World Council of Churches 10 th Assembly Lecture. God of life; lead us to justice and peace

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1 World Council of Churches 10 th Assembly Lecture God of life; lead us to justice and peace By Thomas Kemper I am pleased to have this opportunity to share information and observations about the 10 th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (the WCC) that under the theme God of Life; lead us to justice and peace met last October 30 to November 8 in the South Korean City of Busan, a large metropolitan area on the southern-most coast of the Korean peninsula. It had many components and in my report to you I want to focus on those parts that affect contemporary Christian mission and, especially, the relation of the work of my organization, the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, to our mission partners in Asia, including Japan. You as members of a Christian university and a minority Christian community in this country know the importance of ecumenical relations and cooperation in church life and mission. I was in Busan as a delegate observer with a special interest in that part of the proceedings dealing with mission, and I had the opportunity to interact with mission leaders and missionaries from around the world. One highlight for me was a chance to spend time with our Global Ministries mission interns. Some of them had been assigned to work with Assembly preparation; one from the Ukraine was among the principal organizers of the Peace Train from Berlin, via Moscow and Beijing to Busan. The Assembly as a whole was a rich and enriching experience. The Assembly A brief word to start about the World Council today and the purpose, theme, and composition of the Assembly: The World Council, formally established in 1948, with preparation pre-dating World War II, is comprised of some 345 member Protestant; Anglican; and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches in 1

2 more than 110 countries and territories with in excess of 500 million believers. It describes itself as a fellowship of churches that confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scripture and seeks to together fulfill their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It adds that its members are on the way to visible unity in one faith and one Eucharistic fellowship, expressed in work and in common life in Christ. The membership convenes in Assembly about once every seven or eight years for the purposes of inspiration, sharing, and the conduct of business, including the election of officers. Between assemblies, the day-to-day business is overseen by a Central Committee of representative composition. The Assembly deals with policy rather than administration. Member denominations, according to World Council literature, are called to: Demonstrate the goal of visible unity in one faith and Eucharistic fellowship, Promote their common witness and work for mission and evangelism, Engage in Christian service by serving human need, breaking down barriers between people, seeking justice and peace, and upholding the integrity of creation, and Foster renewal in unity, worship, mission and service. Major impetus for the council s formation came from the Protestant communions of Europe and North America. There was Eastern Orthodox participation from the start but the overwhelming energy came from Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed churches of the West. Today, the majority of the denominational members are mission-founded churches from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific, in great part reflecting the demographic shift of the concentration of Christian believers to the Global South. And the Orthodox are more visible and active in the WCC than in former times. This shift in membership has considerable influence on the ethos and actions of the council and the assembly, as I will note as I move along. In general, while the WCC was formed by 2

3 church leaders and theologians of decidedly liberal persuasions, many of the newer Protestant members, along with the Orthodox, are of more conservative theological and social orientations. In Busan, almost 700 delegates men and women, youth and adults--were from member churches, and there were almost 300 other delegated participants from various ecumenical and confessional organizations. There were some 2,000 staff members, interpreters, stewards, and observers such as myself, and large numbers of Korean church members. Busan s theme was God of life; lead us to justice and peace, reflecting many scripture passage in both Old and New Testaments, and the overall message was an invitation to Christians and others to join the pilgrimage to justice and peace in today s world. Three Subject Areas I want to discuss with you three subject areas which I found most compelling at Busan. These are: Mission and evangelism The quest for unity, and Peace and justice issues Of course, these overlap both theologically and practically, and they emerged for me as major, related concerns at the Assembly within a much wider Assembly agenda. A. First, Mission and evangelism. One of the major plenary sessions was devoted to a new ecumenical statement entitled, Together Towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes. This is the first new document on these topics to come out of the World Council since It was not voted on by the Assembly; rather, it was presented as the product of the WCC s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism and had been approved by the Central Committee in the fall of It is a remarkable statement, not least because it was drafted and debated by a group that included non-council members like the Roman Catholic Church and, I believe, some Pentecostal groups. It is a 3

