World Council of Churches hears of urgent need for togetherness

Central Committee member Dr Mary Tanner of the Church of England stressed that although many of the threats confronting communities around the world appeared to be local, they were in fact interconnected.

“They belong as part of a global web of injustice, a global web of oppression, a global web of economic and ecological crises,” she said.

“The threats experienced locally and specifically are not treatable merely on a local level.

“There is an urgency for Christian togetherness at the local level, at the regional level and at the world level.”

Dr Tanner encouraged churches to share resources and join together in common action locally and globally.

“God calls us to live together for the world’s sake and for God’s sake,” she said.

The Central Committee, meeting in Geneva, received updates on the challenges facing Christians in Fiji, Syria and the Middle East, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Rev Geraldine Varea, of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, spoke of the ongoing conflict between her Church and the Fijian government.

The Church decided this month to cancel its annual conference and national choir contest after the government arrested seven of its ministers, including the President and General Secretary. They were later released.

Rev Varea said the recent incorporation of the Pacific Council of Churches into the WCC had presented a new opportunity for dialogue between the Methodist Church and the Fiji government.

“The government is willing to dialogue with the Methodist Church and the Methodist Church is willing to dialogue with the government but in terms of reconciliation the question is who is going to take the first step towards reconciliation,” she said.

She added that perhaps the Methodist Church and the government had been wrong in their handling of the conflict and suggested that the Church gain a new humility “not in the sense of losing its identity or its faith but allowing God to speak”.

Speaking on the Middle East, Metropolitan Mor Eustathius Matta Roham of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All East told the Central Committee that the root cause of instability in the region was the Arab-Israeli conflict.

He painted a bleak picture of growing radicalism across the region and rising unemployment in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon brought on by the arrival of millions of refugees from Iraq.

He said the feeling of despair had grown especially among young people, leading to an increase in migration and particularly the migration of Christians.

Adding to the difficulties, he warned, was the negative impact of climate change on the region, seen in recent severe floods and sandstorms and falling water tables.

“The lack of water is a critical issue we face and if we do not take action to save the environment and maintain the balance in nature, water will replace oil as the most sought after commodity in the region," he said.

“Carbon emissions and pollution continue to strangle our world. Global warming has to be put under control before the problems get out of our hands.

Addressing the Central Committee in French, the Rev Micheline Kamba Kasongo, of the Church of Christ in Congo, said that the crisis in her country had been born out of war, corruption and the illegal exploitation of mineral riches.

She accused nations in the EU of trying to take control of the region to exploit it for their own cause but added that Congolese political leaders also had to accept some of the blame by destroying themselves with their corruption.

“I believe firmly that the day the Congolese people love their own country and recognise the value and riches that God has given them, my country will change for the better,” she said.

“I still believe that the church today has the influence to change the situation in society.

“The liberation of the DRC needs the sincere engagement of all Christians who are members of the WCC and especially from the churches of the countries in the Great Lake region.”