WCC assembly invites churches and world to unite in prayer for transformation

 

The "Message" of the 9th assembly of the World Council of Churches is an invitation to prayer. In proposing the document for adoption, message committee moderator Wendy Evans explained that the message is neither a report nor an exhaustive listing of concerns, but that it "reflects the heart of the assembly".

The assembly took place last February in Brazil. Ms Evans, a delegate from the United Church of Canada, was the only committee moderator in the category of "youth".

 

“God, in your Grace, Transform the World”

Message of the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches: An Invitation to Prayer

Sisters and brothers, we greet you in Christ. As representatives of churches from all the world's regions, we gather in Porto Alegre, Brazil, meeting in the first decade of the third millennium, in the first assembly of the World Council of Churches held in Latin America. We have been invited here to join in a festa da vida, the feast of life. We are praying, reflecting on the scriptures, struggling and rejoicing together in our unity and diversity, and seeking to listen carefully to one another in the spirit of consensus.

Meeting in February 2006, we are made aware by assembly participants of cries arising daily in their home countries and regions due to disasters, violent conflicts and conditions of oppression and suffering. Yet we are also empowered by God to bear witness to transformation in personal lives, churches, societies and the world as a whole.

Specific challenges and calls to action are being communicated to the churches and the world in the reports and decisions of the assembly, such as: the quest for Christian unity; our mid-term call to recommitment to the Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010); discernment of prophetic and programmatic means to achieve global economic justice; engagement in inter-religious dialogue; full inter-generational participation of all women and men, and common statements addressing the churches and the world on public issues.

The theme of this ninth assembly is a prayer, “God, in your grace, transform the world”. In prayer our hearts are transformed, and so we offer our message as prayer.

For the full text of the prayer please refer to www.wcc-assembly.info

 

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia (centre) watches as Rev. Dr Philip Potter, a former WCC general secretary and member of the ECLOF International board, helps plant an ipê tree, whose yellow flowers appear during Lent. The ceremony marked the closing of the WCC's ninth assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the tree will serve as a lasting reminder of the gathering that took place on the campus of the Catholic Pontifical University. Holding the sapling is Rev. Rui Bernhard, a Lutheran Brazilian pastor and the local assembly co-ordinator.

Two other WCC general secretaries, Rev. Dr Emilio Castro, who is also a former ECLOF International board member, and Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, assisted with the planting, which was attended by representatives of Brazilian and Latin American churches.

Rev. Joachim Clotet, rector of the university, said, "I will pray this as I pass by on my way to work: 'God, in your grace, transform the world.'" Dr Castro referred to the newly planted sapling as an "ecumenical tree", which he hoped would be a symbol of the WCC's commitment to be responsible for taking care of creation. Appropriately, worship on the last day of the assembly had seeds as its symbol.