Report of the general secretary.
Raiser, Konrad
1. As you are certainly aware, this will be a fairly decisive
meeting of the central committee. We shall be electing a new general
secretary and shall begin to take the first steps looking towards the
ninth assembly of the Council at Porto Alegre in 2006. Decisions about
the theme, the allocation of seats and the basic shape of the assembly
will be on our agenda in the coming days. However, important as these
matters of decision-making are, we also need time for genuine
deliberation. As you have seen from the agenda, the central theme for
this meeting will be "caring for life". This has been one of
the overarching themes for the work of the Council adopted after the
Harare assembly. After considering the other three possible themes in
previous meetings, it was decided to place the plenary sessions and the
biblical reflections at the 2003 central committee meeting under this
theme. I will therefore begin my report with some reflections on the
importance of the theme "caring for life" for the life and
activities of the WCC at this point in history. After a brief look at
some important developments in the Council since our last meeting, I
shall come back in the final part to the discussion which developed in
response to my initial reflections last year about "a new
ecumenical configuration for the 21 st century". With the explicit
encouragement of the officers I shall try to take it a few steps
further.
Caring for life
2. Caring for life has always been one of the central motivations
in the work of diakonia and service in the Christian churches. Let me
give you some examples from my recent visits to member churches. In
March of this year I visited several churches in Asia, in particular the
churches in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Pakistan. The first three are
countries which are marked by the very ancient Buddhist tradition which
is rooted in a spirituality of caring for life. In Laos, the small Lao
Evangelical Church has begun to emerge from a long period of repression
and suspicion on behalf of the government. It has won respect and
recognition through its dedication to serving the common good of the
people. We were invited to be present at the ceremony of handing over to
the supreme patriarch of the Buddhist community ten units of hospital
beds destined for a hospital which has been built for Buddhist monks. In
Thailand, the churches have for more than a hundred years held a central
place in providing educational and medical services for the country. In
Chiang Mai we visited the McKean rehabilitation centre, which had been
established in 1908 as a place for the treatment of leprosy patients,
and has now become a specialized centre providing rehabilitation
treatment for people suffering from diverse impairments and injuries,
Its imaginative approach to this growing challenge has become exemplary
for the whole country.
3. Perhaps the deepest impressions I received during my visits to
two schools for the blind and for the deaf in Rangoon, Myanmar. Again,
they are unique in the country and young people are coming to these
schools from far away in the countryside to learn basic skills that help
them manage their lives. In particular they have pioneered in developing
Braille and sign language for the Burmese context. The caring dedication
of the teachers and the life-affirming spirit in these two schools are a
form of Christian witness that is well understood in this Buddhist
society. Let me add a very recent experience during a visit to Belarus
in July. With the help of ecumenical partners, the Orthodox church last
year opened a "House of Charity (or Mercy)" on the outskirts
of Minsk. Among the many activities that are sponsored there are
programmes of rehabilitation for children affected by radiation after
the Chernobyl accident. For example, a very ingenious chair has been
developed which enables measuring the degree of radiation in the body
and thus to determine the therapy. Another programme helps people bound
to wheelchairs acquire the necessary skills to carry on their lives.
Other examples could be added, especially the responses of churches and
local Christian communities in Africa to the growing number of persons,
including children, who are HIV-positive; I remember in particular very
exemplary initiatives in Namibia and Botswana. I am sure that each one
of you could add further examples that would show how central the task
of "caring for life" is to the mission of the church today.
4. At this meeting we approach the theme "caring for
life" from a more specific perspective, i.e. the concerns about
issues of bio-technology and the work among persons with disabilities.
The other two plenaries on youth and on a Latin American regional
perspective will also contribute to our reflection about the theme. The
theme "caring for life", especially if approached in this way,
confronts us with many of the fundamental spiritual and ethical concerns
of our time, as they have been identified by the central committee in
1999. In addition, it could provide a learning field for developing a
new ethos of the WCC. In fact, the expectations that the churches find
the courage to address the fundamental spiritual and moral questions
among people today is increasing everywhere, not least among those who
carry social and political responsibility. This was evident at the
meeting of the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre in January of this
year. It is here that the WCC can and is in fact beginning to make a
difference, but this will require strengthening a culture of dialogue
and an ethos of spiritual discernment leading us beyond the political
struggles of the day.
