ACTS Assistant General Secretary Reflects on WCC Assembly

|PIC1|The Assistant General Secretary of Action by Churches Together in Scotland has been in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, one of the most ambitious gatherings of world Christian leaders to date.

The Rev. Lindsey Sanderson reflected on the impact that the Assembly has had on individual Christians at the event, saying that it has so far left everyone inspired to fulfil the theme of the Assembly, which is this year “God in your grace transform the world”.

Rev. Sanderson was one of hundreds of delegates to be addressed by Archbishop Anastasios of Albania who he said “challenged us that God’s response to our prayer ‘God in your grace transform the world’ is to say: ‘Well, I need you to come with me if transformation is to be achieved’”.

He added: “The feeling as we left the worship tent singing one of the Assembly songs which uses the words of the theme is that we all felt inspired to do just that.”

Delegates from countries all around the world have spent the last week dipping in and out of numerous workshops which engage with issues relevant to the modern day church and challenges for greater ecumenism between the Christian churches.

Rev. Sanderson was able to participate in a workshop by the Joint Working Group from the WCC and Roman Catholic Church, and led by the Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti, on a special report presented at the Assembly.

|AD|He said: “I think that it would be good for us in ACTS to look at their work on Roman Catholic participation in national councils of churches.”

Greater collaboration and ecumenism has been one of the focuses of the Assembly, with Monday’s programme taken up by the issue.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said yesterday in an impassioned speech to the delegates that “a united church is no optional extra” but rather “indispensable for the salvation of God’s world”.

A special session was also held Monday under the title “Church Unity – Claiming a Common Future’ in which Fr Jorge A. Scampini OP of Argentina, a leading Roman Catholic Dominican theologian, urged the WCC to continue and strengthen its role as the “privileged instrument” of the ecumenical movement in the search for visible Christianity unity.