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The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit invoked “prayers for God’s blessings” at the opening of new central offices of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in Hannover, Germany. The WCRC recently relocated its office to Hannover after having been based in Geneva for 65 years.
WCRC, an ecumenical umbrella body of Reformed Christians body has been in existence since 1875. It moved its offices to Geneva in 1948.
Opening of the WCRC’s newly established office in Hannover was welcomed by the German churches in a ceremony on 12 January. The WCRC, which represents 230 Reformed churches in more than 100 nations around the world, works in close cooperation with the WCC.
The decision to relocate the WCRC offices was made by its executive committee in response to concerns about the high cost of running an organization in Switzerland.
Tveit, who attended the opening ceremony in Hannover, expressed his good wishes on the WCRC’s move. “When family members find a new house and a new home, others come to visit and pray that God will bless them and their neighbours through their presence,” he said.
Tveit said that the WCC and WCRC’s “common calling and commitment to the ecumenical movement” will continue. “We take this new reality as a given opportunity for all to cooperate in new ways,” he said.
Mentioning strong participation of Reformed churches in the WCC, Tveit added that collaborations with the WCRC in the work on economic justice and financial architecture, as well as supporting churches in conflicts like those in South Sudan and Syria, will continue.
Tveit expressed appreciation for the WCRC’s contributions to the ecumenical movement. He called the WCRC’s work for the “cause of justice” very significant given that the WCC’s most recent assembly in Busan called on ecumenical partners to join in a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”.
The new WCRC office is located at the Calvin Centre, owned by the Evangelical Reformed Church of Germany, where the German Reformed Alliance has its offices.
