wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Christian leaders see value in common journey

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>World Council of Churches - News

>CHRISTIAN LEADERS SEE VALUE IN COMMON JOURNEY

>For immediate release: 05 June 2010

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) has  played
a significant role in helping bishops educated in a dated “theolo gy of
exclusion” to move towards a genuine “ecumenical  commitment”. This
was one of the remarks made by a leading Vatican figure at a press
conference held at an international conference on world Christianity.

On Saturday 5 June 2010, the 50th anniversary of the formation of  what is
now the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU),  Bishop
Brain Farrell, who has served as its secretary for the last eight  years,
spoke at a press conference alongside Rev. Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe  of the
World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit of  the World
Council of Churches (WCC).

They addressed the topic “Christian unity today”  in a morning press
conference at the Edinburgh 2010 Conference. The gathering commemorates
the hundredth anniversary of the landmark 1910 World Mission Conference
which took place in the same city. Some 300 delegates from over  60
countries and virtually all Christian traditions are attending the  event.

Referring to the PCPCU 50th anniversary, Farrell explained that  the body
that was its predecessor was created by Pope John XXIII to facilitate  the
participation of observers from other Christian bodies, representatives  of
the so-called “separated brethren”, in the life  of Second Vatican
Council.

Farrell emphasized that documents produced during the Second Vatican
Council “recognized the already existing ecumenical movement  as a gift
of the Holy Spirit”.

Geoff Tunnicliffe, the WEA’s international director, observed  that
individuals tend to look at history “through their own prisms�� �. For
example, he said, members of the evangelical movement look back  to the
Edinburgh conference of 1910 and see a meeting that was all about  mission
and led to new approaches towards world evangelization. Others see
Edinburgh 1910 as the birth of the modern ecumenical movement and  trace
its outcomes primarily through councils encouraging the visible  unity of
the churches.

“This is a difference,” he said, “but it  is understandable.”
Several observances of this centennial have been organized with  differing
emphases, in Tokyo, Edinburgh, Capetown and elsewhere. But while  tensions
between Christian streams have led to reluctance in some circles  to use
the term “ecumenical”, it is now possible for diverse  groups to come
together as stakeholders in an event like Edinburgh 2010.

Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, argued that the  1910
conference “brought a new dynamic into all of Christianity  and raised
the question of unity in evangelism”. He continued, “We  are here to
remind ourselves that we should not divide our calling, but we should
share our calling.”

Tveit insisted that it would be a mistake to assign one group of  churches
the task of evangelism, and another the task of seeking social justice  and
peace. Rather than accepting such a division of labour, “we  must respond
to our common calling together. The world needs the gospel. The  world also
has the need for justice and peace.”

For this reason, Tveit said, the WCC tries to offer “a wide  space, a
meeting-place for a variety of traditions but also a space for the
powerless, for those who have trouble making themselves heard in  the
world.”

“Don’t expect this conference to solve all the questions  on the
table,” Farrell advised. “But if we are on a journey,  we need to stop
from time to time, check our progress and our direction, refresh  ourselves
for the way ahead.”

Edinburgh 1910, Edinburgh 2010 and other events along the way “ar e
stations on our common journey,” remarked Tveit. “If  the outcome of
this conference does not strike us as revolutionary, it will be  because we
have experienced so much already. We have a deepening recognition  that we
all are called to proclaim the gospel, and we are learning to do  so
together.”

Edinburgh 2010 website (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=1 
90e3ce0976493e96596 )
Photos (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=af1de6629146ab977 1cf )

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.