Mar Thoma Church in India Celebrates 175th Anniversary

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This article is from this month's CTE News:

Celebration of the 175th anniversary of an 1836 reformation in the historic Malankara church in India featured a keynote address by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Revd Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. The speech was given at the headquarters of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar in Kerala. Among those attending the event were Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Old Catholic church leaders.  In his keynote address Tveit stated, "Reformation requires a unity in which we challenge one another. Mutual accountability is required for any reformation, so that we do not go our own way for our own benefit, but are mutually accountable to one another for the gifts and the decisions of our churches."

The Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar traces its roots back to the year 52 AD when Saint Thomas, one of the original apostles of Jesus Christ, is reported to have arrived at the ancient port city of Kodungalloor in Malankara, also known as Malabar, in the southern part of India. According to tradition, Saint Thomas preached the gospel and converted local people to Christianity in Malankara where Jewish settlements also existed at the time.  Recalling the history of the ancient Christian community in Malankara and the unity in Christ that it shares with other churches, Tveit noted that today this church has become a global community scattered in parts of the world that include North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  "In all these places," he said, "your people are committed to nurturing ecumenism at the local and national levels. The rich traditions of the Malankara church based on the reformation's spirit have equipped your church to see the wider horizons of ecumenism, wherever your people have been based and placed."

Earlier in his stay, the WCC general secretary, a first-time visitor to India, was received by members of the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Mar Thoma Church and by bishops of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Malabar Independent Syrian Church.  The general secretary was accompanied by Dr Mathews George Chunakara, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

Related articles

• Ecumenical Voices at World Youth Day in Madrid (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Ecumenical Voices at World Youth Day in Madrid

This article is from Churches Together in England's September edition of CTE News:

For seven days the streets and squares of Madrid, Spain, were overrun by more than a million young people from all over the world. They gathered for the 26th World Youth Day (WYD), a youth-oriented event of the Roman Catholic Church.  The World Councilof Churches (WCC) was officially represented by three members of its EchosCommission on Youth in the Ecumenical Movement, Diana Fernandes Dos Santos of Brazil, Mikael Giødesen of Denmark and Nikos Kosmidis of Greece.

The WYD offered the three Echos members a unique opportunity to understand the dynamics and developments of Roman Catholic youth through engaging the different movements and religious orders present there as well as discussions about issues of Christian unity.  The team were guest speakers in two ecumenical events organized jointly by the International Young Catholic Students (IYCS), the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS), Pax Romana, the Juventud Estudiante Catolica (JEC) and the WCC.

A “World Café” with the theme “Youth and the Search for Christian Unity” invited some 200 participants to discuss issues related to Christian unity, divisions in the history of Christianity, the initiatives within contemporary ecumenical dialogue, youth involvement in the life and work of the WCC.  The World Café was developed out of the youth agenda and young members of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC.  Kosmidis, an Eastern Orthodox, delivered a presentation at why Christian unity matters today, the history of the ecumenical movement and what young Christians may do together as part of their social responsibility.

In the discussion following the presentation the participants, most of whom were Roman Catholic youth representing all continents, shared their different understandings of what unity means. An even more challenging topic was raised by the group regarding the role and ministry of the pope of Rome in the worldwide church and the way his primacy was understood within the “Pentarchy” (the five major episcopal sees) of the early church.  Questions were also raised regarding the current level of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic bilateral dialogue and how young people may serve their churches in this discussion. 

“We believe our event gave a different experience of WYD where youth pilgrims had a chance to share, understand and reflect deeper on ecumenism experienced among young people,” said Loucille D. Alcala, programme coordinator for the IYCS International Secretariat in Paris. “Further, it was also a space to encourage working together with different youth organizations and promote ecumenical actions at all levels.”  A second event focused on the spiritual foundations of ecumenical dialogue and how working for the unity of the church affects the faith of a young person. Dos Santos, a Methodist, and Giødesen, a Lutheran, both of whom have served as WCC stewards at international meetings, were able to share the experience of their ecumenical journey and how their lives have been changed as a result.

Related articles

• Europe Day at CTE (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Christian Faith in Palestine and the Middle East Today

This article is from the July edition of CTE News:

The volatile and precarious situation of Christians in the Middle East was of deep concern to the members of the February 2011 meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, and it was highlighted in a conference on Christians in the Middle East held in Greece. 

