Learning of great global challenges

At the Church Leaders Meeting from 4-8 December at the Ecumenical Centre and Bossey Ecumenical Institute, representatives of faith communities across the world had the opportunity to interact with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and with each other. In a series of interviews with WCC Communication, church leaders shared their biggest challenges and the rewards of their dialogue with each other.

The Very Rev. Herborg Finnset, Church of Norway

The Very Rev. Herborg Finnset (Church of Norway) was pleased and surprised to be invited to the Church Leaders Meeting. “It has been interesting,” she said. “We spent time talking about what the real challenges are where we serve. And that made me quite humble. There are great challenges that many here are working under, quite different conditions.”

During the Church Leaders Meeting, she said, “we shared something important about our lives in our different churches with different roles.”

She also recalled attending a pre-event at the WCC Central Committee meeting in Trondheim in June 2016, which focused on decisions around the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.

“These issues have been part of my work for some time,” she said. “Many of the WCC programmes combine a Christian view of life with issues that are important for people. Here at the Church Leaders Meeting, we have talked about the dramatic issues and communities at the heart of the pilgrimage for justice and peace. This belongs in my heart as well, this combination of theological work and efforts toward unity. I believe the WCC must never be only for the mind or only for the bodily needs.”

Over the years, Finnset said she has been grateful for the theological expertise as well as ecumenical knowledge and experience she has been able to draw on through the WCC. “I believe we have an accumulated need for this ecumenical knowledge.”

Church Leaders Meeting nurtures sharing of challenges and rewards