4 truly inclusive look at the centrality of mission and evangelism in the Christian Church with a capital C, meaning the whole, or universal Church, and each church either as a denomination or a congregation. One of our staff members at Global Ministries was involved in the process of developing the statement so I had some glimmers in advance on how it was shaping up, and I am extremely pleased with the outcome as an expression of the common commitment and ministries of the total Christian family. Together Towards Life puts strong emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in the work of the church as organization and of individual believers as we go about God s mission. This emphasis clearly reflects a priority concern of both Orthodox Christianity and the newer Pentecostal momentum. The paper is quite clear that we are engaged in God s mission; it is not God supporting our mission or missions. It explores four expressions of the Spirit: Spirit of Mission that which gives us breath and energy, Spirit of Liberation that which makes us both inclusive and diverse, Spirit of Community that which unites us and mobilizes us, Spirit of Pentecost that which sends us out to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. The document is more than twenty closely typed pages in length and I cannot being to cover all its points; rather than try, I will pick up on what I consider the most helpful and innovative concept in the document. This is the projection of mission from the margins under the heading of the Spirit of Liberation. It is here that the goals of inclusiveness and diversity are given theological and missional underpinning. As we are aware, and as I earlier mentioned, the Christian community today is more concentrated in the Global South than in years past, yet we have continued to think of the center as located in Europe and North America, and Africa, Asia, and to a degree Latin America as the margins to which missionaries are, or were, sent; we have most often acted as though mission comes from power centers to the powerless. 4

5 That topography of mission no longer works and we need to replace it by understanding that mission also comes and must come from what we once considered geographical margins and, in some real measure, may still be economic margins. The World Council statement says: Mission has been understood as a movement taking place from the center to the periphery, and from the privileged to the marginalized of society. Now people at the margins are claiming their key roles as agents of mission and affirming mission as transformational. This reversal of roles in terms of envisioning mission has strong biblical foundations because God chose the poor, the foolish and the powerless (I Corinthians 1:18-31) to further God s mission of justice and peace so that life may flourish. (Section 6 in part) The process through which mission founded churches in the Global South are taking their places as full partners and participants in mission has been developing over many decades, at least since the movements toward political independence began following World War II. This is evident as early as 1947 at a World Missionary Conference in Whitby, Canada, the first such gathering following that horrible world conflict. The newer or mission founded churches let it be known that they intended to play a role not only in determining how mission would take place in their locales but also in world evangelism and Christian social ministries. The papers from Whitby speak of partners in obedience to God in the work of God s mission. We are today seeing a full actualization of what was the outline of hope in The WCC statement goes on to say. Mission from the margins seeks to counteract injustice in life, church, and mission. It seems to be an alternative missional movement against the perception that mission can only be done by the powerful to the powerless, by the rich to the poor, or by the privileged to the marginalized. Such approaches can contribute to oppression and marginalization. Mission from the margins recognizes that being in the center means having access to systems that lead to one s rights, freedom and individuality being affirmed and respected; living in the margins means exclusion 5

6 from justice and dignity. Living on the margins, however, can provide its own lessons. People on the margins have agency, and can often see what, from the center, is out of view. People on the margins, living in vulnerable positions, often know what exclusionary forces are threatening their survival and can best discern the urgency of their struggles; people in positions of privilege have much to learn from the daily struggles of people living in marginal conditions. (Section 38) This quotation describes part of the changing landscapes in which mission and evangelism are both planned and carried out. We know and welcome this reality at the General Board of Global Ministries. We have given up thinking of only Americans and Europeans heading out as missionaries to unreached territories ; rather, we speak of missionaries from everywhere to everywhere. We have a missionary from China working in Oklahoma; missionaries from Africa in southeast Asia, from Hong Kong and the Philippines in Japan; from Argentina in New Jersey; from Bolivia in Honduras, and on and on. More than half of our international missionaries today are originally from counties other than the United States. We are actively seeking young adults from all over the world to become Global Mission Fellows, mission interns with two-year assignments. Another factor in the changing landscape of mission is the opportunity and the responsibility of the church for refugees and migrants. This is not only a matter of dealing with stateless people a topic the WCC Assembly addressed and which I will mention later--but is also the issue of ministry to transitory Christians and their families and, at times, their communities. For example, much of Global Ministries cutting edge ministries today, including Europe and the United States, are with Methodists and other Christians who have migrated for a variety of reasons, often economic. Migrants from Africa are bringing new life and renewed mission initiative to congregations in continental Europe: from the margins comes renewal in faith. The concept of mission from the margins corresponds to a particular focus of The United Methodist Church in general and the Global Ministries board in particular. That is ministry with the 6

