News
The rhetoric was impassioned at times, but the 32-page final report of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the World Council of Churches (WCC) invoked few new questions from Central Committee members.
"There were no surprises for me," said Dr Marion Best (United Church of Canada), vice-moderator of the Central Committee, who noted that most issues raised in the debate had been long-standing concerns. The report now goes to four sub-committees for comment and will return to the Central Committee for action early next week.
The Commission was created in 1998 by the WCC's eighth assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, to address rising concerns of Orthodox churches about their WCC membership and the Council's decision-making style, public statements, worship practices and other issues. If approved, the report will lead to changes in all those areas.
Half of the Commission are Orthodox and half are from other WCC member churches. And even Central Committee members who objected to portions of the report seemed impressed by the enthusiasm expressed by Commission members who said the three-year experience had brought them together in trust, appreciation and friendship.
"You now need to let the rest of us catch up with you," the Rev. Ruth Bottoms (Baptist Union of Great Britain), told Commission members.
Bottoms said she read some portions of the report "with a sense of sadness," especially a section on "Common Prayer". The section includes the words, "common prayer as it has developed in the World Council of Churches has caused difficulty for some churches. In fact, it is in common prayer that the pain of Christian division is most acutely experienced." "When there is a world in pain, where there are things to celebrate in the world, it is sad to me that we have to be so careful in preparing for prayer," Bottoms said.
Bishop Margot Kaessmann (Evangelical Church in Germany) also expressed sadness at the report's sections on worship and prayer, which would divide worship into "confessional" and "interconfessional" experiences. In "confessional" worship, churches would follow their tradition of using women as worship leaders. Orthodox churches and some Protestant churches do not ordain women, and the report says worship planners "should refrain from taking a confrontational stance". "I don't think we have a forward-looking document," Kaessmann said.
Bishop Christoph Klein (Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania) said he might have felt that strongly about ecumenical worship three years ago before he became a member of the Commission. "For me it has been a learning process," explained Klein, who said he had gained an appreciation of Orthodox sensitivities about ecumenical worship. "This is not necessarily a step backward out of fear. It comes out of a dialogue of love moving to a dialogue of truth and authenticity."
The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky (Orthodox Church in America) said he has participated in many ecumenical worship services but has declined to participate in others if it would create the impression that Orthodox and Protestant churches have already united. The worship provision in the report, Kishkovsky said, "is a proposal to protect a broad ecumenical worship space for all traditions".
The Commission's proposal to move the Council from majority rule to a "consensus" form of decision-making was endorsed by many, but others repeated long-standing concerns. "I think most decisions will not be made on time," said Abigail Ogunsanya (Church of the Lord, Aladura, Worldwide) of the United Kingdom.
Bishop Aldo Manuel Etchegoyen (Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina) also suggested consensus would make it difficult for the Central Committee to speak out on urgent issues. "To keep quiet when there is a problem is also a form of a statement," he said.
Etchegoyen complained about a proposal to limit full membership in the Council to churches with more than 50,000 members. Some Orthodox have noted that while their numbers are fixed, they have been out-numbered and occasionally out-voted by scores of new and small churches that have joined the Council.
But Etchegoyen said, "God loves small churches because He made a lot of them and I wouldn't want to see them left out of the fold."
Both co-moderators of the Commission said drafting the report had already contributed to increased understanding among WCC members.
"It is an unavoidable fact," said Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Ephesus, "that when we re-read the report we find it represents the substance but hardly represents the spirit of the journey... Never before has the WCC taken its Orthodox members so seriously. We grew to truly trust each other in the Commission."
Bishop Rolf Koppe (Evangelical Church in Germany) said, "Together we have been able to experience the joys and sufferings of each other. If one thing has become clear to me, it is the necessity of witnessing to the Gospel together."