Economic and technological globalization has made it easier for strangers to talk as neighbours but is creating profound new challenges for the Christian church, said the moderator of the World Council of Churches at its ninth assembly in February in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
"Strenuous efforts have been made in history to transform the world," said Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Apostolic Church, speaking at the assembly. "All political, religious, economic, ideological and technological attempts have failed." He asserted therefore, "As Christians, we believe that only God's grace can empower, renew and transform humanity and creation."
• "Poverty doesn't just exist — it is manufactured by those who control the markets," said Yashpal Tandon, executive director of the South Centre in Geneva, a think tank working on issues related to trade and economic development in Africa. "Poverty is not a natural phenomenon, but is the fruit of deliberate policy and churches must challenge the economic institutions that create and perpetuate the policies," the Ugandan economist told the assembly.
The WCC, which meets every seven years and has spoken on economic justice issues throughout its 58-year existence, declared at its last assembly in 1998 that "the logic of globalization needs to be challenged by an alternative way of life of community in diversity."
• "Just as atomic weapons changed the very way we thought about life, so too the potential of major climatic changes puts life as we know it in danger," WCC general secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia said in his main report.
"This is not an issue for the future: severe consequences are already being experienced by millions of people," said Kobia. "In an era where there is more than enough food to go around many times over, 852 million people across the world are hungry, up from 842 million in 2003."
• A growing gap between ecumenical institutions and the churches they were created to serve is deepening the threat of survival faced by groups such as the WCC. "We are at a critical point," said Catholicos Aram I. "I see a growing gap between ecumenical institutions and new forms of ecumenism that are appearing."
Aram noted that the ecumenical movement had become an arena for "new tensions and alienations." This was seen as a reference to controversies within churches on issues such as homosexuality, as well as disputes between the WCC's Protestant and Orthodox member churches.
"Many churches misinterpret ecumenism; they equate it with the forces of liberalism and secularism. They fear that it threatens the church's moral teachings and will lead to proselytism and syncretism," he said.
• Women are playing a stronger role than in the past at the assembly. "This year we are celebrating an increased participation by women. We are 37 per cent of the delegates and 45 per cent of the participants," said Agnes Aboum, the WCC's Africa regional president.
• Kobia also proposed that three worldwide bodies jointly hold the next meetings of their highest governing bodies.
The proposal was welcomed by Bishop Mark Hanson, of the Lutheran World Federation and Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Hanson said the proposal "broadens the scope of the ecumenical movement and provides a way for Christian world communions to make a larger contribution to the wider ecumenical movement." – ENI
