Council Of Churches Research Articles

Resilience and Equality in the Household of God: Peggy Mulambya Kabonde’s Search for Justice

The World Council of Churches (WCC) commemorated its 70th anniversary in 2018. Over the years, the WCC has engaged with issues that affect women in the Church and society. It has challenged patriarchy in Church structures; calling for justice, partnership in mission and the ordination of women. The WCC initiated a decade of Churches in solidarity with women (1988 to 1998) to promote the visibility of women in the Church. Using storytelling as a heuristic tool and in the spirit of the WCC’s decade of Churches in solidarity with women, the present paper documents the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Peggy Mulambya Kabonde of the United Church of Zambia (UCZ). Firstly, a brief narrative of her life and work is presented. Secondly, her work and experience in the Church is analyzed in order to engage with the issues affecting women in ordained ministry in Africa and other parts of the world. The paper concludes by proposing a model of ecclesiology that embraces inclusivity and the equality of men and women in the Church.

Religion and Social Justice: A Critical Analysis of the South African Council of Churches in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Within the South African context, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) played a constructive role in the formation of a democratic society. The SACC was the united voice of the church, and its relationship with civil society made it a major role-player in the dismantling of apartheid and the establishment of democratic rule. While post-apartheid is a time of hope and achievement, the country is facing serious social injustices more than two decades into democratic rule. This shift from apartheid to democracy has resulted in a different relationship between church and state. The relationship between church and state has moved from antagonism and polarisation during the apartheid era to “critical solidarity,” and finally to “critical engagement.” This paper will analyse and evaluate the role of the ecumenical church for social justice in post-apartheid South Africa. It will investigate the reasons for the presumed turning point in the relationship between the church and the state, the impact that the relationship between the church and state has on the role of the church, as well as the contribution the church can make to social justice issues, with particular reference to those at the margins of society.

Pan‐African Women of Faith and a Vision of Inclusive Global Theological Education

AbstractThis article provides an introduction to the Pan‐African Women's Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN), formally established as a network in 2015, but which traces its origins back to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, the Republic of Korea, in 2013. PAWEEN provides an opportunity for a mutual invitation to deep listening and concerted engagement to make the realities of past and present living, of faith and agency visible. It is one example of a network under development, grounded in the liberating gospel message and committed to the aim of a transformative theological education, which extends this invitation to all who share this common concern and vision.

The Imperative of Diakonia for the Church and Theological Education

AbstractThis article begins by arguing that diakonia is an imperative for the church, be it at the local, national, regional, or global level. It goes on to describe how diakonia has been part of the identity of the World Council of Churches during its 70 years of existence, and highlights the struggle of diakonia and development within the fellowship and ecumenical partners. The article focuses on the document Called to Transformative Action: Ecumenical Diakonia as the most recent attempt to reflect on who we are and what we do as church. It identifies one important aspect of diakonia as reflected in the Pan‐African Women's Ecumenical Empowerment Network perspective on theological education. The article concludes by reflecting on the author's vision for a just community of women and men in prophetic diakonia.

For the Healing of the Nations

AbstractThis meditation on Revelation 22:1‐5, preached at the conclusion of the World Council of Churches' 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, holds up the vision of a world in transformation, and of a life‐giving river that nourishes the earth and all creation, and that cannot be privatized or exploited for the benefit of a few, and that flows freely and directly from the throne of God. The theme of the 9th Assembly was “God, in your grace, transform the world.” It is a prayer that carries, as most prayers do, a confession of faith that the world needs to be transformed and can be transformed.

The opportunities of Hungary for dialogue with North Africa and the Middle East, with particular regard to the persecuted Christians

The Rev. Dr. Vilmos Fischl is a Lutheran pastor, with a Master of Arts in International Relations, a (PhD) Doctor of Military Science, and the General Secretary of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Hungary and a Senior Research Fellow of the National Public Service University. In the following study, he examines how Hungary, as part of the European Union, builds and seeks switching points with the Arab world, bearing in mind the conflicts in the emerging Middle East and North African countries. It focuses on the possibility of dialogue, with particular regard to diplomatic negotiations and humanitarian aid. It also examines whether Hungary has a special role to play in this process or whether the relationship with the EU and the Arab world will be stabilized and shifted in the direction of reconciliation.