With the diminishing presence of Christians in the region, the central committee said in a public statement in February, the “conviviality among peoples from different faiths, cultures, civilizations, which is a sign of God’s love for all humanity, will be endangered.”  The central committee also called for a major conference on this issue for 2012.  One part of this effort was the conference in Volos, Greece, from 20 to 22 June to explore the situation from a theological, ecumenical, cultural and political perspective. 

The reality for the Christian community in the Middle East is quite stark as more and more stories in the public media tell of Christians fleeing the region or feeling increasingly threatened, even in the context of the recent democracy movements. In Iraq alone the Christian population has declined by nearly half during the past decade. In Egypt, there has been heightened violence between Muslims and Christians since the downfall of former president Mubarak.  And in Israel and Palestine, Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza continue to live under the pressure and humiliation of the Gaza blockade and Israeli occupation. 

Christian churches in the Middle East have shown signs of decline despite their continuous historical presence in different countries in the region where many of them embody a heritage of ancient patriarchal jurisdictions. This has become a growing concern as the churches there struggle to maintain their presence and at the same time contribute to a culture of peace. 

The Volos conference was co-sponsored by the WCC and Volos Academy for Theological Studies, which is a programme of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias. Titled “Living Christian Faith in Palestine and the Middle East Today: Theological and Political Challenges in Orthodox and Ecumenical Perspectives”, its participants explored the theological, ecumenical and political perspectives of living as a Christian in the Middle East.  

A subsequent visit by the WCC youth body, Echos Commission, to Lebanon to explore how Christian youth are dealing with the realities of the church in the Middle East will take place in October. The WCC central committee has recommended “convening an ecumenical international conference in 2012 to address the new challenges Christians are facing in the Middle East, in collaboration with the churches in the region.”

Europe Day at CTE

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Another article from this month's CTE News: 

Europe as a continent contains an enormous range of diversity, from the far northern forests of Finland to sunny Mediterranean shores, from the windy Atlantic Isles to the mountains of Transylvania. This richness of habitat and culture is matched by an equal diversity of faith communities – the Lutheran Nordic region, Catholic Spain and Italy, the Orthodox east to mention but a few. During these troubled times for the European political project, with changes threatened to the Schengen agreement and the Eurozone under pressure, the role of cross-border organisations and relationships in also undergoing scrutiny. What is the role of churches here? Can the post-WWII dream of uniting people around the Christian faith, thus preventing old enmities and divisions from fracturing Europe again, be relevant to our largely post-Christian societies? How are churches maintaining contacts and building bridges today?

On Tuesday 15 November all those with experience of church contacts in Europe, an interest in developing fellowship across borders, or curiosity about what the current state of European Church relations is, are welcome to join us at Churches Together in England for the first Europe Day. We will hear presentations from those actively involved in this sphere of church work – notably Dame Mary Tanner, European President of the World Council of Churches, Revd Canon Harvey Richardson (Community of Protestant Churches in Europe) and Very Revd John Arnold, formerly Dean of Durham and an architect of both the Porvoo and Meissen Agreements. There will also be opportunities to share experiences and to network; it will also give all of us an opportunity to explore what role CTE might have in supporting, encouraging and enabling European contacts. Lunch will be provided.

More information will follow closer to the time.

When? Tuesday 15 November from 11am-4pm   Where? CTE, 27 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HH

RSVP by 8 November to Jana Jeruma-Grinberga, Secretary for European Church Relations, Churches Together in England, 27 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HH     

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• 10 Years Since the Charta Oecumenica (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World

This is from the July 2011 edition of CTE News:

Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct, a five-page document on the conduct of mission “according to gospel principles”, was released during a public presentation on Tuesday 28 June at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

The recommendations regarding respectful behaviour on the part of missionaries, evangelists and other witnesses when sharing the Christian faith were issued following a five-year series of consultations among the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue (PCID) of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). The three bodies include Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal and independent churches with a combined membership of some two billion people representing nearly 90 percent of the world’s Christians.

From left to right: Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran (PCID), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit (WCC), Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe (WEA)

“In the past five years we have been building a new bridge,” said Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, chief executive officer and secretary general of the WEA. “The document is a major achievement,” he explained, in that it represents formal agreement on “the essence of Christian mission” while also demonstrating that diverse Christian bodies “are able to work together and to speak together.” In this sense the release of the text “is a historic moment” in the quest for Christian unity.