5. The two specific examples which have been selected to open up
the discussion on "caring for life" focus on human life. And
indeed, basic questions are being raised today about what it means to be
human. However, the challenges which arise from human genetic
technologies as well as from the experiences of persons with
disabilities are not limited to human life alone. In fact, the use of
life forms for technological purposes and the manipulation of life
processes for the benefit of economic interests have already become
accepted practices with regard to animal and plant life. Yet even human
life is no longer protected by those fundamental ethical convictions
which affirm the sanctity and inviolability of life, when life is
regarded simply as the product of an evolutionary process following
Darwin's principles of natural selection, and where this
understanding is being popularized by declaring that in the struggle for
survival, only the fittest can win.
6. The advances in the fields of human genetic technology, e.g.
pre-natal diagnostics, therapeutic cloning, stem cell research etc., as
well as the moral and spiritual struggles of persons with disabilities
about their place in the human community, challenge the churches in the
ecumenical fellowship to rethink their understanding of human beings as
created by God and of human life as a gift from God. This implies two
specific questions with regard to the biblical, theological
understanding of life. First: What is the meaning of the notion that
humanity is made in the image of God? And secondly: How are we to
understand the biblical affirmation about the "goodness" of
all created life forms? The interim statement prepared by the EDAN network under the title "A Church of All and for All", which
has been sent to you, provides a fresh and penetrating approach to these
questions from the experience of persons with disabilities. Its
theological reflections also have a direct bearing on the ethical
challenges arising in the field of bio-technology.
7. Let me comment on these two facets of the discussion. First: I
believe that we need to take very seriously the critical questions
raised from the perspective of persons with disabilities regarding the
modern interpretations of human beings as created in the image of God,
which serve as the basis for the recognition of each person's
inherent dignity and thus as an encouragement to assert one's human
rights in society. As the statement says: "This tendency has had a
positive impact in encouraging respect for those who are not white,
male, able-bodied and intelligent. But it has also exacerbated the
prejudice that we should all be perfect since we are made in God's
image. Obvious failure to reach such notional perfection then becomes
problematic. How can this person, who apparently has physical or mental
defects, be made in God's image? The modernist approach may
challenge the attitudes of some past traditional societies, but the
success-oriented values of modern individualism encourage an
interpretation of imago Dei which, we would argue, does not take account
of core elements in Christian theology" (para. 25).
8. Since most of the efforts of the churches to provide a
theological foundation for human rights have been based on this
interpretation of the imago Dei, it is important for us to hear the
challenge coming from the reflections among persons with disabilities.
As their statement points out, the biblical tradition does not know the
modern notion of the individual. When the biblical creation story speaks
of "Adam" it refers to the whole human race. And while it
certainly affirms that all are created in the image and likeness of God,
it also includes all of humanity under disobedience of the first human
being, the "fall". In the mythological language of its early
chapters the Bible recognizes the basic rupture in the relationship
between humanity and the Creator. The question of what it means to be
human will find its final answer only as this life-giving relationship
with God is being restored. And this is therefore the message of St Paul
in his typological comparison of Adam and Christ (Rom. 5:12ff.): Christ
is the true image of God; in him the full meaning and purpose of human
life in relationship with God has been restored.
9. This means that for Christians the basic orientation for the
understanding of human life is Jesus Christ as the one human being in
whom the true image of God has been revealed. However, what we see in
Christ is not the perfect, successful, powerful individual, but rather
an image of the vulnerability, weakness and even brokenness of human
life, or positively an affirmation of love and mutuality as the truth
about what it means to be human. The vulnerability of human life is a
result of its dependency on relationships of mutual trust. What we call
the sanctity of human life, its inviolability, means that human life
does not carry its meaning in itself but can sustain itself and its
dignity ultimately only in relationship with God, with other humans and
with all created life. This is further strengthened when we acknowledge
that the God whose image all humans bear is the Holy Trinity, the
communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The nature of God, and thus
also the image of God, is relationship. Human life in its relational
character is a gift from God, like all created life. Its character as
gift which establishes its sanctity does not only refer to the beginning
of life but is being actualized afresh every day through the work of the
Spirit of God whom we confess as "the giver of life".
