WCC NEWS: WCC pre-assemblies will convene to harvest honest reflections, meaningful messages

Four World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-assemblies are about to convene, drawing hundreds of people eager to, in a safe space, share their honest reflections and life challenges. The pre-assemblies include Indigenous Peoples, Ecumenical Youth Gathering, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and Just Community of Women and Men. Participants join hands before the Walk of Peace in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 23 August 2018, gathering hundreds of young people and religious leaders celebrating the ecumenical movement and challenging each other to accomplish even more. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 25 August 2022 Indigenous Peoples Pre-Assembly. To be held 28-30 August, this pre-assembly invites a worldwide partnership of Indigenous Peoples and church-related networks dedicated to the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and to the renewal of creation. The pre-assembly will be a time of dreaming together a continuing vision of a new heaven and a new earth. It is also a call to join the WCC in committing anew to act with compassion, practice inclusive and relational justice, and affirm our unity in Christ whose love moves us to restoring wholeness in all of creation. The theme of the Indigenous Peoples Pre-Assembly is “Reconciliation: Restoring Wholeness in Creation.” The gathering will explore how reconciliation has often been experienced as a process seeking too easily the restoration of harmonious relationships without fully addressing or engaging the sources and actions of oppression in the past and the present. Ecumenical Youth Gathering. To be held 27-30 August, the Ecumenical Youth Gathering brings together young people from WCC member churches and ecumenical partners. The gathering will provide a youth-focused open space for dialogue and consultation to strategize together a common agenda that will be brought forward to the assembly. With the intent to build solidarity among young people around the world, the Ecumenical Youth Gathering will convene under the theme “Christ’s love reconciles and restores young people in the church and the society.” The gathering will underscore that young voices and perspectives are essential in the ecumenical movement, and that young people make a difference. As they gather, today’s young ecumenical leaders will explore their strengths as role models for dedicated and ambitious young Christians, and Christians in general, and as the ecumenical leaders of today and tomorrow. Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network Pre-Assembly. Taking place 29-30 August, the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network Pre-Assembly will harvest the reflections of persons with disabilities on the theme of the assembly “Christ's love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.” Those gathered will explore the positive transformation experienced by persons with disabilities through the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. They will also discuss steps for future growth of the network and work on disability inclusion within the fellowship.  Just Community of Women and Men Pre-Assembly. To be held 29-30 August, the Just Community of Women and Men Pre-Assembly will explore how the ecumenical movement can continue to seek reconciliation and unity among all God’s children. Those gathered will discuss how faith calls us to gender equality, and how we can strengthen our commitment to overcoming sexual and gender-based violence.  As part of a special “Harvesting” event on 29 August during this pre-assembly, a Waterfall of Solidarity and Resistance will be unfurled, the beginning of its display throughout the assembly. The tapestry, with 181 panels, carries the colorful visual stories from women around the world who contributed their creative expressions of their hope for a world free from rape and violence. Pre-assemblies of the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland