WCC urged not to play into the hands of market forces and donor agencies

SEOUL (APEN) – A consultation of ecumenical leaders from different parts of the world has urged the ecumenical organizations, especially World Council of Churches, not to be influenced by market forces and donor agencies.

The Seoul International Consultation on Revitalizing Ecumenical Movement in a statement said that “Market forces and the demands of donor agencies seem to vitiate the financial integrity of the WCC, making it sway to market forces and desires of funding agencies so that it is not permitted to act independently.”

The purpose of organizing the ecumenical consultation was to find together a new vision for the ecumenical movement and to set meaningful goals for it.

The consultation called the ecumenical movement to be independent of financial powers and structures that dominate it and distort its priorities, and to find alternative ways to support itself.

Intensifying church to church sharing as an ecumenical discipline, restoring the movement character of ecumenism to broaden the financial support and ecumenical tithing were some of the “radical steps” the consultation proposed to the ecumenical movement and to the WCC to achieve financial integrity.

The consultation urged the WCC to reclaim its integrity and the right to set its own ecumenical agenda by resisting pressures from those who have control of funds.

It said: “We cannot and must not allow the availability or absence of funds to determine what we can and cannot do.”

The participants stated that ecumenical formation is at the heart of the revitalization of the ecumenical movement and suggested ways to strengthen ecumenism as a perspective at local, national, regional and global level by giving more importance to the WCC programs like Laity, Congregational level and Youth.

Stressing the need for effective programs in the WCC, the consultation called for “a clear vision of the movement’s goals and challenges and relevant program priorities that become the vehicles of formation.”

It also called for a wider ecumenical consciousness that takes into consideration inter-religious conversations and joint actions for justice, peace and the integrity of creation, which are essential at all levels of ecumenical formation.

Affirming the WCC as a fellowship of churches, the consultation noted that the basis for such a fellowship should be “clear communication” between WCC and its member churches “with “transparency and reciprocity.”

“We have often been confused by the interpretative accounts of the WCC that have appeared in the Ecumenical News International (ENI) and other third party publications and fail to hear what the WCC itself is saying and how its is receiving communities from churches about their concerns,” the participants pointed out.

They said that the priority for communications should be “building up of the solidarity of the ecumenical movement as a diverse community of suffering, struggle and hope.”

The consultation expressed concern over the “crisis” in the WCC and added that there is a “need for a fresh vision and a new sense of direction” for the WCC.

Thirty-six participants from Korea, Indonesia, Benin, India, USA, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Germany, Lebanon, Philippines, Russia, UK, Tanzania and Australia attended the 13-15 November consultation, which was gathered with the basic understanding that “the earth with all of its abundance and the world (oikoumene) with all of its inhabitants belong to God and that as co-workers in God’s oikoumene we are accountable to God.”

Among the ecumenical leaders who attended the consultation were, Dr Kim Yong Bock, Dr Ahn Jae Woong, Reverend Park San Jung, Dr Kang Moon Kyu, Dr Preman Niles, Dr Ninan Koshy, Ms Carmencita Karagdag, Dr Wesley Ariarajah, Bishop Owdenburgh Moses Mdegella, Dr Gabriel Habib and Professor Ulrich Duchrow.

There were also more than 40 visitors and supporters from different Korean churches, NGOs and media who attended the consultation.

The participants expressed regret that the Porto Alegre assembly of the WCC held in 2006 did not consider and debate the Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth document, and heed its call to resist, particularly “neoliberal globalization and empire.” They wanted the whole issue to be linked to the work of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) so that the economic, ecological and military violence is at the heart of it.

Reaffirming the biblical imperative of prophetic resistance to all forces of oppression and seriously taking note of the ecumenical movement’s ambiguity and lack of prophetic clarity on critical issues like neo-liberal globalization and empire, the participants proposed the DOV to give priority to resistance against both the structural violence of the economy and “the direct violence of imperial wars” on terror.

They also proposed that the WCC create, fund and facilitate a new network of local groups engaged in struggles for justice, peace and life, linking other ecumenical organizations, different faith communities and social movements in order to broaden the resistance against the destructive forces of neoliberal globalization and empire.

They also challenged the churches and ecumenical bodies to respond by saying that war in all its forms as a means of settling disputes is “totally unacceptable,” considering the fact that it is civilians, especially women and children, who bear the brunt of it.

They also wanted the local ecumenical bodies and initiatives to support global ecumenism because they are the ones who “translate global concerns such as globalization, market forces and reality of the Empire to the people who are most affected.”

Source:

www.apenews.org/newsread.asp?nid=189

Seoul Statement: International Consultation on Revitalizing Ecumenical Movement
Revitalization of the Ecumenical Movement – presentation at the Seoul Consultation by Gabriel Habib