“We send this document to each of our constituencies,” said the Revd Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, “with the hope that they will see these recommendations as an inspiration to design their own codes of conduct, relevant to their own particular contexts.” The document begins, “Mission belongs to the very being of the church.” The recommendations that follow suggest practical ways of engaging in mission while showing sincere respect for neighbours of other faiths.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the PCID, observed that leaders in the churches today “have a duty to proclaim the faith” and also “to propose a greater vision of dialogue.” He cited a principle of Catholic teaching, “Reject nothing that is true and holy in each religion”, cautioning that Christians must overcome religious conflicts if they are to “present the truth of God in a credible way.”

The joint document on Christian witness calls for careful study of the issues of mission and inter-religious dialogue, the building of trust and cooperation among people of all religions and the promotion of religious freedom everywhere. Christians are encouraged to pray for the well-being of all, to strengthen their own religious identity and to avoid misrepresenting the beliefs of others. Where possible, it adds, the preparation of codes of conduct by churches and related organizations “should be done ecumenically, and in consultation with representatives of other religions.”

In presenting “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World”, Tveit alluded to Jesus Christ’s prayer for unity in the 17th chapter of John’s gospel. “We are called to be one so that the world may believe,” said Tveit. “And so this day is a day for thankfulness, a day of celebration, but also a day of reflection.” Meetings involving the WCC, PCID and WEA that led to the formulation of “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World” were held at Lariano, Italy in May 2006, Toulouse, France in August 2007 and Bangkok, Thailand in January 2011.

Related articles

• More International Collaboration in Theological Education (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Diverse Implications of World Christianity (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Kirchentag Challenge to Injustice and Violence

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Here is the second article from the June edition of CTE News about the recent German Protestant Kirchentag.  See yesterday's post for more details about the Kirchentag and links to posts about last year's ecumenical Kirchentag.

Wealth and property shape a “false reading” of human value, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Revd Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a Bible study at the German Protestant Kirchentag which met in Dresden 1-5 June.

“Property and possessions have purpose in as much as they help us to live as the people God called us to be and no more,” Tveit said. He was speaking on the Bible text - “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). This was also the motto for this year’s Kirchentag, which gathered over 120,000 participants. “This is a text for societies, for alliances that think that the more wealth, the more weapons and more security that they possess, the less anxiety they have,” said Tveit. “Letting our fear about security narrow our perspective means that we are not available to be participants in God’s mission in the world. And this has far-reaching implications for justice, peace, equality, unity.”

Tveit arrived at the Kirchentag after attending the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) held in 17-25 May in Kingston, Jamaica. The event, which was sponsored by the WCC, the Caribbean Conference of Churches and the Jamaica Council of Churches, was the culmination of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence, launched in Berlin in 2001. In Jamaica, the some 1000 participants had listened to the “often painful stories of those who experience oppression and violence and injustice,” Tveit recalled.

At an earlier Kirchentag event on the IEPC, Tveit underlined the need for justice and peace to be at the centre of the search for Christian unity. “If this is not at the heart of the ecumenical movement and if this is not at the heart of the churches we cannot give a credible witness to the world,” he said.

In the Bible study Tveit said “we cannot speak about this passage from Matthew only in a spiritual way, for we know that sustainability and survival is an urgent reality for far too many in our world. Wealth and property and the power that comes with them are things which divide people and communities and offer a false reading of human value. This is instead a universal message calling on us to reject materialism as a measure of value or security”. Tveit said that really to be in community and to express visible unity within the church “means that we must successfully challenge injustice, violence, greed, arrogance, corruption and all other threats to fullness of life for each person.”

Related articles

• International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

German Protestant Kirchentag

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Here is the first of two posts, reporting on the German Protestant Kirchentag, 1 - 5 June in Dresden.  Both articles are from the June edition of CTE News.  This should not be confused with the second ecumenical kirchentag, which took place last year.  Here's a third report about last year's.

For five days the streets, churches, conference centres and arts venues of Dresden were full of people wearing bright green (fairly-traded) cotton scarves, with the motto “da wird auch dein Herz sein” (…there will your heart be also). 120,000 Christians (20% of them Catholic) had gathered to experience a huge variety of talks, performances, acts of worship, celebrations and encounters. The bulky programme sent to all those who registered contained over 2000 different options. Navigating the programme required determination and a reasonable knowledge of German. Thankfully, the Kirchentag is well equipped to help international guests and an abbreviated version of the programme was produced in English, highlighting events which were in English or had English translation available. The International Visitors’ Centre provided a wonderful service, offering a place for visitors to rest as well as opportunities to make contact with (mostly young) people who were prepared to act as personal interpreters and go along to events that were otherwise in German.

