WARC Sets Up Renewed Structure & Priorities for Closer Ties with Member Churches

A new vision has been agreed upon by the Executive Committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Church (WARC) Oct. 11th, 2005. Among changes, which leaders stated would bring it closer to its member churches, new callings, a new set of priorities as well as a new structure of the alliance was settled.

|TOP|The WARC has 75 million Reformed Christian members in 218 churches across 107 countries, and has been discussing the document since the 24th General Council in Accra, Ghana in 2004.

After several days of deliberation, the 40-member committee gathered from across the globe to complete the final stages of the document, which will see radical renovations to the alliance that are still thought to be financially viable.

Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of WARC said, “It brings us closer to the WARC constituency and closer to the issues we said we would work on at Accra. People in the regions will now be more of a part of the team.”

The President of the WARC, Clifton Kirkpatrick also said, “What we have now is a purpose-driven Alliance, something our churches have been calling for. The networks we have agreed to set up have a huge potential to connect creative people to do the Alliance work in a whole new way.”

A new vision statement released by WARC now states, “We are the World Alliance of Reformed Churches consisting of Reformed, Congregational, Presbyterian, Waldensian, United and Uniting churches.

“We are called to be a communion of churches joined together in Christ to promote the renewal and the unity of the church and to participate in God’s transformation of the world.”

|QUOTE|In addition to this a number of refreshed core callings have been released. The callings find a clear origin from the statements agreed upon at the 24th General Council. The callings read:

- To covenant for justice in the economy and the earth.
- To search for spiritual renewal and renewal of Reformed worship.
- To foster communion within the Reformed family and the unity of the church ecumenical.
- To interpret and re-interpret the Reformed tradition and theology for contemporary witness.
- To foster mission in unity, mission renewal and mission empowerment.
- To promote inclusivity and partnership in church and society.
- To enable Reformed churches to witness for justice and peace.

Various programmes organised according to the priorities of WARC, which will also be directly linked to the mission of member churches, will see smaller teams of alliance staff be organised into an increasingly flexible work structure. The work will also be fulfilled by incorporating eight separate networks made up of executive committee members from around the world.

Certain programmes focus closely on economic and environmental justice, theology and mission and gender justice, states a WARC statement.

Various values will help to guide the works, and these will include:

- The renewal of the church by the word of God discerned in partnership and with full partnership with one another.
- Conciliarity which is togetherness, mutual accountability, strengthening and learning.
- The commitment to justice, diversity, reconciliation and sufficiency that responds to the cries of suffering people and the groans of creation.

With a number of financial questions being raised, the WARC Executive Committee also deliberated on new ways to raise finances by 2006. A fundraising workshop is also being planned for later in the meeting, where ideas will be shared to find a way forward to overcome the financial strains and burdens.