Raiser speaks plainly
about
church unity struggles
"What
unites us is stronger than what
separates us," says WCC head.
By Bob
Bettson
Special to ChristianWeek
TORONTO–The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) didn’t mince words as he spoke to an ecumenical gathering at Toronto’s Emmanuel College late last month.
The WCC and the ecumenical movement are at a crossroads, said Konrad Raiser. Beleaguered by financial difficulties, doctrinal differences and threats of membership withdrawal, the council is having to find a new way forward.
Raiser was visiting Canada following celebrations of the WCC’s 50th anniversary in Amsterdam, and before its eighth General Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, to be held in December.
While the WCC has doubled in size since its founding in 1948 to 336 churches, most of the growth has come from churches in the third world. However, most funding–96 percent–comes from the churches in nine affluent nations. During the past seven years staff at the WCC’s Geneva headquarters has shrunk from 325 to 250, and is scheduled to be reduced to about 200 by the end of the year.
As well as this shrinkage, prompted in part by the inability of the funding churches to continue to carry such a heavy load, the Orthodox churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church (the WCC’s largest member) are increasingly discontent.
Some are worried about proselytism by other denominations. The liberal drift of other WCC members on issues such as women’s ordination, homosexuality and inclusive language is upsetting to others. The Georgian Orthodox Church withdrew last year.
Priorities shift
Raiser gave his Canadian audience a historical sketch of how the WCC has reached this critical stage in its life. For him, the high water mark of ecumenism was the WCC’s 1983 general assembly in Vancouver.
"We seemed to be at the threshold of entering a new ecumenical era." This was reflected in the historic Baptism Eucharist and Ministry document, the development of the Lima liturgy, a common celebration of communion, and movement forward on social justice issues.
Now, by contrast the WCC faces financial and structural problems as ecumenism "obviously is not among the priority concerns for churches at a time when maintaining identity and structural integrity seems to demand full attention."
