Joy of the gospel
Janet Scott gives her impressions of a landmark conference
It is seventy years since the World Council of Churches (WCC) was formed in Amsterdam in 1948, one of several organisations that, following the second world war, aimed to bring about peace and reconciliation. The Council is made up of national churches, Protestant and Orthodox. The Roman Catholic Church, being international, is not a member but collaborates in the work.
A recent meeting of the WCC Central Committee celebrated this anniversary. Six Quakers were present: Ann K Riggs of Friends General Conference (FGC) and Anne Mitchell of Canadian Yearly Meeting, who are members of the Central Committee; three advisors, Gretchen Castle for Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), myself of Britain Yearly Meeting, Kees Niewerth of the Netherlands, each representing their national Council of Churches, and Angelina Okala Charles of Kenya, who is a member of WCC staff. The historic peace churches and Moravians meet together as a ‘confession’ and discussed the progress of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.
As part of the celebration, the Central Committee remembered some of the past work, especially the Programme to Combat Racism; Nelson Mandela at the Harare assembly, and thanked the WCC for how this programme had assisted the fall of apartheid. It evaluated current work and looked to the future. The Commission on World Mission and Evangelism had held a conference and sent a Call to Discipleship: ‘discipleship is both a gift and a calling, to be active collaborators with God in the transformation of the world.’
The Faith and Order Commission reported that they have embarked on a process of digitising historic faith and order documents so that they can become available to scholars throughout the world. Access to the documents will be through the WCC website. The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace reported on team visits already made to areas of conflict, and on future plans.
One of the fruits of the last WCC assembly, which was held in Busan in 2013, was that at this committee meeting there were guests present from both North and South Korea, who together spoke of their hopes for peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula.
Sunday morning worship was held in the cathedral of Saint Pierre in the old town of Geneva. The sermon was given by the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew. His reflections on the WCC included:
Let us have no illusions. The churches have so far been unable to overcome their divisions and achieve the much-desired unity. Nevertheless, our constructive and fraternal collaboration strengthens us in our quest for unity and in our witness to the universality of the Gospel. But let us never forget that the fruit of unity cannot ripen without divine grace.
On the final day of the meeting Pope Francis joined the Council in prayer. He gave a homily in morning worship and returned in the afternoon to give a longer address. He spoke of the recurring temptation to tailor the gospel to worldly ways of thinking, and warned us not ‘to debase this treasure to a purely immanent humanism, adapted to the fashion of the moment’.
Faith in Jesus Christ, he said, is not the fruit of consensus, ‘nor can the People of God be reduced to a non-governmental organisation’.
Instead, he said: ‘We are called to be a people that experiences and shares the joy of the Gospel, praises the Lord and serves our brothers and sisters with hearts burning, with a desire to open up horizons of goodness and beauty unimaginable to those who have not been blessed truly to know Jesus.’
