WCC NEWS: “We cannot be ecumenical by ourselves”

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World Council of Churches - News

“WE CANNOT BE ECUMENICAL BY OURSELVES”

For immediate release: 08 April 2011

Five general secretaries of international ecumenical organizations
engaged in lively conversation with leaders of the Evangelical Church in
Germany (EKD) on Friday 8 April, the final day of the EKD Council’s
visit to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva. The general secretaries are
heads of the ACT Alliance, the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Communion of Reformed Churches
(WCRC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“One of the most pressing challenges we face is religious intolerance,”
said John Nduna of ACT Alliance, a coalition of churches and
church-related agencies working in human development and emergency
assistance.

As a second concern, Nduna cited “the shrinking humanitarian space
around the world, hindering how we can reach people in need of aid.”
Partnership among service providers is of key importance, both in
promoting dialogue with governments and in advocating before international
organizations tasked with improving conditions in troubled locations.

In Darfur, he continued, “we have had excellent results in working with
Caritas”, the Roman Catholic global service ministry. “We are asking
how we can replicate that in other regions, in interfaith as well as
ecumenical cooperation.”

“We cannot be ecumenical on our own,” agreed the Rev. Dr Martin Junge
of the LWF. It is necessary to overcome mutual suspicions not only among
churches or traditions within Christianity, but also among ecumenical
organizations that may seem to be in competition with one another.

The “polycentricity of the communion of churches” should be promoted as
a strength, not a weakness, so that it may become the basis of “the
language of trans-contextual dialogue” enabling people from widely
different backgrounds to meet and to explore “the ecology of
knowledges” – not just “knowledge” – arising from the wondrous
diversity of humanity.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit of the WCC advanced the idea of combining a
commitment to mutual support with an expectation of “mutual
accountability” in encounters among churches, agencies, states and
cultures. Such partners need to strive for a sense of “unity that has
substance,” he said, and to seek new models of dialogue and cooperation
that will “bring all sorts of actors together.”

The Rev. Dr Setri Nyomi of the WCRC thanked the representatives of the EKD
for their active involvement in ecumenical work “both in the German
context and in the world context.”

He saw two principal concerns driving the programme of Reformed churches in
coming years: Continued dedication to “fostering the visible unity of
the church”, and “addressing the many injustices that are experienced
not only in the global South but by people everywhere”. A particular
challenge to the WCRC is the call to heal divisions within its own
confessional family.

Prof. Viorel Ionita of CEC noted that European churches face specific
issues arising from the secularization of nations and a continent that
once were deemed Christian. Through dialogue among the churches, CEC finds
common ground with the Roman Catholic Church as well as among its own
members.

Ecumenical bodies like CEC exist to support churches in their vocation
today, to participate with them in bearing the gospel of Jesus Christ
within sometimes hostile societies, to advocate on behalf of churches and
their members before European political institutions. “In all of
this,” he concluded, “the EKD joins in playing an important role in
Germany, in Europe and throughout the world.”

Bishop Dr Martin Schindehütte, who is responsible for the EKD office of
foreign affairs and ecumenical relations, observed that “we need each
other’s insights to be faithful in our own contexts.”

There are “complex relationships and connections within the ecumenical
movement”, he said, yet the core of Christian unity and action is the
gospel. From this foundation we are strengthened to devise patterns and
plans that help the churches coordinate their activities with greater
clarity and purpose.

One topic that arose during the EKD’s visit was planning for the year
2017 and 500th anniversary commemorations of the posting of Martin
Luther’s 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany.

Enthusiasm for the project was voiced by all, with the caution that this is
an event of world-wide significance even though it was especially
influential in German religious, cultural and political history. It is a
world event. There should be signs of interaction between “Wittenberg,
1517” and “The World, 2017”.

Thanks were offered by EKD Council chair Rev. Dr Nikolaus Schneider for the
general secretaries’ hospitality and opinions. Council member Tabea
Dölker expressed the visitors’ gratitude by presenting a sculpture
depicting 16th-century German reformer Martin Luther. The title of the
work is “Hier Stehe Ich...” (Here I Stand), a reference to Luther’s
statement before the Diet of Worms in 1521.

“Hier Stehe Ich...” is the creation of controversial German artist
Ottmar Hörl, based on Johann Gottfried Schadow’s early 19th-century
monument to Luther that stands in the Lutherstadt-Wittenberg town square.
The sculptures, 98 centimetres in height, were produced in black, blue,
green and red, in quantities of 217 exemplars per colour. The Ecumenical
Centre received one of the black statues.


More information on the Evangelical Church in Germany (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=51ce465e0447507ed779 )

High resolution photos of the visit may be requested free of charge via
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9db8cd49fa03ba2ff441 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=50360428503ee813b049 )


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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