10. This understanding of the sanctity of human life as rooted in
its relationality has immediate implications for the field of
bio-technology. It means that human beings are not at the disposal of
other humans, they must not be used as instruments for other purposes or
subjected to purely economic interests. We have come today under the
influence of an economic value system which turns everything into a
commodity. This is the crucial point in the discussion in many countries
and churches about the ethical issues involved in the use of embryos,
which have been created as the result of in-vitro fertilization, in
order to obtain embryonic stem cells. Here incipient human life is
treated as a commodity, the value of which is being weighed over against
the value of protecting other human life through new forms of treatment.
Another example is the patenting of human life or of human genetic
information. A document has been prepared for Policy Reference Committee
II under the title "Caring for Life--Human Genetics". It
states categorically, "Life ultimately belongs to God. The
patenting of human life is in opposition to this conviction."
11. The second question which arises in this context concerns our
understanding of the biblical affirmation of the "goodness" of
all created life forms. Over against dualistic and apocalyptic
tendencies to devalue earthly life it is important that the Christian
faith has maintained the affirmation that in the eyes of God all of
creation, including human life, is "very good". But where this
witness of faith is being turned into a norm of perfection to which life
should correspond, it perverts God's will into a source of human
power over life. Then human beings are judged according to the degree of
their perfection, whether esthetical, moral or physical. Those who,
because of disability or any other "defect", cannot conform to the societal norm of perfect human life are considered as disposable.
Moral pressure is being put on parents who are prepared to bring up
disabled children. New selection techniques such as pre-natal genetic
diagnostics open the door for new forms of eugenics. We urgently need to
develop a new culture of caring and affirming life which includes those
who are considered by others as being disabled.
12. Thus, the affirmation of the "goodness of life" which
is meant to protect the worth and the dignity of all human beings can
become the source of profound spiritual pain, especially for persons
with disabilities. Disability has traditionally been considered as loss,
as weakness, and therefore, somehow less than fully human. Different
theological and social interpretations have been offered about how to
understand disability and how to cope with it. But they do not respond
to the painful question: "Why me?" The interim statement makes
this important observation: "Disability is a human condition and,
as such, it is ambiguous, To be human is to live a life that is marked
both by the God-given good of creation and the brokenness that is part
of human life. We experience both sides of human life with disabilities.
To interpret disability from one of these perspectives is to deny the
ambiguity of life and to create an artificial ontological split in the
heart of our understanding disability" (para. 20).
13. The "goodness of life" should therefore be understood
as an affirmation of what God intends life to be and to become. All
human beings have potential gifts as well as limitations. Creation is
good but finite; good life implies its finiteness, because all life will
die. It is through relationships, through life in community that what is
a limitation or impairment for the individual may become a gift for
others in the community. We are created for community and meant to
further and enhance each other's gifts so that the God-given
potential of each member of the community may be realized and thus the
goodness of life be manifested. Being liberated from the oppressive
thought of falling short of the goodness of human life as God intended
it, persons with disabilities can begin to understand even their
impairment as a potential gift to the community. In particular, they can
help others to recognize and accept their limitations and their
finiteness, for they know how it feels to have one's life shattered
and turned upside down.
14. This is indeed a most important witness about the meaning of
life in the perspective of the Christian faith, because it reminds us
that in Jesus Christ God shared the human condition in its brokenness
and vulnerability in order to redeem it. The death of Jesus on the
cross, the brokenness of his body has become for us the very symbol of
life. He came that we should have life and have it abundantly (John
10:10). But this life remains God's gift and never becomes our
possession. We receive and carry this gift, as St Paul says, "in
clay jars" (2 Cor. 4:7), in our mortal bodies, dependent on the
continuing breath of life through the Spirit of God. Thus; the witness
of persons with disabilities "presents us with a challenge to our
culture where a worldly image (rather than God's image) is a
priority, where ideal perfection is valued and weakness criticized, and
where virtues alone are emphasized and failures are concealed. Ours is a
witness to the centrality and visibility of the cross in our lives"
(para. 63). Let me remind you that we shall have two plenary sessions
with presentations on the theme "caring for life"; they will
provide ample opportunity for discussion and deliberation on these
important questions.