ФОРМУВАННЯ КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНОЇ МОДЕЛІ ПУБЛІЧНОГО АДМІНІСТРУВАННЯ В СИСТЕМІ ДЕРЖАВНО-ЦЕРКОВНИХ ВІДНОСИН В УКРАЇНІ

Problem statement . Formation of the conceptual model of state-church relations and an adequate system of public administration in the field of religious and church life, in particular, involvement of civil and inter-confessional associations as subjects of public administration in the system of state-church relations, becomes an urgent and integral clause for strengthening partnership relations between the state and the church in Ukraine. Analysis of recent research and publications . In current research, the study of religious and confessional relations is represented as an object of public policy and public administration by such Ukrainian scholars as M. Babii, V. Bondarenko, V. Yelenskyi, S. Zdioruk, Yu. Reshetnikov, V. Troshchynskyi, Yu. Kalnysh, R. Nebozhuk, T. Teslya, O. Onyshchuk, V. Petryk, O. Sagan, U. Khavarivskyi and others. The objective of the article is to develop and give scientific basis to the conceptual model of public administration in the system of state-church relations in Ukraine in order to ensure modern standards of freedom of conscience and religion, security of spiritual development of a person, Ukrainian society and the state. Key results . The conceptual model of public administration in the system of state-church relations in Ukraine is proposed and substantiated in this article. In accordance with the concept of a contractual and cooperative model of state-church relations in Ukraine, the system of public administration in the field of religious and church life should be reestablished. It is shown that this system should consist of three interrelated spheres of management: the sphere of state-church interaction, the sphere of interfaith interaction and the sphere of public and confessional interaction. Conclusions . Establishing of the national coordinating body in the sphere of interfaith interaction for churches and religious organizations of Ukraine – the All-Ukrainian Interfaith Assembly (AUIA) – was proposed. In the sphere of state-church interaction, it is advisable to establish a special public body – the National Agency of Ukraine for Religious Affairs (NARA) – with the corresponding set of competences in this sphere. It was determined the sphere of public and religious cooperation to have provided active involvement of the interested civil society actors and market economy in these matters through the establishing of Public Council under the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRU), which (by mutual agreement) would include representatives of NGOs, mass media and subjects of the market economy (sponsors).

The SACC since 1994: Ecumenism in Democratic South Africa

Prior to 1994, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) was a major role-player both globally and within South Africa, fulfilling a vital role in the struggle for justice in South Africa. Yet, since 1994 the SACC has all but disappeared from both the global as well as the popular South African ecumenical scene. The history of the SACC since 1994 is relatively unknown and sparsely documented. This article attempts to fill in some of that missing detail and to explore what has happened to the SACC since 1994. Working predominantly from news articles and documents from the SACC, the authors have endeavoured to piece together the state of the SACC since 1994. This article shows how the SACC emerged from the brink of closure and has once more started to function as a prophetic voice in South Africa. This movement from almost extinction to a rejuvenated function has been designated into three stages, namely survival, discernment and regeneration. However, the challenges are not over and this article concludes by highlighting two main challenges that the SACC is currently facing.

Witnessing Together – Who, What and to Whom? The Concept of Witness in Together Towards Life and The Church: Towards a Common Vision

‘Witness’ belongs to the central vocabulary of contemporary ecumenism. Despite its ecumenically significant role the concept has not been defined in ecumenical dialogues, neither analysed in academic research. Already a rough mapping of dialogue documents shows that the concept is used in various ways and contexts but not in a coherent or conscious way. This article studies the meaning of ‘witness’ in two ecumenical documents issued by the World Council of Churches, ‘Together towards Life. Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes’ (2012) and ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’ (2013). Both documents see witness as the characteristically Christian way of participating in the mission of the Triune God but give it different roles in the life of the church.