The opening outdoor service, in three different venues, the main one attracting 60,000 people, was followed by an “evening of encounters”, where local churches set up stalls all around the city, offering refreshment, entertainment and conversation. At the end of the evening participants lined both banks of the River Elbe and lit candles, while the river itself became a “sea of lights”, with candles being swept down the river, while a specially-commissioned piece of music echoed round the city centre.

The delights of hearing world-renowned speakers, listening to music or experiencing performances were sometimes tempered by the frustrations of finding that venues were full up. At the same time, it would be fantastic if we saw signs on our streets saying “church full”! The experience of sharing communion with 120,000 people at the closing service creates a lasting impression too.

The German Kirchentag is at the same time inspiring, exciting and overwhelming. There is really nothing like it and it leaves participants buzzing with ideas. The next opportunity to participate (and it can’t be recommended highly enough) comes in from 1-5 May, 2013 in Hamburg. 

ARC Sunday

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I'll return to Methodist Conference tomorrow.   This is notice of material for this coming Sunday.  From the June edition of CTE News:

Sunday 26th June 2011 is a day in the year when the Arthur Rank Centre leads the Christian community in sharing and praying for the people who live, work and worship in the countryside. ARC, the national church’s rural resources centre, is inviting congregations to look out from their own lives and concerns to the bigger issues that surround us in the countryside. It has made special worship materials available on its website to mark the day.

Director of the Centre Revd Dr Gordon Gatward said: ‘We want to encourage Christians to reach out to the wider rural community in prayer and in action on Sunday 26th June, particularly to those who are suffering hardship or distress, and remember that the Arthur Rank Centre is here to help in that task.’

In particular the ARC is concerned for some 900,000 households who are living on or below the poverty threshold in rural England, and those who feel isolated and alone in places where demographic change, the lack of affordable housing and the withdrawal of services are all taking their toll on communities. In farming many are going through difficult times. For some, things are improving but for others problems of increased transport costs, lack of broadband access, lack of finance and the continued scourge of Bovine TB continue to cause hardship and distress. The ARC aims to support and help these people and their families.

Specially written readings and prayers for ARC Sunday, 26th June 2011, can be downloaded from the ARC website now, or please call 02476 853060 for a pack.

CTE News' lead article this month is by Gordon Gatwood, who reviews changes in rural communities on the tenth anniversary since Foot and Mouth. 

Related articles

• Rural Evangelism Network Website (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Agricultural helpline extends support to gay farmers (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

10 Years Since the Charta Oecumenica

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Another article from the May edition of CTE News:

This year is the tenth anniversary of the Charta Oecumenica signed in Strasbourg on 22 April 2001 by the then presidents of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Cardinal Miloslav Vlk and Metropolitan Jérémie Caligiorgis respectively, at the end of a European ecumenical meeting and a long path of dialogue involving all the European churches.

The Charta Oecumenica has no dogmatic-magisterial character, nor is it legally binding under church law (cf. Introduction to the Charta Oecumenica). Its realisation is left to the free reception by Christians in Europe. Nevertheless, CCEE and CEC recognise in this document a step and an important aid for the Churches to achieve together that call to unity which is at the same time an obligation for all Christians and a gift of God to be requested incessantly. The Charta Oecumenica is a continual process of construction which, in one way or another, has already marked the ecumenical journey of various church communities in Europe as testified by the numerous translations (more than thirty: from Arabic to Castilian, from Greek to Esperanto) and the scores of churches, communities, church associations and movements which have signed the document.

The penetration of the Charta Oecumenica into the European church and social institutional fabric is such that it is now also quoted in documents by lay institutions as testified by the frequent recourse to it on the part of PACE (the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) in its 25 March 2011 report on The religious dimension of intercultural dialogue (cf. doc 12553 nn. 93, 94 ff.) In order to celebrate this anniversary together, CCEE and CEC decided to collaborate in organising an ecumenical seminar on 9 May at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) organised by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies in collaboration with the Christian Churches in Switzerland Community of work. Participants at the meeting included the two General Secretaries of CCEE and CEC, Fr Duarte da Cunha (CCEE) and Revd Prof. Viorel Ionita (CEC), and speakers included the Bishop of Nanterre (France), Mgr Gérard Daucourt, and Pastor Daniel de Roche, President of the Synodal Council of the Canton of Fribourg, in a round table discussion on accomplishments and challenges for ecclesial communion in Europe.

