>Passionate debate on joint communion

The issue of a joint celebration of the Eucharist by Protestants  and
Catholics was debated passionately at the Kirchentag, though no  such
celebrations took place, due to theological reservations on the  Roman
Catholic side.

The organizers had asked explicitly that the institutional order  of both
churches should be respected at the gathering's more than 3000 events.
However, numerous speakers as well as grassroots and reform groups  called
for a change of the positions on joint communion.

"There are theological reasons for the current ecumenical situation  but
there are even more important reasons for us to proceed," WCC general
secretary Tveit said during a panel discussion (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7ae1bff61d60f79781c2
) with the two highest representatives of the majority churches  in
Germany, Archbishop Dr Robert Zollitsch, chairperson of the Catholic
Bishops Conference, and Praeses Dr Nikolaus Schneider, chairperson  of the
Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

Archbishop Zollitsch addressed the issue saying: "I still have the  hope
that God is planning a surprise for us, in my own lifetime, when  we will
be able to say: we have been granted more than we ever dared to  hope
for."

>On the look-out for peace with justice

WCC staff and members of its governing bodies also brought an internation al
perspective to various events ranging from panel discussions to  liturgical
celebrations and a Bible study in dialogue with a Muslim theologian
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e40f36584386e7d4db1f
).

One focal point of the WCC presence was the "Peace-making Forum:  One day
preparing for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=33d66320cbf937145b48
)". This series of events included a panel discussion between church
representatives and politicians, during which WCC general secretary  Tveit,
Praeses Schneider of the EKD and the president of Pax Christi Germany
Bishop Dr Heinz Josef Algermissen stressed that peace –  in Afghanistan
and elsewhere – cannot be achieved with the current narrow  focus on
military means.

The Peace-making Forum ended with a liturgical evening during which  the EKD
Bishop for Foreign Affairs and Ecumenism Dr Martin Schindehütte  called on
the participants of the event to become part of a "wave of prayers  for
peace" which will go out from the peace convocation in Jamaica next  year.
Schindehütte is also a member of the WCC Executive Committee.

Another event at the peace forum was a report on an international  expert
visit hosted by German churches and church agencies. Five Christian  human
rights workers from India, Uganda, South Africa, the United Kingdom  and
the United States presented their findings on the extent of racism,  group
focused enmity and right-wing extremism and the responses to these  by
churches in Germany (see a video about the expert visit on Youtube
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3d72aa358fc2d4ac2045  )).

"The organizations which initiated this visit in response to a recent  WCC
conference on racism (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=8182190cbe4e0ec0531f
) and the 700 people who attended this session committed themselves  to
overcome racism from within the churches and the German society,"  said
Rev. Dr Deenabandhu Manchala, WCC programme executive for just and
inclusive communities, who brought the context of anti-racism work  done by
churches in other parts of the world to the event in Munich.

Dr Agnes Abuom, a WCC Executive Committee member from the Anglican  Church
of Kenya, also gave a statement on "State security policy and church-base d
peace advocacy" at the Kirchentag. In addition, she spoke at a panel
discussion on sustainable agriculture.

>The fire of the spirit and the reign of God

Economic injustice (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f8d907ecec100fe71df8
) and the widening gap between rich and poor were the topics of  a panel
discussion between Praeses Schneider, the Roman Catholic Archbishop  of
Bamberg Dr Ludwig Schick and Dr Rogate Mshana, WCC director of Justice,
Diakonia and Responsibility for Creation. Mshana explained that  people in
the global South "don't want aid [they] want justice".

Missionaries and doctors including Dr Denis Mukwege of Panzi Hospital
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=eb4bf4aa53f211f457b7
) in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, were the co-panellists  of Dr
Manoj Kurian, WCC programme executive for Health and Healing, at  the event
" Health – yet not for all? The responsibility of Christians  for a
healthy world".

"I see the sharing of our lives and resources, and the promotion  of
wellbeing and healing as signs of the extension of the reign of  God
amongst us," said Kurian.

Pentecostal movements in Latin America were the focus of another
discussion, organized by the ecumenical Latin America commission  of the
Protestant and Roman Catholic mission agencies in Germany.

The panellists noted two strands of Pentecostalism: some Pentecostal
churches are part of the traditional and fundamentalist mission  from North
America and reject local cultures while, on the other hand, there  are also
local and indigenous churches which can be identified with the tradition
and theology of Pentecostalism.

"When talking about Pentecostals, we are no longer talking about  the
'others' but about 'us'. Pentecostalism can help us rediscover the  fire of
the Spirit which is sometimes forgotten in our Christian traditions,"  said
María Chávez, WCC consultant for indigenous issues, who  spoke at the
panel.

>Gifts of common prayer

The Kirchentag also saw the first ecumenical celebration using the  new
prayer book (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=df4565a74d48f4ed35e2
) "Laudate omnes gentes", which presents prayers and songs from  2000 years
of Christianity worldwide, each of the texts appearing in English,  German,
French, Spanish and Italian, and one of some twenty other languages.  The
book is edited jointly by the Council of Christian Churches in Germany
(ACK), the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the WCC.

"We wanted to reap the treasures of our traditions and give them  to one
another as presents" – this is the idea behind the book;  an idea that
was born at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania,  in
2007.

"The ecumenical movement has taught me to pray with my eyes open  and to see
the cloud of Christian witnesses that surrounds us", WCC general  secretary
Tveit said at the celebration.

Complete list of WCC activities at the Kirchentag (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=45d077baff18ad97cbab )

WCC press releases:

Praying together calls us to be one – book launch at German  ecumenical
convention (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=82a757af12662eebe629
)Looking for peace with justice  (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=86d667bfd9590a3747ea
)Ecumenism is beacon of hope for the churches  (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f84edd09a878d9cb2daf
)Interfaith conversation and Bible study focus on God's compassion
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=58190fe13da14c8ef924
)Concern for the poor in a rich society  (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ac46bf435d9836093a6b
)

Website of the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ea88d79a06b900970d4b )

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 Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

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