Developments in the WCC since the last meeting
15. Before I turn to the discussion about reconfiguring the
ecumenical movement, I consider it my responsibility to give you a brief
account of the efforts undertaken by the executive committee, officers
and staff to respond to the critical challenges which we faced last
year. The essential facts are summarized in the "Report of the
Officers" which has been sent to you in preparation for this
meeting. Much of this report deals with issues of finance and internal
organization, and indeed, the very critical financial situation of the
WCC has occupied much of our attention during this year. As a
consequence of the required reduction of budgets, programmes and staff
we were obliged, once again; to adjust the internal organizatinn of the
WCC.
16. Obviously, this situation of uncertainty and separation from
valued colleagues and important areas of work has weighed heavily on the
spirit and motivation of staff. After having worked according to the new
pattern for more than six months, things have begun to consolidate and
the work has found its new rhythm. Fortunately, the efforts to bring the
finances of the WCC in line with the framework budget established by
central committee last year appear to have been successful and the
forecasts are modestly encouraging. However, we have not yet reached the
point of financial equilibrium and the decline of contributions income
has not been halted. The period up to the next assembly will, therefore,
be decisive and the executive committee has prepared a number of
important recommendations for your consideration. As I hand over my
responsibilities I want to express my gratitude to the members of the
small task group appointed last year, the officers of the finance
committee and the senior members of the finance team past and present
who have contributed significantly to meeting the critical situation.
17. The other major item which generated lively and controversial
discussion at our meeting last year and far beyond was the report of the
Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC. During the
central committee meeting the most intensive exchanges took place
regarding the name and the mandate of the committee to continue the work
of the Special Commission; the subsequent discussion in (at least some
of) the member churches focused primarily on the recommendations
regarding "common prayer" and the reflections on
"ecclesiology". The resignation of Bishop Dr Margot Kassmann
from central committee caused widespread concern and matters were not
helped by the fact that the full text of the report of the Special
Commission became available at the time of the central committee
initially on the web, and was distributed in print only through the
January 2003 issue of The Ecumenical Review.
18. Meanwhile, the report has been translated into Greek, Russian
and Arabic in order to stimulate discussion also in the Orthodox
churches themselves. The steering committee of the Special Commission
has held its first meeting at Neapolis/Thessaloniki in early June, in
conjunction with a symposium organized by the Theological Faculty of
Aristotle University at Thessaloniki. You have received with your
preparatory papers the report from this meeting, which provides an
indication of the progress made in the discussion since last year. The
steering committee has been able to revitalize the spirit of the Special
Commission and, in responding to some of the critical discussions, it
has strongly reaffirmed the vision of the report, especially on the
questions of common prayer, while admitting that it may have failed to
communicate this vision in a convincing manner. In addition, you have
received an interim report on the move towards consensus procedures, and
a compilation of the suggested amendments to the constitution and to
rule I which were agreed in principle by the central committee last
year. Implementing the recommendations by the Special Commission and the
decisions of central committee will, however, continue to occupy our
attention during the coming two years up to the assembly in 2006.
19. I have tried personally to follow up the work of the Special
Commission through visits to the Church of Greece in March 2002 and to
the Russian Orthodox Church in July this year. The visit to Greece
provided opportunities to meet not only with H.B. Archbishop
Christodoulos but also with the synodical committee on interchurch
relations. In both meetings, as well as later in an encounter with
faculty and students of the theological faculty of the University of
Athens, I received clear indications that the Church of Greece
attributes great importance to the work and the recommendations of the
Special Commission and is prepared to strengthen its participation in
the life of the WCC. This is also evidenced by the fact that the holy
synod of the Church of Greece has officially invited the Council to hold
the next world mission conference which is planned for 2005 in Greece.
My recent visit to the Russian Orthodox Church included brief visits
also to Kiev and Minsk. In Moscow I had encounters with H.E.
Metropolitan Kyrill and the senior staff of the department of external
church relations as well as with a group of intellectuals, politicians
and communicators during a round table discussion organized by the
department. The positive assessment of the work of the Special
Commission which had been expressed by the Russian Orthodox Church
already last year was confirmed and I had the clear impression that a
new attitude towards the WCC is taking shape.