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• More International Collaboration in Theological Education (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

More International Collaboration in Theological Education

Once again I'm having problems with Blogger.  Yesterday I was inexplicably locked out and today I am unable to acess the usual pictures and links.  I hope to resume normal service soon!

Here is another article form the May edition of CTE News. 

Participants at a recent consultation on theological education at the Queens Foundation, Birmingham, have called for comprehensive Christian leadership development of both lay and ordained men and women in the church. Theological education is an organic part of Christian mission and thus presents a common challenge to all churches, according to the group of 25 representatives from international and local institutions involved in theological education, mission and scholarship agencies and regional ecumenical organizations. 

The consultation, held from 6 to 9 April, was hosted jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC), through its Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE) programme, and for the Queens Foundation for Theological Education. The group issued a call to churches stating that there is an increasing need for theologically well-trained pastors, catechists and church leaders in many newly emerging churches within Evangelical, Charismatic or Pentecostal communities as well as historical churches from Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant backgrounds. The participants also recommended a reconsideration of the relationships between religion and development, theology and socio-political transformation, theological education and development agencies.

The call, which is titled Agenda 21 for Common Collaboration in Theological Education – Findings of the Birmingham process, said theological education is not confined to issues related to the inner maintenance of churches but addresses the whole range of issues relevant for the socio-political context in which churches are operating. “Thus theological education contributes to social transformation, leadership capacity building and poverty reduction,” the message said.

The message called on development agencies to review funding policies that have sidelined the work of the churches and their institutions for theological education. It recommended a "more explicit cooperation between development agencies and theological education". The so-called “Birmingham process in theological education”, of which this consultation was a part, is open to additional participants from interested agencies, churches and networks. The process will be continued, as the consultation appointed a continuation group, according to Revd Dr Dietrich Werner, programme executive for the Ecumenical Theological Education work of the WCC.

The continuation group will look into appropriate next steps for providing appropriate international tools for networking and common platforms, particularly in the area of theological scholarship, e-learning, digital theological library resources and other issues of quality in theological education. Reports of the conference will soon be made available online.

2nd Global Gathering Takes Shape

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More news about the next meeting of the Global Christian Forum can be found in trhe May edition of CTE News. 

At an important meeting in Istanbul, Turkey the Global Christian Forum (GCF) committee put into place final plans for the Second Global gathering to take place from the 4 – 7 of October, at Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The central theme of the gathering is: Life Together in Jesus Christ, Empowered by the Holy Spirit. Some three hundred church leaders and representatives, comprising a 50-50 split between what could be conveniently called ‘Evangelical’ and ‘Traditional’ churches, have been invited. The makeup of the conference follows a set of principles used to ensure balance in representing the variety of world Christianity.

Two plenary sessions will work directly under the main theme, and out of it, a third plenary will intentionally, be Listening to What the Spirit is Saying to the Churches. As well as discussing changing trends, participants will listen to the experiences of the churches from across the world and will seek discern the further vision for the Global Christian Forum.

The invitations include representation from Christian World Communions, Ecumenical organizations, Evangelical/Pentecostal/Charismatic organizations, Orthodox Patriarchates, the Catholic Church, Regional Councils, Conferences, Alliances or Associations, and Churches, covering all geographic areas and all traditions, mega churches and migrant churches. Participants will include both women and men, both young people and more experienced leaders.

Related articles

• Experiencing Unity Globally (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Marriage and Ecumenism

By Gerard Stolk en route

(I'm having technical problems occasionally, apologies about the quality of photo, lack of links, etc.)  Here are details of another conference from the April edition of CTE News:

The 13th Annual Nottingham Ecumenical Commission Conference, in conjunction with the Marriage and Family Life Commission, will be on Marriage and Ecumenism: Seeking fidelity in a messy world.

It will be on June 10th – 12th 2011 at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire, led by Karen Kilby, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Nottingham University, and Tom O’Loughlin, Professor of Historical Theology, Nottingham University

The cost is £140 and booking should be made to Monica Purdue 114 Cross Street, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 7BY  0115 993 9235.

