THOUSANDS of Christians converged on the German city of Karlsruhe in the first week of September for the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The global body sent many messages to the world related to the theme “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

Dr Agnes Abuom opened the gathering, the last for the moderator, a Kenyan Anglican.

“Absolutely fundamental to the WCC and the ecumenical movement are relationships,” said Abuom. “That’s what makes experiences like the assembly so precious and formative. We encounter one another – in all our uniqueness – and recognise a neighbour in the stranger, unity in the midst of our diversity.”

WCC acting general secretary Rev Prof Dr Ioan Sauca shared a report that touched upon the climate crisis, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and many other challenges in the world.

“In responding to the hardships of our times, we need one another, we depend on one another, and we can advance only if we walk together, not in separation,” said the Romanian Orthodox, who has led the WCC since April 2020.

German federal president Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivered a keynote speech and the minister-president of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, also offered remarks.

Steinmeier recalled with thankfulness that the German churches were permitted to attend the 1st WCC Assembly in Amsterdam in 1948 and were welcomed as members on an equal footing. “To this day, we are grateful for this!” he said.

The opening prayer included a sermon by the WCC President, Patriarch John X of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch (in Syria) and all the East. He called on his listeners and their churches and nations “to choose to pass through the suffering Middle East, as Christ chose to pass through Samaria. Pass and look at Christ’s beloved ones there, as he looked at the Samaritans, without disregarding those who differ from you, without excluding the people of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the Holy Land of Palestine, especially because their ancestors served the gospel of reconciliation and spread it to all nations.” Local German host churches welcomed more than 3,500 people to the assembly and to the city of Karlsruhe. Over 70 weekend excursions across Germany and into France and Switzerland were organised, and more than 200 cultural and information events took place in the host city itself.

The assembly issued four public statements and four minutes expressing concern and suggesting ways to address some of the world’s major challenges.

The four statements are: ‘Living Planet: seeking a just and sustainable global community’, which raises an increasingly urgent voice of concern and demand for action; ‘The Things that Make for Peace; moving the world to reconciliation and unity’, which calls for a renewed commitment to peace; ‘War in Ukraine, Peace and Justice in the European Region’ which appeals “to all sides in the conflict to respect the principles of international humanitarian law…especially with regard to the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and for the humane treatment of prisoners of war”; and ‘Seeking Justice and Peace for All in the Middle East’, which affirms the rightful place of Israel in the community of nations but also the right of the Palestinians for self-determination; and states that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 is illegal and must end.

The minutes concerned peacebuilding on the Korean Peninsula, violations of security and human rights in West Papua, and the consequences of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. The fourth urges that the Syriac-Aramaic genocide of 1915 be named an historical reality.

The assembly recommended increasing youth participation in the global ecumenical fellowship. The assembly received, affirmed, and endorsed a Youth Statement signed by 38 youth members of the assembly, including 12 delegates and nine advisers. The assembly is referring to the WCC central committee for action, noting “the need for full youth involvement in all commissions, committees, advisory groups, and reference groups of the WCC, but also the apparent reluctance of some member churches to nominate young people to the central committee and other committees.”

The final assembly message, ‘A Call to Act Together’, stated: “All are called by Christ’s love to repentance, reconciliation, and justice in the face of war, inequality, and sins against creation, delegates at assembly stated in a message issued on 8 September.

“We will find a strength to act from a unity founded in Christ’s love, for it enables us to learn the things that make for peace, to transform division into reconciliation, and to work for the healing of our living planet.”

For more coverage of the WCC General Assembly, visit www.oikoumene.org

(WCC)

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