7 poor, the poor in any society being on the economic margins but also being reservoirs of hope and renewal for the church. There is no doubt that the church needs to be in the business of overcoming poverty and also of opposing the greed that often causes and perpetuates poverty. New statistics released in January indicated that the 85 richest people in the world control wealth equal to that of the poorest half of the whole human race! Eighty-five individuals have more monetary resources that billions and billions of people combined. There is definitely something morally wrong with that picture. The session on mission and evangelism in Busan was blessed by a brief address by Bishop Duleep de Chickera of the Anglican Church of Sri Lanka, who picked up on the theme of mission from the margins in a most provocative way. He spoke of the World Council as a fellowship of churches sensitive to the plight of marginalized victims and went on to develop a victim theology. He portrayed Jesus as ministering especially to victims, who he described both in biblical times and today as persons expected to stay alive without security, be human without dignity, harvest a land no longer theirs and feed their children from empty plates. They are the unseen real who fill the earth: the no people to whom Jesus announced an emphatic yes. Jesus, said the bishop, brought the victim--the vulnerable woman, the child, the half-caste, the despised into the center of the discourse; the system of greed refused to compromise, to admit the victim, and so victimized crucified the advocate of the victim. Still, once the Good News for the victim is articulated it cannot be quashed. The church has the mandate to keep bringing the victim into the discourse. Said Bishop de Chickera: Victim theology invokes a rhythmic spirituality of sustained pastoral presence among victims and a measured prophetic voice which calls enemy aggressors to accountability; just as Jesus did. It strives to bring the marginalized victims dignity and the aggressor to his sense, thereby reducing the alienation between the two and widening opportunities for justice and 7

8 peace.pastoral presence and prophetic voice sum up for shared witness. Since wealth and funding are not prerequisites in this witness, it empowers poor churches to serve Jesus with dignity. Serving Jesus with dignity is a goal for all engaged in God s mission and those on the margins may have more capacity for this than the privileged who consider that they stand at the center of things. But overcoming the opposition to making those on the margins part of the discourse can happen, the bishop warned, only if the church engages in it with the resilience of the world s poor when desperate for water. This is advice we need to hear because to engage in God s mission is to undertake hard work. B. The Quest for Unity A revised Unity Statement from the Busan assembly is based in creation theology, the awareness of God as the creator of the world and life in its diversity; it reflects the hope for the whole of creation to be reconciled through God s love, achieving in unity and peace. There are theological and practical implications in this hope and faith. It includes but is broader than Christian or church unity; it also incorporates collaboration with those of other or no religious faith in the cause of justice and peace and the protection of the natural environment. The statement affirms: The unity of the church, the unity of the human community and the unity of the whole creation are interconnected. Christ who makes us one calls us to live in justice and peace and impels us to work together for justice and peace in God s world. The disunity of the church is a sign of failure to respect creation and live up to God s intention. Here is one affirmation: Only as Christians are being reconciled and renewed by God s Spirit will the church bear authentic witness to the possibility of reconciled life for all people, for all creation. 8

9 Failure to achieve peace and justice intensifies divisions and dishonors God. The statement says: We do not always honor the God who is the source of our life. Whenever we abuse life through our practices of exclusion and marginalization, our refusal to pursue justice, our unwillingness to live in peace, our failure to seek unity, and our exploitation of creation, we reject the gifts God hold out to us. Such majestic theological affirmation does not imply that the ecumenical movement has come anywhere near to unity in the Spirit. As mentioned earlier, different priorities among the various communions were evident in Busan. Many of the older so-called mainline Protestant churches of North America and Europe tend to be theologically and socially liberal, inclined to look to the church for leadership in social justice, peace-making, and alleviation of poverty a priority is Christian social action. The Orthodox churches put great emphasis on faith and order, that is, historical and doctrinal matters. Many of the younger Protestant and independent churches of Africa, Asia, and Latin America hold up the importance of personal conversion. It is not easy to hold these priorities together. The great and very emotional division of our understanding of human sexuality was very present in Busan although the assembly leadership tried everything not to let it become prominent in the assembly plenaries or statements. These differences are recognized in the unity statement in a section on "commitment, which says in part: We.repent of the divisions among and within our churches, confessing with sorrow that our disunity undermines our witness to the good news of Jesus Christ and makes less credible our witness to the unity God desires for all. We confess our failures to do justice, to work for peace, and to sustain creation. It goes on to posit the hope for unity in God: 9