The Role of Church Leaders in Averting Gender Based Violence in Imenti South Sub-County, Meru County, Kenya

Gender based violence is violation of human rights and it is affecting men, women, and children spiritually, physically and emotionally. The church leadership is being looked at when it comes to averting violence at communal and family levels. However, in Kenya the role of church leaders in averting gender based violence has not been not been articulated in church spiritual and pastoral programs. The purpose of the study is to examine the role of the church leaders in averting gender based violence in Imenti South Sub-county. The study is guided by three objectives: establishing the role of church leaders in averting gender based violence in Imenti South Sub-county, examining the involvement of church leaders through pastoral programs in averting gender based violence in Imenti South Sub-county and assessing the influence of church leaders’ advocacy against gender base violence in Imenti South Sub-county. The study is carried out in Imenti South Sub-County with a focus on church leaders under the National Council of Churches of Kenya. The study is based on descriptive survey design. The target population in this study included church leaders from different denominations and victims of gender based violence. Purposive sampling will be employed to sample 50 church leaders and 150 victims of gender based violence. Data was be collected using questionnaires for church leaders and scheduled group interviews for gender based violence victims. The data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively with the aid of the Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS). The findings of the study shall be useful to the churches in Kenya on averting gender based violence through leadership.

Revisiting interreligious relations: The convergence of global context and ecclesial developments

AbstractFollowing the important work of the 1980s and 1990s by the US churches and ecumenical bodies in developing interfaith statements and policies, significant events in both the US and international arenas were coincidental and motivational for US Christians to reconsider their interreligious engagement in a new context. This article examines the major contextual factors, as well as ecumenical developments with particular attention to the United Church of Christ and the National Council of Churches, which also will consider new statements in 2019.

Impacts of the Religious Policies Enacted from 1965 to 1980 on Christianity in Indonesia

Abstract Between 1965 and 1980, the Indonesian government issued three religious policies. These had both positive and negative impacts on Christianity in Indonesia. As a positive impact, the Indonesian Council of Churches (DGI) and the Supreme Council of Indonesian Bishops (MAWI) were motivated to work together in lobbying the government. The policies also boosted the growth of local leadership in Catholic churches. However, the policies also brought a negative impact in that it became difficult for churches to obtain an IMB (Building Permit). In mid-eighties, Christianity could still perform religious services in churches without any disturbances, but after the 1990s, churches with no Building Permit were banned by some radical Islamic organizations. Preaching the gospel was considered violation of the law and a Christian could be sent to prison for performing this activity.

The World Council of Churches and churches in China: partnerships and diaconia

ABSTRACTBetween 1956 and 1991, Chinese church leaders, and Protestant churches active from the formation of the World Council of Churches, experienced a dramatic break in their relations with the international ecumenical movement. This paper will focus on the ecumenical relations between the WCC and the churches in China after 1978, when reforms and the opening up of the country under Deng Xiaoping provided new opportunities for the renewal of ties. The China Christian Council resumed its official ties with WCC in 1991 but between 1978 and 1991, new expressions and new modes of ecumenical relations had already emerged. Central to these ties were the upholding of the Three-Self Principles and the practice of the ‘ecumenical sharing of resources’ influenced by the outcome of the WCC’s El Escorial meeting (1987). These ‘post-colonial’ partnerships contributed substantially to making Christianity better appreciated in China and were important channels for the practice of ecumenism in a rapidly transforming China.

'Race', Black Majority Churches, and the Rise of Ecumenical Multiculturalism in the 1970s.

At the beginning of the 1970s, relations between the historic British churches and the new black-led churches were usually non-existent or marked by prejudices or ambivalences. This article examines the emergence, development, and significance of a cross-cultural ecumenical dialogue sponsored by the British Council of Churches. It places this in a context of both growing white liberal interest in the 'multi-racial' society and the increasing public assertiveness of collective black Christian consciousness. In doing so, it contributes to our understandings of religious change in the twentieth century: both in terms of perceptions of 'secularization' and the complex relationship between Christianity and race relations in the decades after Windrush.

A Just and Durable Peace? American Evangelicals and the Quest for Peace after WWII

The force of evangelical activism is now a well-known story in American politics, but its unity, coherence, and perspective are often taken for granted, or under-analyzed, particularly on global issues. In this article, I investigate the question of evangelical influence and perspective on global peace after World War II, focused in this case around the United Nations. Surveying, first, the diversity of the movement called evangelicalism in the late war period, I argue that meaningful evangelical minorities existed, second, in both the neo-orthodox turn of Reinhold Niebuhr, third in the hugely successful though more mainline efforts of John Foster Dulles and the Federal Council of Churches, and, of course, finally in the majority report of conservative, evangelical anti-globalism, of both dispensational and presuppositional varieties. Far from monolithic, I argue that an evangelical perspective and influence on global peace must read each of these movements alongside one another, in part clarifying, in part unsettling, what is often counted as evangelical in both the history and present of global peace.

