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General Assembly 2008: General Assembly to hear about
significant anniversaries
| The Committee on Ecumenical
Relations will remind the General Assembly that
sixty years ago this year, a world wearied by conflict
saw the foundation of the World
Council of Churches, (WCC),
a body that envisioned a future when a united church
would model the road to reconciliation. |
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The WCC, along with its
member churches in each country, continues to tackle
the intractable and seemingly insoluble problems besetting
both society and church. Its problems are far reaching.
As part of the Decade to Overcome
Violence, due to end in 2011, two further initiatives
have been undertaken. One is to develop, in a useful
and practical way, a substantial theology, ethics and
spirituality of peace to help effectively tackle conflict
- be it ethnic violence, religious differences or tensions
that are linked with climate change.
This was given dramatic expression when the first of
the WCC's 'Living Letters'
was sent to Kenya, hard on the heels of the violent
elections there. One of the group which made up this
physical 'Letter' was Gordon McGeoch, a Church of Scotland
probationer minister who is also a member of the WCC's
Executive Committee. The aim of the Living Letters project
is to learn, for the benefit of all, from local experiences
of tackling violent conditions.
The General Assembly will also hear about work relating
to three very significant anniversaries - the jubilee
of the birth of Reformer John Calvin which falls in
2009; the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation
in 2010 and the centenary of the landmark World missionary
Conference held in the Church's Assembly Hall in 2010.
Ends.
Note to News Desks
For further information contact Rev Bill Brown, Convener
of the Ecumenical Relations Committee on 0131 337 5431
or 0131 337 1091.
A full copy of the report is available on our General
Assembly pages online
here.
GANR/15/04/2008
Tuesday 13, May 2008
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