20. One final remark may be in order referring to the intensive
ecumenical activity with a view to formulating a common response of the
churches to the policies of the US administration and its allies leading
to war against Iraq. The details are summarized in the documents on
public issues. During my visit to Asia in March of this year I also
visited Pakistan and Indonesia. In these two Islamic countries I was
struck by the fact that the unanimous rejection by the Christian
churches of the policies of war was greeted with great relief on the
part of Muslim people who saw it as a convincing refutation of the
thesis of the "clash of civilizations" as put forward by
Samuel Huntington and its dangerous impact on international relations.
Reconfiguring the ecumenical movement
21. Last year I concluded my report with an analysis of the
challenges facing the ecumenical movement at the beginning of the 21 st
century. The analysis led me to the conclusion that we need to reflect
about "a new configuration of the ecumenical movement for the 21st
century". The central committee, on the basis of a recommendation
from Policy Reference Committee I, reacted positively to these
reflections. In follow-up of this recommendation a series of
consultations was initiated with the main ecumenical partners to explore
their attitude to the proposed process of reviewing the patterns of
ecumenical organization which had developed over the last four decades.
Among the documents sent to you in preparation for this meeting you will
also have found a report summarizing "the discussion so far".
22. There is a general feeling among the main ecumenical partners
of the WCC that a review of the organizational configuration of the
ecumenical movement might be necessary and desirable, even though the
sense of urgency is not shared by all in the same way. An intensive
process of internal evaluation at a retreat of the staff executive group
and subsequently during the week of meetings with the whole staff, led
to the proposal that the WCC should convene a meeting of a small group
of experienced ecumenical co-workers from the different partner
networks, i.e. REOs, NCCs, CWCs, specialized ministries, international
ecumenical organizations, together with persons from the WCC governing
bodies. It would be the objective of the meeting to analyze the main
challenges, to consider the options for change and to prepare a
memorandum which could become the basis for a process of consultation
and study leading up to a firm proposal to be presented to the
respective organizations. The proposal for such a meeting had first been
made by the Heads of Agencies Network (HOAN) in a letter of April 2003
addressed to the WCC officers. At their meeting in May the officers
expressed their support for the proposal and the moderator, H.H. Aram I,
issued an invitation for the meeting to be held in November of this year
in Antelias, Lebanon.
23. The WCC takes this initiative not out of institutional
self-interest, but in response to its constitutional mandate to further
and maintain "the coherence of the one ecumenical movement in its
diverse manifestations" (WCC constitution, art. III). The role of
the WCC as the convener of this process of reflection has been affirmed
by all partners in the conversations so far. It has further been
observed in the course of the consultations that the United Nations are
facing a similar challenge regarding the sustainability of their
inherited pattern of organization. The need for change is arising in
particular from the rapid spread of the process of globalization and its
impact on the functioning of the international system. Governments and
intergovernmental organizations find it difficult to adjust their ways
of working and there is an intensive search for new forms of
"global governance". The specific problems faced by the system
of the United Nations are very similar to those we experience in the
ecumenical movement: shortage of funds, increase of bilateralism,
growing competition between UN agencies and the NGO community, and
defensiveness of governments over against the influence of civil society
organizations on the shaping of a new international order. Generally,
there is a trend to respond to the challenges by way of pragmatic
organizational and structural changes, hoping to increase
"relevance" by adopting "looser, lighter and more
flexible structures". While the World Social Forum is propagating
the slogan "another world is possible", there is so far no
clear vision beyond the growing critique of the neo-liberal ideology
which has provided the momentum for the process of globalization.
