Post Assembly reflections
Perhaps the first question one asks oneself at a gathering such as the World Council Assembly is, 'What can I compare it with?' and the second is 'What use is it?'.
One inevitably garners the answer to the first question from one's own experience and my answer is therefore that it feels like a cross between a URC General Assembly, or perhaps a Methodist Conference and the German Kirchentag. The answer to the second question can only really be found after some deeper reflection on the experience as a whole.
There were numerous strands to the event which lasted from October 29th to November 8th and drew in the region of 5,000 people in the Bexco conference Centre in Busan, South Korea. Not all were official delegates and in fact they were in the minority. Many others came as observers, delegated representatives from non-member churches or because of their engagement with one or other of the themes that made up the wider agenda of the assembly. Some came simply as participants often paying for themselves as enthusiasts for one or other facet of the assembly.
The make up of the programme itself, with its theme of God of Life: Lead us to Justice and Peace reflected the diversity of those attending. As a basic structure the programme began each day with worship led from within one tradition or another. This was held in the huge Worship Hall of the centre. Bible study followed this, either in different language plenaries or in small groups which gave the opportunity for much more shared discussion of the text.
Each day then had a thematic plenary in the auditorium which offered various forms of input but in each case included the stories of people from different parts of the world and traditions and often the opportunity for some kind of question and answer or discussion. One of the strengths of this was that it was possible to bring people with especially powerful and moving stories from parts of the world that we are more used to hearing about through television or the press. There is something quite compelling in being physically part of the world church in microcosm hearing the stories of so many fellow members of that church speaking of their pains or their joys. This is by far and away the most meaningful aspect of this gathering which is unique in the net that it draws across the world church, not only in geography but in theological spectrum, expression of depth of history, context and spirituality.
Much work had been done in the run up to the assembly by commissions and committees and the fruit of this work was fed into the ecumenical discussions to which participants were asked to commit themselves for four meetings in order, in some cases, to refine or otherwise work with documents that would be considered in plenaries later in the agenda.
The Madang (Meeting Place) was a marketplace area of various stalls with information from various interest groups or churches. It also housed or organised a variety of one off workshops on a wide range of themes.
All of this reminded me of the Kirchentag which is of similar format but on a much larger scale and into which and from which ordinary church members, young and old as well as church leaders can both input and gain fresh ideas, energy, encouragement, information and challenge.
The real purpose of the Assembly, though lays in the agenda of the business plenaries which met on each day of the assembly (apart from the weekend which had a totally different pattern of visits in the area in Seoul). Most of these sessions were open for anyone to attend but some were closed sessions which were focussed on the election of committees, notably the Central Committee and were only open to delegates. It was these sessions that also finally agreed what were effectively the public statements of the World Council on behalf of the member churches.
One of these was the Message of the Assembly entitled 'Join the pilgrimage of Justice and Peace', another, close to the central purpose of the WCC was the Unity Statement: God's gift and call to unit - and our commitment. Another significant document was the report of the public issues committee which was particularly important because of the range of issues on which it made statements, from the situation in Israel / Palestine to climate change. All of the statements contained within it were variously discussed, dissected and put back together. It was in this area that one of the most interesting elements of the assembly emerged. In debating the statements some people will nit pick over wording for reasons that seem incomprehensible while others will argue about emphasis or the inclusion or exclusion of certain words or sentences because of the meaning that it has for their very existence, often speaking with a good deal of emotion or pain.
Another significant report that was adopted was of the Programme Guidelines Committee. This is in many ways one of the most important committees in that it develops the agenda for work and areas of focus for the WCC in the future.
The statement on the way of Just Peace provides a different kind of emphasis in that it does not advocate action but provides a theological underpinning for action, especially in the area of the theme of Justice and Peace. Other documents too, are sent to the churches for reception. Together Towards a Common Vision was prepared in advance of the Assembly, considered in the ecumenical conversation especially looking at how it can be received and responded to in the churches and then sent out by the Assembly for consideration and response. Responses are requested by the end of December 2015. Clearly it is intended to influence the internal agendas of churches across the world as well as their ecumenical cooperation.
The document on Mission and Evangelism formed the focus of the Mission Plenary and includes a series of affirmations that was agreed by the Central Committee in September 2012. This was presented to the Assembly and is intended, again, to be received by the churches and to provide an agenda and set of values that will drive our collective agendas in the next few years in a way that will hopefully offer a coherence not only to the churches but to the wider world.
Much of this leads me to my chief reflection. How can this huge agenda which draws its net not simply geographically wide but theologically and politically wide too, be properly received within the churches so as to make the kind of impact and difference it is intended and ought to make? When churches are so focussed on their own internal agendas and often focussed more on survival than anything else, how can a focus on this global existence be not just maintained but grown. The answer, it seems to me, lays in the determined will of the churches to recognise the reality of being the Body of Christ on Earth and making their plans and decisions in that context, therein lays the answer to the question 'What use is it?'. If that answer is to be 'All the use in the World', it is up to us to make it so.
David Tatem - November 2013
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