by Laurence Villoz
In his report to the WCRC General Council, General Secretary Chris Ferguson outlined a new vision for the future, even as he noted the challenges the Communion has taken on since the 2010 Uniting General Council—and those it is still facing.
During the presentation of his report to the Council in Leipzig, on Friday, June 30, Ferguson looked back on several events that occurred these last seven years and pointed to various paths for the future. “After overcoming a financial crisis, we have recovered stability,” said Ferguson.
In 2014, the WCRC moved its global offices from Geneva to Hannover, Germany. “The Executive Committee acted resolutely and decisively to ensure that the WCRC could survive financially, and the tough reality that we could no longer sustain offices and staff salaries in one of the most expensive cities in the world. To leave the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva was wrenching. The move to Hannover was made possible by the extraordinary generosity and vision of the Reformed Alliance in Germany and the support of German member churches. Their vision and commitment have been at the base of the successful transition to Hannover,” he said.
Having overcoming this financial crisis, the WCRC stated new objectives for the future. Gathered in Havana, Cuba, the Executive adopted revisions to its strategic plan to focus on key goals. The plan identified key five key directions: mission, communion, justice, theology and ecumenical engagement. “In regards to mission, we developed programmes to accompany members of our family in the context of violence and peacebuilding,” he said.
And as a church communion that requires constant work, the sexuality issue is never far away. “Human sexuality has been long identified as both a church-dividing and a communion-dividing issue,” he said. “The purpose is not to come to a common position on human sexuality but to strengthen our understanding of communion—taking away the power of our differences to divide us while honouring the imperative of justice.” A Consultation on Communion and Human Sexuality will be convened on this issue in November.
As for the question of justice, the WCRC has focused on equality between women and men. “Gender justice is not limited to women’s ordination. Our goal is to reach 50% of female delegates at the General Council,” said Ferguson.
Another important theme attracting attention especially in this year noting the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, is ecumenical engagement. “We will celebrate our association to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justice (JDDJ) together with ecumenical partners in the context of this Council during our day in Wittenberg on July 5. This is an important signal of our commitment to Christian unity,” said Fergson. The JDDJ, signed both by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, states that the churches share “a single understanding of justification by the grace of God through faith in Christ.”
More widely, Chris Ferguson called for the transformation of the whole society: “As a World Communion we are all aware that our entire world—people and planet—are in a crisis that engulfs our life together in all its dimensions; politically, economically, socially, culturally, religiously, ecologically, militarily and gender equality with massive threats to life, sustainability and wellbeing. We must fight against all kinds of violence”—notably by giving a voice to the poor, by engaging with young people and children while deepening the understanding of the intersections between theology and justice, peace and reconciliation.