24. The objective of reconfiguring the ecumenical movement should
obviously be to strengthen its capacity to move the Christian community
worldwide to a common witness and service in the world of the 21st
century. The ecumenical movement is not an end in itself but responds to
a common calling that arises from God's will to create a new human
community in Christ. Responding to this call is not an option among
others, but constitutes a gospel imperative. Any such statement of
objectives will be based on a number of assumptions which would need to
be spelled out and explored further. It is not my intention here to put
forth a normative definition of ecumenism. I would rather refer you to
chapter 2 of the CUV document which reviews the different formulations
offered in the course of the ecumenical discussion to describe the goals
of the ecumenical movement. Quite deliberately, the CUV document
addresses the questions about the objectives of the ecumenical movement
before speaking (in chapter 3) about the self-understanding of the World
Council of Churches. It affirms the interdependence of the ecumenical
visions expressed in John 17:21 ("that they all may be one ... so
that the world may believe") and of Ephesians 1:10 (God's
"plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in
[Christ], things in heaven and things on earth"). But it also
recognizes the "continuing tension and sometimes antagonism between
those who advocate the primacy of the social dimension of ecumenism and
those who advocate the primacy of spiritual or ecclesial ecumenism"
(cf. para. 2.5). Against this background, the CUV document offers
"some basic distinctions and marks of identification" as a
common basis and starting point for all those engaged in the ecumenical
movement (cf. para. 2.8). The projected process of consultation would
have to test the validity of these perceptions.
25. While, therefore, the question of the goals and objectives of
the one ecumenical movement has to receive attention in the course of
the discussion about reconfiguration, it should be clear at the outset
that the ecumenical movement is guided by a vision and is committed to
values which can come in conflict with the prevailing values of our
globalized world. The purpose of the envisaged reconfiguration must,
therefore, be to uphold and strengthen the vision and to achieve greater
coherence around the values which motivate the ecumenical movement. We
cannot be content with a pragmatic and functional readjustment of
structures to facilitate cooperation and render it more effective.
Important as a consideration of the funding base may be for the
different partner organizations, this is just one factor within a larger
goal of sharpening the profile of a value-driven ecumenism. The aim
should be to rally the partners again around a common set of values and
attitudes, to sharpen the sense of a common mission; this will
facilitate reaching an agreement about the necessary institutional and
structural changes.
26. Through the CUV process the WCC on its part has tried to
articulate its ecumenical vision and to describe the understanding of
its role and place in the wider ecumenical movement. The CUV document
has initiated a shift in the institutional perspective of the WCC. It
recognizes the polycentric character of the ecumenical movement. It
offers the understanding of the WCC as a "fellowship of
churches" on the way to koinonia in faith and life, witness and
service. This has organizational consequences. As an institution, the
WCC accepts the mandate to foster the coherence of the ecumenical
movement without claiming a position of central control. More recently,
the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC has
articulated its vision of "a Council which will hold churches
together in an ecumenical space:
--where trust can be built;
--where churches can test and develop their readings of the world,
their own social practice, and their liturgical and doctrinal traditions
while facing each other and deepening their encounter with each other;
--where churches freely will create networks for advocacy and
diaconal services and make their material resources available to each
other;
--where churches through dialogue continue to break down the
barriers that prevent them from recognizing each other as churches that
confess the one faith, celebrate the one baptism and administer the one
eucharist, in order that they may move to a communion in faith,
sacramental life and witness" (para. 11).
27. The notion of an "ecumenical space" which the Special
Commission has appropriated has gained increasing importance in the
reflections about reconfiguring the ecumenical movement and envisaging
the role of the WCC in this process. The study process on
"ecclesiology and ethics" has spoken of the WCC as
"space-maker". In terms of methodology this means that the
role of the WC is one of providing inspiration and facilitating the
process. But the implications of this notion go beyond methodology. It
suggests a fundamental value option: in favour of multilateralism versus
bilateralism, in favour of a conciliar model of ecumenism over against
the confessional model, in favour of open participation rather than
insisting on institutional membership, in favour of a wide notion of
ecumenism over against the concentration towards an ecumenism of
churches as organized bodies. It means, in particular, to hold together
in one "space" the local and the global manifestations of the
ecumenical movement.
28. The legitimate partners in this emerging conversation are all
those who, irrespective of their relationship with the WCC, recognize
the basic affirmations of faith as expressed in the basis of the WCC,
and who acknowledge that the churches, in spite of their institutional
limitations, are the main actors of the ecumenical movement. They should
also accept that the unity of the church, the missionary proclamation of
the gospel in the whole world, and the active commitment to diakonia and
service for justice and peace are interdependent expressions of the
ecumenical vocation. The ongoing conversation about a "global
Christian forum" is based on these understandings and it can
provide important clues for the beginning conversation about
reconfiguring the ecumenical movement. Most of all, we need among those
participating in this conversation a spirit of openness to change and
the readiness to allow our respective institutional claims to be
challenged through such encounters.
