New World Ecumenical Central Committee Set for First Meeting

The new Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which is the main governing body of between the bodies of the WCC, will meet together for the first time at the end of the month, with a core focus being given to the exploration of changes in the church and society since 1966.

|TOP|During the 30 August-6 September meeting, a public event on 4 September and a consultation on 5-6 September on the theme "Acting together for transformation" will commemorate the 40th anniversary of a landmark 1966 WCC World Conference on Church and Society.

The conference that took place 4 decades ago focused on the social and technical revolutions of the time, anticipated later debates on disarmament, racism and a New International Economic Order, and broke new ground in that Southern voices were clearly heard for the first time, thus breaking Northern dominance in setting the discourse.

The special event and consultation will consider the 1966 conference's relevance today in relation to the WCC's AGAPE (Alternative Globalisation Addressing People and Earth) process, look at new and urgent challenges not perceived in 1966, and clarify how tensions between Northern and Southern perspectives at that time may have evolved, or even sharpened, since then.

In addition, a three-day workshop on the AGAPE process is scheduled immediately after the central committee meeting. It will discuss how to deepen AGAPE's theological, economic, social, political, cultural and ecological components, and will attempt to outline the way forward.|AD|

The WCC central committee is meeting for the first time since it was elected last February by the 9th Assembly of the WCC in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Its main tasks will be to decide on programme plans and a renewed organisational structure for the Council, as well as to appoint a series of advisory bodies.

The committee is expected to consider a number of issues, including just trade, the plight of children in conflict situations in Africa (with particular focus on Northern Uganda), HIV/AIDS and the current crisis in the Middle East.

At the meeting, Rev. Dr Walter Altmann of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) will play the role of moderator for the first time since his election by the committee immediately after the Assembly.

Scheduled to speak at the public event are former WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, Geneva 1966 participant Dr Antonios Papantoniou and Dr Puleng Lenka Bula. Among those slated to speak during the two-day consultation are Prof. Mercy Oduyoye, Dr Lukas Vischer, Dr Pamela Brubaker, Dr Peter Pavlovic, Dr Ninan Koshy, Dr Andrea Fröchtling and Dr Nancy Cardoso.