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The Message of the WCC 8th Assembly

The Assembly Message of the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches, 3 - 14 December 1998.

Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, explored the implications of "anamnesis" - "remembrance" - for the church and the world, lifting up the importance of anamnesis for the ecumenical movement. Delegates were given some silent time to reflect on his words before turning their attention to the second presentation.

Wanda Deifelt, vice-rector and professor of systematic theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, and a member of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil, spoke about "metanoia" - "conversion" - naming the ways that Christians need to repent. Following her reflections selected delegates read, in different voices and in different languages, passages of scripture related to the "jubilee year" (Lev. 25:8-17, 39-43).

The third meditation was given by Kosuke Koyama, recently retired professor of ecumenical studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York and a former missionary of the United Church of Christ in Japan. He addressed the second part of the assembly theme, reflecting on how we can rejoice in hope in the face of so much suffering and violence.

Letter to the WCC 8th Assembly from the women and men of the Decade Festival of the Churches in Solidarity with Women

The statement was adopted with 15 opposing votes and 17 abstentions. During the discussion by assembly delegates, several comments and concerns were voiced: the statement did not draw sufficient attention to the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and to concern for the security of the state of Israel; this issue is of great concern to churches around the world and of particular concern to churches in the Middle East; rather than calling for Jerusalem to be "a shared city", the sovereignty of Jerusalem should be protected for Israelis and Palestinians; Palestinians should be given the right of repatriation.

This poem was written in 1947 a few days before Borchert died at the age of 26. The following is an adaptation of the German version, first prepared by youth participants at the vigil for peace and justice at the WCC Assembly in Vancouver in 1983

On 5 August 1983, on the eve of the Hiroshima bombing's 38th anniversary, the WCC Assembly held a night-long vigil for peace.

This is the report of the Section on Unity at the WCC 3rd Assembly. Particularly in paragraph 2 -- probably the greatest run-on sentence in ecumenical history -- we have one of the seminal and enduring statements on the nature of "organic unity".

Amsterdam Assembly 1948
Extracts from Report of Committee IV
CONCERNS OF THE CHURCHES - THE EMERGENCE OF ISRAEL AS A STATE

Amsterdam Assembly 1948 Extracts from Report of Committee IV CONCERNS OF THE CHURCHES: 3.· THE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO THE JEWS