WCC Executive Calls for Churches to Use "Unique Potential" for Peace

The World Council of Church (WCC) executive committee held meetings at the WCC’s Bossey Ecunemical Institute near Geneva on 13-16 September 2005. In the last full meeting leading up to the WCC 9th Assembly in 2006, the executives discussed various issues and urged churches to take responsibility to nurture healing in broken societies and to promote peace.
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The WCC executive committee released a statement on small arms and light weapons, urging churches to exercise their "unique potential" to curb demand for guns and "to affirm God's vision of life in peace and fullness" by "changing public attitudes, shaping community values and becoming a public voice against gun violence."

The WCC will lead an ecumenical delegation at the United Nations Small Arms Review Conference in 2006. A great majority of approximately 350,000 violence-related deaths around the world every year includes small arms.

The committee asked member churches to convey solidarity and to support churches in Haiti to develop a monitoring team during forthcoming elections, referring to the critical situation there.

The committee acknowledged the "enormous challenges faced by the people and the witness of the churches in the country". It also emphasised its "concern for the current unstable political situation", as well as the extreme poverty, violence and human suffering experienced by the population.

The statement calls on churches to "support processes towards genuine popular participation and a new social contract" for the benefit of all.

Churches in Haiti were also called to "intensify ecumenical initiatives" for justice, peace and reconciliation.

Over recent years, the WCC has followed developments in Haiti closely and has led ecumenical efforts to mediate and heal the divided society. In August, the WCC secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia met with church and political leaders in Haiti.

In a report to the committee, Kobia commented on the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. "The disaster has provoked widespread expressions of compassion and solidarity among churches worldwide," Kobia stated.

"It also exposes profound weaknesses and wounds in American society, and pertinent questions of racism, poverty and the impact of global warming, that need to be addressed with urgency and determination. The disaster confronts us with the vulnerability of power, and should challenge states to shift policies and reconsider international relationships."

The committee evaluated major initiatives in the areas of mission and inter-religious dialogue and reviewed the Council’s programmatic work in 2005.

Agreements for the WCC 9th Assembly was finalised by the executive committee to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February 2006. Nominations made by member churches were confirmed by the committee and plans for the agenda, leadership and organisation of the event was reviewed. Over 3,000 church leaders and ecumenical representatives from all regions are expected to gather for this event.

The committee proposed that the Assembly delegates focus on international issues, including the responsibility to protect, UN reform, Latin America and nuclear non-proliferation.

The committee recommended that Lao Evangelical Church, which is the first from this country, be accepted by the WCC central committee for membership in 2006. After the Assembly, six more applications for membership will also be processed.

They also supported the application of a string of church agencies and organisations to be recognised by the central committee as "specialised ministries in working relationship with the WCC" under new rules which will take effect next year.

The committee affirmed plans for a new global ecumenical platform for development, involving the WCC, and they encouraged more consultation and information-sharing within the WCC constituency.