Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network

In an age when climate change and other ecological crises threaten life on Earth, we humans must learn to live within the carrying capacity of our planet. Indigenous peoples’ teachings can guide us in learning how to live in harmony with Mother Earth, taking only what we need, conscious of the impact of our actions on seven generations to come.

The experience of Indigenous Peoples, both in society and in the life of churches, is still to a great extent a story of continued exclusion and oppression. Marginalization is their continuing reality around the globe. Indigenous struggles for justice and for preservation and protection of their rights, cultural identity, spirituality, and traditional sustainable lifestyles are fundamental to their human dignity and survival.

The worldviews, spiritualities, cultures and experiences of Indigenous Peoples are distinct. At the heart of their struggles for survival as self-determining people is maintenance of spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political integrity. Indigenous concerns are therefore central not only to the WCC’s Mission from the Margins programme but also to the whole ecumenical fellowship and its Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.

Indigenous Peoples invite all Christians to envision with them "a new earth and new heaven" as promised in the Bible and as seen in the common vision of  marginalized peoples' everywhere.

The WCC seeks to initiate,  nurture and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ global and regional networks. Our goal is to build capacities of regional and local leadership and to support grassroots movements working on issues of justice, development, land, identity and self-determination.

Our programmatic activities with Indigenous Peoples include:

  • Indigenous spirituality and reconciliation gatherings
  • Indigenous youth empowerment and leadership development
  • Support for and coordination of indigenous networks.

The WCC has a longstanding commitment to work in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. Through our activities, we enable the participation and contribution of Indigenous Peoples in the life and ministries of the ecumenical movement and churches at various levels, and we support their participation in international meetings relevant to their struggle.

News
Obrania, Waorani indian from Pastaza, Ecuadorean amazon. Photo: Sean Hawkey/WCC

Indigenous theologians offer “living word” on interconnectedness amid violence

A community of indigenous theologians has offered a message, “Our Living Word for all Peoples,” that holds particular meaning amid violence suffered by indigenous people in the Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador.The message speaks to the interrelatedness of all that surrounds us. “We flatly denounce the criminalization of our bodies, struggles, and resistances,” reads the message. “This criminalization is supported by an old colonial religious prejudice that equates us with demons, terrorists, and criminals, with the intent to disqualify bodies, struggles, and resistances.”

28 November 2019

Rev. Dr. Seforosa Carroll, Programme Executive

Mission from the Margins – Commission on World Mission and Evangelism

email : [email protected]      

phone: +41 22 791 6214