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WCC Assembly plenary on Christian identity and religious plurality

Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia: Celebrating Life - a festa da vida

"When Christian solidarity is broken" : This pastoral and educational response to sexual harassment was prepared for use within the WCC community, including its staff and participants at ecumenical gatherings.

This text is the outcome of more than eight years of study and consultation on the "common understanding and vision of the World Council of Churches", mandated by the WCC Central Committee at its meeting in 1989. Between the Seventh Assembly of the WCC in 1991 and the Eighth Assembly in 1998, this subject was continuously on the agenda of the WCC central committee; in addition, it was extensively discussed in meetings of WCC commissions, advisory bodies and staff. Insights were sought and received from WCC member churches, other churches and a broad range of ecumenical partners, as well as many individual participants in and students of the ecumenical movement.

"Final report of the Special Commission on Orthodox participation in the WCC" : The 60-member Special Commission was created by the WCC's eighth assembly in 1998 in response to mainly Orthodox concerns about participation in the Council. Composed of an equal number of representatives from Orthodox churches and from the other churches belonging to the WCC, the Commission submitted its final report to the central committee in September 2002.

The WCC's eighth Assembly in 1998 discussed a proposal for a forum of Christian churches and ecumenical organizations that would bring together churches participating in the ecumenical movement, e.g. WCC member churches, the Catholic church, other churches, and Evangelical, Pentecostal and Independent churches, as well as ecumenical and para-church organizations.

This document is an account of responsible stewardship since the last assembly. It presents a summarized financial report for the period from 1999 to 2006 and introduces the work of the assembly finance committee which will have to formulate concrete proposals for the assembly to take policy decisions for the coming years.