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In a plenary presentation given at the 11th All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, on 5 July, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Isabel Apawo Phiri offered “An Overview on the Imperative of Diakonia for the Church.”
She outlined a way forward for WCC’s path related to diakonia, and invited the AACC fellowship to also create an inclusive table of diakonia.
“Looking to the future, the World Council of Churches will hold a joint day with the ACT Alliance on 1 November,” said Phiri. “This day, in Uppsala, Sweden, will be both the final day of the ACT Alliance’s assembly and the first day of the World Council of Churches Executive Committee.”
Ecumenical Diakonia will be a core part of the discussions on 1 November, Phiri added. “Although the day is not intended to be centred on the discussion of papers, the opportunity for input into the Ecumenical Diakonia document ‘Call to Transformative Action’ will be useful. This work needs to be followed with consultation with World Council of Churches member churches and ecumenical partners.”
Diakonia continues to be a pillar of ecumenism, Phiri concluded. “Let us work together to make the table of diakonia as a table of inclusion and transformation,” she said. “The churches in Africa are therefore invited to engage the working document Called to Transformative Action: The Ecumenical Diakonia and prayerfully to discern the direction for ecumenical diakonia in Africa.”
