07.06.2006
President speaks on ecumenical issues
Clifton Kirkpatrick, the president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), has been a key figure in several significant ecumenical conversations over the past several months:
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Clifton Kirkpatrick (Photo: PCUSA) |
the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), talks with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) around a joint meeting with WARC and a meeting of leaders of WARC and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) that recommended a new global Reformed organization. Update interviewed Kirkpatrick about these events and their impact on WARC.
Update: Has the 9th Assembly of the WCC at Porto Alegre altered the direction of the ecumenical movement?
Kirkpatrick: I think the 9th Assembly has reshaped the direction of the ecumenical movement in several ways. It has given the churches a new passion to broaden, deepen and reconfigure the ecumenical movement. It pointed (quite successfully) to a new way of making decisions within and among our churches, the way of consensus. It has built a common passion around two major mission priorities: an end to violence and a call to economic and ecological justice in our world.
Update: You responded positively to WCC general secretary Sam Kobia’s invitation to make the next assembly one where other ecumenical bodies such as WARC would jointly meet with the WCC. How important is this kind of gathering?
Kirkpatrick: I responded, not only positively but also enthusiastically, to the general secretary’s call for the next assembly to be one that would jointly involve the WCC and the Christian world communions. This is a proposal that both WARC and the LWF have been encouraging for quite some time and we believe it can be a real step forward in the ecumenical movement. Finding a way to hold confessional and WCC assemblies in the same space and with interaction with one another will be a major step towards a truly ecumenical assembly of the churches, which has been a long-time goal of the ecumenical movement.
Update: It does not appear that WARC and the LWF will meet together in 2010. Is that still the case? Do you see WARC and the LWF continuing to collaborate on issues even if such a joint gathering doesn’t take place?
Kirkpatrick: We will not be meeting together in 2010 but we may be having an even more significant shared assembly if the proposal for a joint assembly with the WCC and various Christian world communions comes into being, as both we and LWF hope it will. Reformed and Lutheran churches are regularly moving closer together. That is certainly the case in my country, where we have a full communion agreement, as it is in many other parts of the world as well. I am particularly pleased with the newest of these agreements – between Reformed and Lutheran Churches in the Middle East. We are also looking forward shortly to the launching of a new Lutheran/Reformed Commission on a global level, to a joint meeting of WARC and LWF officers and to active cooperation in commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
Update: Leaders of WARC and REC have called for a new global body of more than 80 million Reformed Christians called the World Reformed Communion. Why does this makes sense? Would this organization be able to lead on justice issues?
Kirkpatrick: This is a major step forward for unity and common witness among Reformed Christians. The coming together of these two bodies made up of Reformed churches in different parts of the world will be a visible demonstration of the shared faith and witness of Reformed Christians. As we met together in what both groups had anticipated to be a meeting that would result in an agreement for closer cooperation, we were all surprised at the strong sense that the Holy Spirit was calling us not just to cooperation but to unity. It was clear that the call to justice in the economy and the earth that is the heart of WARC’s Accra mandate together with the deep concern for evangelism and the Reformed confessions that are so central to REC are commitments which both groups and most of our churches share. We are convinced that a new united World Reformed Communion will strengthen our witness for both.
Update: What are you most hopeful about regarding WARC?
Kirkpatrick: The thing I am most hopeful about regarding WARC is that growing out of Accra we have adopted seven core callings that can transform our churches and our world and we have active networks that are turning these callings into a reality. The core callings are:
1. To covenant for justice in the economy and the earth.
2. To search for spiritual renewal and renewal of Reformed worship.
3. To foster communion within the Reformed family and unity of the church ecumenical.
4. To interpret and re-interpret the Reformed tradition and theology for contemporary witness.
5. To foster mission in unity, mission renewal and mission empowerment.
6. To promote inclusivity and partnership in church and society.
7. To enable Reformed churches to witness for justice and peace.
Update: What are you most concerned about regarding WARC?
Kirkpatrick: I am sometimes concerned that we may have taken on too much. Growing out of the vision of Accra, we have adopted an ambitious and world transforming agenda that can only happen with the active and strong human, financial and spiritual support of all WARC member churches. We have a tremendous opportunity to truly give witness to “life in fullness” for all but only if this vision becomes a common passion of all our member churches.