10 Despite our failings, God is faithful and forgiving and continues to call us to unity. Having faith in God s creating and recreating power, we long for the church to be a foretaste, credible sign and effective service of the new life that God is offering to the world. C. Justice and Peace Issues Several proposals for assembly public statements on issues of justice and peace were prepared in advance and those half dozen or so received the most consideration, and consensus, among the delegates. There were 22 new proposals at Busan, some of which were considered and approved but others failed to be reported out of the Public Issues Committee. Among those not reaching consensus in that committee for a recommendation was entitled Moving Toward a Nuclear Free World, which would have had implications for Japan as well as other nations. Let me take just a half dozen of the statements as representative of the types of issues and concerns considered and acted upon by the ecumenical gathering. I have picked these because they have either broad international implications or specific reference to the Asian context. 1. The Way of Just Peace. This statement continues the emphasis on creation found in the unity document, beginning with the affirmation that just peace is a journey into God s purpose for humanity and all creation. Just peace is said to be rooted in the hope for spiritual transformation and the quest for the common good. The statement takes the form, first, of a confession of points of shared belief, then, of a unified call for commitment to peace, including some specified places of armed conflict today. It stresses the importance of economic justice as a condition for peace, declaring that the churches analysis of wealth and poverty has led to an ecumenical emphasis on sufficiency and to a strong critique of greed. It promotes careful use of resources, sustainable production and consumption, redistributive growth, workers rights, fair taxes, fair trade, and the universal provision of clean water, clean air and other common goods. I was especially impressed that access to clean water and air 10

11 are presented as elements for promoting peace. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, made appeals for clean water and air as requisite to justice in 17 th century industrial England. Some issues have been on the Christian agenda for a long, long time. The statement on The Way of Just Peace ends with a series of program recommendations to the World Council and member churches, including such items as education for justice and peace, and several recommendations to governments. The latter include negotiation of a ban on the production, deployment, transfer and use of nuclear weapons, and reductions of national military budgets. 2. Human Rights of Stateless People. The statement on the human rights of stateless people is somewhat narrower than the topic of immigration, and even of refugees. The focus is on people who often live in their places of origin, or nearby nations, but do not enjoy the rights of citizenship. It cites as examples the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Rakhine State, Myanmar, many of whom have fled to Bangladesh; Bhutanese refugees in Nepal; Haitians in the Dominican Republic; and Russian-speaking people in Latvia. It covers situations in many parts of the world where women and men are not treated as equals, so that mothers are often not allowed to pass citizenship to children. Another example, are the people of central and eastern Europe left stateless by the breakup of the Soviet Union. The statement declares: Stateless people are present in every region of the world. Many migrants become stateless after they have left their countries and find themselves stranded without nationality through no fault of their own Stateless people are often not allowed to own property, to open a bank account, or to get married legally. [They] face constant travel restrictions as well as social exclusion. Due to the lack of citizenship in any country, [they] face needless separation from their families and fundamental 11

12 uncertainty about what their lives might hold or the ability to pursue their hopes and ambitions. Noting the church s long association with stateless people from biblical times, the World Council set forth eight points of commitments: Affirms that the right to life, security and human rights are fundamental universal principles that every human being is entitled to; Recognizes that the denial of nationality is a major violation of human rights; Encourages churches to realize awareness of the situation of stateless people living in their countries and to advocate for the protection of their human rights; Calls on church to advocate with governments on behalf of policies that confer nationality and official documents to the stateless; Acknowledges positive changes in nationality laws made by some countries; Urges churches, civil rights and international organizations to collaborate on behalf of the rights of the stateless; Prays for stateless people; and Requests that the WCC make the issue of stateless people a program priority at its next assembly. An unsuccessful attempt was made in Busan to draft and approve a statement concerning the relationship between religion and the state in Japan. The matter was not taken up on the basis that insufficient information was available. I am assuming that the concern centered on what some consider the greater government control of religious organizations as a result of constitutional changes in recent years. I understand this is a very complex issue and one about which I do not feel equipped to discuss at length. I would be pleased to be more fully 12

13 instructed by some of you at a later time on the matter. Here, I simply want to report to you that the concern arose but was not formally addressed. 3. Indigenous People. Indigenous people are sometimes among the stateless, but the WCC assembly approved a separate action concerned with the rights of such groups. This statement affirms that indigenous people have the collective rights to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct people. Such rights, it says, are often denied in various parts of the world. Recommendations to guide church and ecumenical programs in this area include measures to respect indigenous spiritualties and support their aspirations for self-determination, provide assistance to indigenous groups seeking recognition from the United Nations, and coordinate the efforts of churches and ecumenical works working with indigenous people. 4. Politicization of Religion and Rights of Religious Minorities. A lengthy statement surveys the objectives and history of portions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the efforts and declarations on religious liberty of the World Council over the decades. It notes that the first WCC assembly, in 1948, supported the freedom of religions as an essential element in good international order and affirmed that in pleading for this freedom do not ask for any privilege to be granted to Christians that is denied to others. While reiterating a fundamental commitment to these general principles, the Busan assembly put heavy emphasis on religious minorities and the denials of their rights in many locations of the world today. The document from Korea states: Violations of freedom of religion or belief against persons belonging to religious minorities, whether perpetrated by states or non-state actors, need to be combated, be it in the form of disinformation, discrimination or persecution The rights of persons belonging to religious minorities cannot be confined to the members of certain predefined groups. 13