Karen Kilby is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham. She has written two books on Karl Rahner, and just completed a critique of Hans Urs von Balthasar. She has also worked on a variety of themes in theology, including the doctrine of the Trinity, the problem of evil and the limits of our knowledge of God. She currently serves as the President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain. Karen is married and has three children.

Thomas O'Loughlin is Professor of Historical Theology in the University of Nottingham and an expert on the early church. His latest book is on the Didache and sub-titled: “A window on the earliest Christians”. He has taught around the world and has given much thought and energy to finding ways to teach Catholic communities - and those who minister in them - to appreciate the liturgy. He has written a series of five books to provide resources to those who preside, and books for those who read the Scriptures, and other short booklets, with CTS, for those who hear the Scriptures at the Eucharist. He is currently developing new resources, with the University of Nottingham, on YouTube.

Other speakers at the conference will be Melanie and Richard Finch of The Association of Interchurch Families and Fr David Gill who will speak about marriage from an Orthodox perspective.

Churches Refugee Network Annual Conference

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Notice of a conference from the April edition of CTE News:

Spring is here, and so is the Churches Refugee Network with its Annual Conference. The theme is Refugee Protection: Policies by number or a creative welcome? and it is on Saturday 4 June from 11 am to 5 pm. CRN is a network of churches throughout Britain involved with or concerned about the treatment of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. The Conference offers an opportunity to share work and to acquaint newcomers with the realities of asylum seekers' and refugees' lives in Britain.

We have changed venue, and you will now find us at the West End church of St. James Piccadilly, just off Piccadilly Circus, nicely central for all mainline stations. This year, Human Rights, its historical roots in theology and philosophy, and its current politics and practices will be the focus of our attentions. Our leading speakers have both ample theoretical and practical experience of the practice of Human Rights in refugee work.

There will be workshops on current asylum practices to share your experiences and questions, and meet new faces working in the field. And you can enjoy photo exhibitions by two refugee collectives plus a dance display by the Kosovo Dance Group Sphreza. As ever at CRN conferences, there will be a fine lunch, prepared and served by volunteers from Migrant Voice, the refugee newspaper. With a lively programme of speakers and events, we hope we'll see you there.

Cost: £15; concessions £10; free to refugees and asylum-seekers. To book your place, please contact Wendy Cooper, Church and Society, United Reformed Church, 86 Tavistock Place, London, W1CH 9RT;  020 7916 8632; Fax: 020 7916 2021.

Communication Means Participation and Inclusion

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Methodist Ecumenical News makes a modest contribution to communication in the ecumenical movement.  This article, from the April edition of  CTE News, places this in a European context.

Reconfiguring communication in the ecumenical movement means discovering, seeking and implementing new forms of communication, the General Secretary of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) has told a gathering in Frankfurt, Germany. "As communicators we have become pilgrims in space - and sometimes in cyberspace - who have embarked on a long journey, by no means complete, from the old concept of uni-dimensional, one-way communication to the current multi-dimensional, multi-way approach that emphasizes reciprocity and equality," said the WACC General Secretary, Revd Karin Achtelstetter, in her 31 March address.

Achtelstetter was giving the opening presentation - on "reconfiguring communication in the ecumenical movement" - at a seminar organized by the WACC Europe Region as part of its one-every-three-years general assembly. WACC is a Toronto-headquartered global organization that promotes communication for social change. The Frankfurt seminar - from 31 March to 1 April - has as its theme, "Communication and Reconfiguration in Faith, Media, Society and Economy". The aim of the seminar is to take stock of recent changes in the media, church, societal and economic landscape in Europe, and focus on the implications of these changes for WACC’s principles of communication as well as the communication tasks for churches and Christian organizations and the coverage of religion in the media.

In her address, Achtelstetter noted that the word configuration is often used in astrophysics and she compared the ecumenical movement to the Milky Way. "Despite its diversity and its vastness the elements are held together by a large-scale magnetic field," she stated. "The galaxy is in constant movement and in rotation - doesn't this description remind you of the ecumenical movement?" With this image in mind, she continued, reconfiguring communication in the ecumenical movement suggests "discovering, seeking and implementing new forms of communication with an openness to new shapes and constellations". She said, "If we want to reflect about how to reconfigure communication in the ecumenical movement, then the first thing to do is to identify our communication barriers and then in a second step to dismantle them."

