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World Council of Churches Central Committee Meets in Moscow, Pushes for Reorganization

Episcopal News Service. September 15, 1989 [89148]

The 158-member Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), meeting in Moscow in July, set up a committee to reorganize the ecumenical agency's program. WCC General Secretary Emilio Castro emphasized that the proposal was for "reorganization not restructuring," offering an opportunity to those attending the next WCC Assembly in Canberra, Australia, in 1991 "the freedom and flexibility to respond to its challenges."

During discussion of the proposal, Castro said that the current lack of coordination of WCC activities meant that neither he nor the Central Committee has been able to set priorities because there are too many "decision-making centers." He added, "What we need is the capacity to operate at a central level without killing creativity."

The resolution also asked Castro to "develop a process of consultation on the common understanding and vision of the WCC; the relationship of the WCC to its member churches; and the relationship of the WCC to nonmember churches and other Christian groups."

The search for "more realistic structures and a more appropriate way or style of working" is part of the wider issue of the role of the WCC, according to the WCC's moderator, Heinz Joachim Held of Germany. Among the difficulties in the relationship of the WCC and its member churches, Held identified differences in how "churches perceive political responsibility, their understanding of the kingdom of God," and implications for Christian ethical behavior. He added that the churches are seeking ways to couch worship in language that reflects their understanding of the role of women and men in the church -- "without contradicting the tradition of the ancient undivided church that we all recognize."

The Central Committee took special note of its setting by interspersing its deliberations with a wide-ranging discussion of the dramatic changes taking place in Soviet society. Besides attending an Orthodox commemoration in Zagorsk on the feast of St. Sergius, founder of the monastery, and a eucharist at Moscow Baptist Church, participants broke into smaller groups for visits to local parishes.

At a reception at the Kremlin, Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov paid tribute to "religious believers and clergy" for their support of the renewal of Soviet society and praised the WCC's emphasis on justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.

Leaders from the six Soviet churches that belong to the WCC (Russian, Armenian and Georgian Orthodox and Baptist, Lutherans in Estonia and Latvia) called attention to the effect of glasnost on church life. Patriarch Pimen, senior church leader in the Soviet Union, said the church "not only supports the efforts of the government and of all the forces coming out for changes in our society, but also sees in this challenge her future and new prospects for Christian witness." Pimen added that the attitude toward the church in much of society has improved and that, while church and state are separate, church and society are not. Church-state relationships have taken "an exceptionally favorable course," he said, offering "new opportunities for religious life, witness, and service" in a secularized society and greater access to public mass media.

During its nine-day session, the Central Committee expressed itself on a number of pressing international issues. The committee

• expressed concern for the fairness of upcoming elections in Namibia;
• asked banks not to help South Africa reschedule its foreign debt;
• urged churches to press for an international peace conference on the Middle East and to ask governments to urge Israel to halt new Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and dismantle existing ones;
• appealed for a halt to hostilities in Lebanon;
• recommended that the WCC monitor the human rights situation in Romania;
• adopted a major policy statement on the reunification of Korea;
• reaffirmed its support for the WCC World Convocation on Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation next March in Seoul;
• called for a study of moral, theological, and legal issues related to the death penalty;
• endorsed a World Summit for Children, initiated by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF); and
• approved in principle WCC participation in a new Ecumenical News Service in cooperation with other ecumenical organizations.