14 Another section of the statement addresses what is called the politicization of religions and the religionalization of politics, which uses unfamiliar phrases that I take to mean when political groups tend to justify their actions on the basis of appeal to religion and when religious groups assert control over the political process. I can think of many such examples of both in the world today, including situations in the United States. One segment of the Republican Party thinks that its platform should correspond to conservative theology, especially on social issues. There has been some tradition of the confluence of religious politics in many countries, including Japan; again, a matter about which I am not equipped to deliberate. The WCC statement declares: [A]s majority religious groups use their religion as a tool to influence the political system and political rules, religious minorities living in the same societies are persecuted and discriminated against. Often their strategies lead to violence We have certainly seen examples of discrimination, often violence, recently in Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Fiji, Malaysia, Macedonia, Russia, Egypt, and various other parts of the Middle East, including Israel/Palestine. The World Council called for greater vigilance to counteract such actions and attitudes on the part of churches, governments, and international organizations. It calls for the repeal of criminal law provisions that misuse blasphemy laws, apostasy laws and anti-conversion laws to punish deviation from major religions, in part an obvious reference to Pakistan, where such laws have led to great violence against Christians but at times against minority Islamic groups. 5. Affirming the Christian Presence in the Middle East. A separate statement considered the plight and future of Christians in the Middle East. The sweep of this document is quite broad, covering historic Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Protestants. As is well known, the Christian population in the region has been on the decline for years, notably in 14

15 recent times by emigration resulting from economic and religious discrimination and violence in predominantly Muslim states. Says the World Council: Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, maimed, imprisoned and displaced. The numbers of suffering, internally displaced people, and refugees into neighboring countries of the Middle East and beyond have created a crushing humanitarian catastrophe. I have become personally acquainted with this catastrophe in the last couple of years as the General Board of Global Ministries has worked with the British Methodist Church and the World Methodist Council in setting up a Jerusalem Office. A primary objective of this office, located near Bethlehem, is to help Methodist pilgrims to the Holy Land understand the historical, political and social dynamics of the contemporary Middle East and to come into actual contact with Palestinian Christians, whose numbers continue to decline. The religious situation in the Middle East is a great conundrum that almost defies resolution. In Korea, the WCC reaffirmed that Christians in the Middle East hold a unique, tangible way the legacy of the apostolic era, preserving in the footsteps of our Lord the living Church. Support of those Christian communities, spiritually and materially, preserve the continuity of the Christian presence for the benefit of all Christians all people from the region and worldwide. 6. Peace and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula. This of course was a central issue at an assembly taking place in South Korea. Let me therefore briefly mention the assembly statement on Korea that has great significance for all of Asia, which is the hope for real peace and reunification of that historic area. I need not in this setting review the history of the turmoil and division of the Korean peninsula or summarize the continuing issues that resulted from the Cold War era and the armed conflict that resulted in the partition into North and South in the armistice of We are aware of the potential nuclear threat from the North and of the poverty and lack of freedom in that country, especially as contrasted to the prosperity of the 15

16 South. Reunification is a long-time ecumenical dream in solidarity with the strong churches of the South. The assembly called for a real peace treaty to replace the armistice, pledged solidarity with those North and South who are working for peace, justice, and reconciliation, and urged all governments to stop military exercises and to forswear the use of nuclear weapons. It asked the United Nations Security Council to become more pro-active in efforts for reconciliation and to lift the economic embargo against the North. And it urged the development of an ecumenical platform in which young people from North and South can come together in the cause of a desirable future for all of the people of Korea. Conclusion I must bring this report and my observation to a close. I have given you a great deal of information though I have not begun to give a truly comprehensive account there was so much content, so many encounters at Busan. I highly recommend the WCC website with access to more information and a wonderful video collection of the main speeches and plenaries of the assembly. The closing Message of the assembly raised the banner of hope in time of global crises. Entitled, Join the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, this closing word is a good place for me to conclude my remarks. It states in part: Economic, ecological, socio-political and spiritual challenges confront us. In darkness and the shadow of death, in suffering and persecution, how precious is the gift of hope from the Risen Lord! By the flame of the Spirit in our hearts, we pray to Christ to brighten the world: for his light to turn our whole being to caring for the whole of creation and to affirm that all people are created in God s image. Listening to voices that often come from the margins let us all share lessons of hope and perseverance. Let us recommit ourselves to work for liberation and to act in solidarity. May the illuminating Word of God guide us on our journey. God of Life; lead us to Justice and Peace. 16

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