29. The partners in this conversation are obviously of very
different kinds. At the centre are the churches themselves. They are
already linked in diverse networks of cooperation and relationships:
Christian world communions, regional ecumenical organizations, national
councils of churches, mission communities like CWM, CEVAA and UIM, and
church fellowships like Leuenberg, Porvoo, etc. These existing networks
are characterized by overlapping membership and (sometimes) competing
demands on the churches. In addition, we have a growing number of
church-related organizations or agencies in the areas of mission,
diakonia, and service. Many of them are organized as independent NGOs
and therefore not organically related and integrated into the church
structures. Much of ecumenical activity is being carried out with
funding provided by these organizations. Thirdly, there is a host of
international ecumenical organizations and voluntary associations of
Christian people, initiatives, groups and networks around the commitment
to a particular cause and reflecting the broader ecumenical commitment.
The oldest among these are the World Associations of the YMCAs and YWCAs
as well as the WSCF; but many others have been created more recently.
30. As is evident from this rapid survey of partners, the
ecumenical movement is wider than the relationship between the churches
as organized bodies. The future of the ecumenical movement cannot be
left in the hands of the churches alone. It obviously also reaches
beyond the constitutional limits of the WCC. The objective of a
reconfiguration is not to centralize the ecumenical movement and to
bring everything under the control of the WCC. The WCC should and will
remain in) the first instance a "fellowship of churches"
seeking to deepen their relationships in the direction of full koinonia
in faith and life, witness and service. Membership of the WCC implies a
firm commitment to each other in the praxis of mutual accountability.
The WCC should, however, continue to provide the space for the
ecumenical objectives to be pursued in cooperation between a larger
range of partners beyond the institutional churches. The guiding
principle here is not membership but participation.
31. We need to recognize that there are at least three clusters of
partner organizations around the issues of unity, mission and
diakonia/service. Each of these clusters responds to its own
constituency and has developed its specific methodology. We can no
longer assume that they should be managed and coordinated under the
institutional control of the WCC, i.e. by commissions composed mainly of
representatives of the churches. Obviously, a new model of governance is
needed which, while maintaining the integrity of the WCC, would
facilitate broader participation and respect the distinct profile of the
partner organizations. The conciliar bodies on the different levels
would have to assure the linkage between the local and the global
manifestations of ecumenism. The ecumenical space would have to embody
the values of conciliar fellowship which represents the strongest
response of the churches to the challenges of globalization.
Conclusion
32. This was my last report to the central committee. When I began
my work as general secretary almost eleven years ago I had a clear sense
that the World Council and the ecumenical movement as a whole were
facing a period of transition. I wanted to facilitate the search for a
new self-understanding and a new vision of the Council which would
respond to the changed situation of church and society. Most of my
energies have been directed to this task and I am grateful for what has
been achieved through the common efforts of many. I did not anticipate
the extent to which this undertaking would be over-shadowed by the
deteriorating financial situation with all its implications for the
institutional functioning of the Council. I am relieved, however, that I
can hand over my responsibilities to a successor at a moment when it
appears that the worst of the difficulties are behind us.
33. In ending this report I want to express my gratitude to you, to
the officers and to my colleagues, especially those in the staff
leadership group. It has been a privilege and a joy for me to be able to
serve the World Council of Churches during these years and to experience
your support as well as your challenge. I have tried to respond to the
tasks and to your expectations to the best of my abilities. Should I
have offended or disappointed any one among you I ask for forgiveness.
The life of the WCC and the ecumenical calling has become an integral
part of my ministry and my commitment shall not end when I leave my
present task. I have always had the strong sense of standing on the
shoulders of those who have gone before us. And those who carry on the
task most directly have my heartfelt prayers and support for every
success. But more, I have confidence in the future, for the movement in
which we are engaged ultimately is in God's hands and God will
complete what we have had to leave unfinished. To God be thanks and
praise.