The Peace Work and Witness of the Churches in the German Democratic Republic and the World Disorder of the 21st Century

AbstractThis article is an edited translation of an address given in Erfurt, Germany, on 12 May 2019, to celebrate the 90th birthday of Heino Falcke, dean (provost) of Erfurt from 1973 until his retirement in 1994. Falcke, who was also a member of the working group on Church and Society of the World Council of Churches, played a central role in developing the theological and ethical response of Protestant churches in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the threats to peace in a nuclear age. This was expressed in the “renunciation of the spirt, logic, and practice of deterrence.” This article seeks to set out the insights from the peace work and witness of the churches in the GDR against the background of the “world disorder of the 21st century.”

The Future of Multilateral Ecumenical Dialogue

AbstractThis article offers an overview of work undertaken in multilateral ecumenical dialogue, as it has been conducted at the international level by the commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC), to clarify the issues discussed in this dialogue and the methods used. In particular, the article analyzes the statements on unity made at various WCC assemblies. While they demonstrate a certain continuity regarding the key points of church unity they identify, they clearly mark a shift in the overall understanding of how unity is conceived. The second part of the article examines the current ecumenical situation and its importance for this dialogue, to show how Faith and Order has responded and what further progress in multilateral dialogue might look like.

Reflections on the development and use of non-violent activism in the South African Council of Churches : a social movement theory approach

Reflections on the development and use of non-violent activism in the South African Council of Churches : a social movement theory approach

The British Council of Churches’ Influence on the ‘Radical Rethinking of Religious Education’ in the 1960s and 1970s

It is widely accepted that during the later 1960s, Religious Education (RE) in English state-maintained schools underwent a significant transition, moving from a Christian ‘confessional’ approach to an academic study of world religions. A detailed examination of the activities of the British Council of Churches’ Education Department during the period reveals examples of an active promotion of this study of world religions, something that hitherto has been absent from the historiography of RE. For example, the department organized key conferences, meetings and consultations, at which future directions for RE were considered and discussed. A research project undertaken for the department in the later 1960s, which led to the 1968 report Religion and the Secondary School, was prompted by the identification that ‘[t]oday the needs of children and young people demand a radical rethinking and reshaping of the purpose and method of religious education’. This report included a statement specifically encouraging the study of non-Christian religions, which was repeated in later key documents. This article shows how the British Council of Churches’ Education Department played a role in the development of the ‘non-confessional’ study of world religions in English state-maintained schools from as early as the late 1940s.

Disability, Performance, and Discrimination in the Service to Humanity

AbstractIn an age when the church is called upon to be an inclusive community, persons with disabilities in Nigeria are still grappling with exclusion. Disability is associated with multiple challenges. The challenges include degrading treatment, marginalization, and exclusion from recruitment opportunities, as well as discrimination in churches. Some people believe that disability has negative connotations and that persons with disabilities are hopeless, helpless burdens and passive “objects” meant to receive charity as well as physical and spiritual deliverance. Persons with disabilities are stereotypically seen as incapable of being productive. It is assumed that because people live with disabilities, they are not meant to occupy leadership positions or fully partake in church activities. The expectation that persons with disabilities be wholly embraced into the Christian fold is yet to be met. This article shares information on the context in which some of the challenges facing persons with disabilities are rooted. It examines the involvement and experiences of persons with disabilities in the activities of the church, church institutions, and church‐affiliated organizations in Nigeria while acknowledging the church’s mandate of inclusion. It finds that stereotyping and discrimination are challenges for persons with disabilities – individuals who are also made in the image of God. In the future, more research needs to be carried out on issues around the isolation of persons with disabilities in the body of Christ. The findings would help interested groups recognize the predicaments of persons with disabilities and find realistic strategies for a progressive inclusive church community – in this way assisting the efforts of the World Council of Churches’ programme on disability.