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“Where is God?”
Evoking the desperate cry of a South Sudanese girl stranded in a refugee camp far from home, WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom opened the Central Committee’s biennial meeting on 15 June with a stirring yet clear-eyed cry for deeper engagement by the WCC and its member churches to counter the world’s most intractable problems through nurturing hope and empowerment.
“We are the current generation of leaders of the ecumenical movement, so everything rises with each one of us. Eyes are upon us, to see our resolve and our concrete actions on the journey of justice and peace,” she said.
Abuom, a development consultant from the Anglican Church of Kenya, has served as moderator of the Central Committee since she was elected unanimously by the WCC 10th Assembly in 2013.
The moderator’s address particularly discussed those “gracious places” and situations that confront and challenge the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, concentrating on the international activities of the WCC, its member churches and ecumenical partners in South Sudan, Syria, and Korea.
“Despite our focus on and intensified ecumenical efforts with the people of South Sudan, it is sad to observe what continues to happen there. It is unfortunate that the youngest country in the world does not enjoy the peace that it has long sought.”
One effective and promising feature of the pilgrimage is the Pilgrim Team Visits, she noted, which “have enabled us to walk together in our ministry of presence, listening, praying with and supporting the victimized as they shared their narratives in different parts of the world.”
In the context of its ecumenical peacemaking, Abuom made a special plea to counter the disintegration of democratic governance and institutions and to ramp up attention to gender justice, just and sustainable economies, and climate justice.
“Recent years have witnessed a decline in the values and ethos of democratic governance due to the weakening of democratic structures across the world that were put in place after World War II. We are in many ways witnessing democracy and democratic governance under serious threat or even siege,” she said.
Although “cognizant of the daunting task that remains to secure justice and peace,” she urged members to “step up collaboration and networking with other faith communities.”
Read the moderator’s address to the central committee
Learn more about WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom
See a video of Dr. Abuom speaking about the pilgrimage and people on the margins