A full account of the talk can be found on the WACC website.

Related articles

• Diverse Implications of World Christianity (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• New Ecumenism (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Diverse Implications of World Christianity

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For the first post after the Easter break, I thought the following article from the April CTE News would be of interest to some.

“We must avoid stereotypes,” said Revd Dr Nikolaus Schneider, chair of the council that coordinates relations and activities within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). As diverse groups encounter one another in the contemporary dynamics of world Christianity, he added, the key questions are whether the calling of the church is being fulfilled by a given community, and whether Jesus Christ is to be found there. Schneider made his comments during a wide-ranging discussion of Christianity in the 21st century during a three-day visit by EKD leaders to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. Taking part in the conversation were staff members and other representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

Prof. Odair Pedroso Mateus, a Brazilian theologian teaching at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, observed that Western theologians of a century ago tended to experience Christian plurality “in a traumatic way,” in terms of dispute, disaffection and disunity. It was in the context of the global South that pluralism came to be seen in a positive light, providing an opportunity for diverse groups of people to confront common challenges. Revd Dr Martin Sinaga, an LWF staff member from Indonesia, noted that in many nations Christianity sees itself as “the little flock” that needs to embrace a wider religious pluralism in order to make an impression prophetically and politically. Even so, a distinctive Christian identity forms the basis for minority churches’ witness to the gospel through their life and work.

Kristine Greenaway, the WCRC communication secretary, warned that many promising opportunities for cooperation among Christians “are blocked by our stereotypes about one another,” separating the member churches of ecumenical councils from more conservative evangelical and charismatic bodies. “Changes in our situations are being perceived through a lens of mutual misunderstanding,” she concluded, arguing that the so-called “ecumenical” churches need to communicate more openly and effectively, and to gain an institutional competence in languages beyond the traditional, European, “official” languages of the councils.

Revd Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel of the Protestant aid agency Brot für die Welt, a member of the EKD delegation, noted that “plurality is threatening to people when they feel that they have to give up something important, or adopt beliefs that are not their own.” Revd Christoph Anders of the Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany (EMW) observed that new church movements tend to be less bound to historical traditions and more likely to want to join in common reflections on common problems. Revd Dr Fidon Mwombeki, a Lutheran leader from Tanzania, applauded recent dialogues and conversations that have opened their examination of issues with practical realities in today’s churches rather than with the finer points of theological doctrine.

Prof. Kathryn Johnson, a US theologian and assistant general secretary of the LWF, testified to exciting developments in inter-church dialogues among widely differing communities: “Christian world communions are very aware of growing diversity,” she said. “We live it all the time.” This is true not only on the global scale, but in every nation and city: “The world is coming to us.” Revd Dr John Gibaut, director of Faith and Order for the WCC, agreed that varying confessions, cultures and nationalities are living side by side, interacting, facing common challenges. “The most pressing ecclesiological question before us,” he asserted, “is migration. This is not merely a matter of practicalities; it is profoundly ecclesiological. It speaks to faith, unity, mission and local ministries. Today, the migrant communities in our societies, and in our own neighbourhoods, are where ecclesiology and pastoral responsibility meet.”

Related articles

• Inter-Orthodox consultation begins discussion on the nature of the church (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Inter-Orthodox Consultation: The Nature and Mission of the Church (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Experiencing Unity Globally (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Preparing for Local Elections

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It's 5 weeks until the local elections and CTE News this month published some suggestions for churches contemplating holding hustings.

Could Churches in your area arrange a meeting with the candidates for your local Council election?

A meeting of regional representatives from the West Midlands Region Churches Forum met on 15 February to identify questions that can be asked prospective candidates in the run up to the May Local Elections. Last year, churches were highly successful in providing space for General Election Hustings. The WM Region Churches Forum encourages local Churches across the region to consider organising a Husting for the Council Elections in May. The questions below are offered as a framework.

Briefing

The range of questions appropriate for a local election will be different from those for a general election. As the responsibility of local authorities are more localised and community orientated than that of Westminster Government, questions should focus on a) locally based issues, b) candidate’s knowledge of the community they wish to serve, and c) their willingness to listen and build trust with people if they are elected.

