WCC and Vatican to Work Together on Conversion Plan

|TOP|The leader of the World Council of Churches has revealed Wednesday that the global ecumenical body will work together with the Vatican to seek a common ground on conversions.

The ecumenical forum is looking to resolve conflicts that arise from conversions and will include will also include Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu leaders among others.

Over the years, says the WCC, tensions have arisen from missions outreach by Christian groups in so-called unreached areas of the world, especially within peoples belonging to other religious groups who perceive see their faith to be threatened by missionary activities.

"How can we — anxious to maintain, develop and nurture good relations with people of other faiths — deal with this highly complex issue that sometimes threatens the fibre of living together?" said the Rev. Hans Ucko, head of the WCC inter-religious relations office, according to Reuters.

A meeting to be held at Velletri, 25 miles southeast of Rome, will bring together more than 350 Christians of mainline Protestant, Orthodox and other churches as well as envoys from the Vatican.

|AD|Organisers of the four-day conference hope discussions will eventually lead to the drafting of an outline toward a "code of conduct" for Christian conversions worldwide. The code may take at least three years to research and draft.

Topics for discussion may include the issue of religious politics in Asia including the reported crackdown on house churches in Vietnam and China.

In addition, the forum may address the recent clash between China and the Vatican over the loyalties of Catholics in the country. Under current Chinese law, Chinese Catholics are required to worship at state-monitored churches which do not recognise papal authority.

Catholics refusing to worship at state-approved churches often congregate at "underground" house churches, and are subject to government harassment, arrests, fines and sometimes imprisonment.

Just last week, Vatican officials expressed anger and alarm over the consecration of two bishops without the blessings of Pope Benedict XVI. A Vatican spokesman later warned that those who blessed the two bishops may face excommunication.

One possible obstacle to the forum has already been identified as the absence of Pentecostal and evangelical congregations which have been at the forefront of missionary outreach worldwide, and which represent the fastest-growing Christian groups.

Christian persecution monitors with ties to evangelical churches often are often among the first to criticise those who are opposition to the conversion of Christians.

Ucko hopes that through contacts with other groups, including the Assemblies of God churches and the World Evangelical Alliance, the WCC will be able to have dialogue with "the most zealous groups to try to find a common voice."

The WCC currently claims a membership of more than 500 million Christians, and has worked closely with the 1.1 billion-strong Catholic Church in the past – though the two organisations remain separate.