The World Alliance of Reformed Churches — WARC — and the Reformed Ecumenical Council — REC — formally joined on June 18 to create the new body for financial reasons, as a sign of ecumenical witness, and in an effort to heal old divisions. Now the 475 delegates, representing 230 denominations in 180 countries and meeting at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., through June 26, have begun to discuss what the ideas of justice and unity mean in real life.
For example, Tony Tampeke, a delegate from Indonesia, knows that women from his community work very long hours, “eight days a week.” As he travels Tampeke sees shopping malls and stores filled with goods produced by cheap labor in the global South — by workers such as the women in his community. What do Reformed Christians have to say about that, he asked?
Phil Erari, a delegate from Papua, New Guinea, wanted to know whether the World Communion will help protect the resources of his country from exploitation, and what it intends to do about the environmental damages of global warming.
And Bao Xuan Nguyen, a pastor with the Presbyterian Church of Vietnam, challenged the World Communion not to become a member of NATO — meaning No Action, Talk Only.
During a morning session on June 19, four speakers — from Costa Rica, Korea, Germany and Guyana — gave presentations expressing theological views of peace and justice. And then delegates from around the world were given a chance to reflect and respond – those cited above were among those who did.
Among the points the speakers made:
– Unity requires relationships among diverse people, and care for those who are most endangered and marginalized, said Sabine Dressler-Kromminga of Germany.
– “Justice is not charity” — so it’s not enough for churches just to pursue acts of charity, said Ayana McCalman, from Guyana. “If we think unity, we must act it. If we think peace, we must act it. And if we think justice, we must act it and live it as well.”
– Creating justice is not optional or a program, said Ruth Padilla DeBorst of Costa Rica. It’s a passion welling from the heart of God. She also asked whether Reformed Christians will show unity with all God’s people, standing with those who suffer, or whether they will grow too comfortable, unwilling to listen to or speak up for those who cry out for justice.
– “The time has come to say goodbye to consumerism,” said Park Seong-Won of Korea. And representatives of churches from around the world are saying that climate change and environmental degradation need to be high on the ecumenical agenda.
The delegates also heard presentations from some leaders of the two groups that joined to form the World Communion — reports that traced the history of those former organizations, some of their reasons for joining together, and their hopes and sense of challenge for what lies ahead.
Clifton Kirkpatrick, the former stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), who was elected president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 2004, described this as a “defining moment” in the Reformed tradition, in part because “we know in our core that to be Reformed is to be ecumenical.”
Peter Borgdorff, who had been president of the Reformed Ecumenical Council, spoke of the concern that some churches from his group, and also some churches from WARC, feel about the future of the World Communion “and the capacity of the communion to hold in creative tension the emphases represented in both traditions.” Some worry that the much larger number of churches coming from WARC will overwhelm the smaller number coming from REC, or that the concerns of some overwhelm the concerns of others, Borgdorff said.
They, along with Setri Nyomi, who was WARC’s general secretary, and Richard van Houton, REC’s general secretary, spoke directly of the history of these predecessor groups in addressing issues such as racism, apartheid, homosexuality, religious pluralism, and globalization — and the many challenges the World Communion will face as it moves ahead, including financial pressures.
“We are called into the impossible future of covenanting for justice — justice for all women and men, justice for all races and castes, justice in the economy, and climate justice,” Nyomi wrote in his report. “However, we can do no other than hear the still clear voice of our Lord Jesus Christ saying to mortals this may appear impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”