A husting is an ideal opportunity to observe the way in which candidates listen and dialogue with their audience and for them to show they are interested in building mutual accountability and trust. The following questions are offered as starters for a debate with candidates and are aimed at revealing their ability to listen and engage with an audience.

Partnership between Council and local community

• What is your vision and understanding of a local community?
• How will you go about consulting with the people of this community and listen to their voices?
• What will you do to build trust and develop partnership between the Council and the people of this community?
• In what ways will you help this community to develop its corporate voice?
• In what ways will you help the Council to listen to the voice of our community?
• How will you balance views of the majority when they conflict with legitimate concerns of minority groups?

Voluntary and Community Life

• What do you know about the voluntary and community sector in this community?
• What value do you place on the contribution of voluntary and community groups?
• What support for the voluntary and community sector will you fight for, if you are elected?

Local response to national policy

Cuts

• What areas will you prioritise for cuts and further efficiencies in the next 2 year’s local authority budgets of 2012 and 2013? (Although reductions for 2011/12 are set, further reductions will be required in 2012 and 2013).
• Do you think that further efficiencies can be gained through improved working methods, and if so in what ways?
• What do you think about sharing services with neighbouring councils as a way of reducing costs and improving services?
• How will you be sensitive to the human cost of reorganisation that involve staff redundancies, relocation and establishing new offices?

Big Society and community organising

• How will you assist and enable our local community to organise itself?
• What do you understand by the term, Big Society?
• How will you support initiatives for community organising?

Good communication across levels of Government

• How will you help to inform national government and local MPs of our issues?
• How will you go about learning of best practice in neighbouring councils?
• How will you liaise between the different strands and departments of Council and manage your relationship with the employed staff of the Council?
• To what extent do you feel bound by the national policies of your party?

Questions specific to the needs of your locality

These are your local questions relevant to the needs of your local community

General Questions

• What world-view informs your politics?
• What issue would lead you to defy your party on a vote in the Council chamber?
• What social action projects will you assist or put into place?
• What do you understand to be the limits of your powers if you are elected?

Related articles

• Church Meeting Challenges Banks on Ethics (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Church Meeting Challenges Banks on Ethics

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Here is another article from the March edition of CTE News.

Searching questions were raised about banks’ role in society at a packed public meeting organised by the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR), the UK-wide church-based research and advocacy group, in Birmingham yesterday evening. Chaired by Rt Revd David Urquhart, Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, the panel discussion marked the launch of ECCR’s new report The Banks and Society: Rebuilding Trust. Introducing the panel, Bishop David Urquhart told the meeting that as a society we need to ask the right questions about our financial system in order to make economic life as good as possible.

Presenting the new report, Suzanne Ismail of ECCR highlighted financial exclusion, the financing of environmentally destructive projects, and lack of transparency as key challenges – and opportunities – facing the banks. ‘ECCR’s report helps show what a more socially responsible banking sector would look like,’ Ms Ismail said.

Also on the panel were Damon Gibbons of the Centre for Responsible Credit and the Better Banking Campaign and Professor Andy Mullineux of University of Birmingham Business School and its Centre on Household and Savings Management. Damon Gibbons highlighted responsibility in lending, financial exclusion, financial education and help with debt as key banking-related issues in the UK context. Professor Mullineux said he thought that current agreements between the banks and the government were not sufficiently in the long-term interests of taxpayers and consumers. Revd John Paxton of ECCR West Midlands, speaking in place of Revd Dr Giles Fraser of St Paul’s Cathedral, who was unable to attend due to train service disruptions, urged the meeting to consider the values and principles that society should look for in its banks. ‘What is a bank for, and who should it serve in society?’ he asked.

A wide-ranging discussion followed, with people in the audience – including many members of the West Midlands business and academic communities, churches and the voluntary sector – raising concerns about the impacts of the banking crisis on local and regional economies and ordinary people. As the event drew to a close, there was broad agreement that society can and should expect considerably more from the banks in reciprocating the huge taxpayer support that they have benefited from not only during the recent crisis but before and since.

ECCR’s report, The Banks and Society: Rebuilding Trust, is sponsored by London-based CCLA Investment Management, published in association with a Better Banking Campaign and available for download.  ECCR has submitted the report to the UK Government’s Independent Commission on Banking, whose second round of consultation is due to begin following publication of its interim report in April.

Related articles

• Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Church Leaders to ask David Cameron to Pledge to Close the Gap (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)