WCC NEWS: Will the WCC 11th Assembly be a “divine last call” for ecological repentance?

Dr Louk Andrianos, WCC consultant on the Care for Creation, Sustainability and Climate Justice, reflects below on his hopes that the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly will present the world with a chance to reconcile with our whole creation. A man pours flood water out of his house during November 2014 flooding in Meulaboh in Indonesia's Aceh province. Flooding in the region has grown worse because of climate change and the proliferation of palm oil plantations. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ Life on Earth Pictures 15 August 2022 The Season of Creation will open on 1 September while we are gathered at the WCC 11th Assembly for what will be an historic moment. What inspires you most when you think about this? Dr Andrianos: It is a true blessing—but could be also a divine last call for ecological repentance to all churches that the Season of Creation opening coincides, for the first time, with the WCC assembly. I believe the triune God creator has planned this timely coincidence to reach the hearts of the thousands of participants at the assembly and especially to convince the assembly decision makers—the WCC governing body—to give urgent attention to the suffering creation that needs emergency reparation through our united ecological conversion practices for the next decade, How does the theme for this year’s Season of Creation resonate with all of our lives? Dr Andrianos: This year, the theme for the season is “Listen to the Voice of Creation.” We are living in the Anthropocene era where all voices of creatures are “muted” or neglected except those of the privileged powerful people. The burning bush, which was chosen as the symbol of the theme of the Season of Creation for 2022, among other meanings, reminds us that the Earth is “ill” and human beings’ sins—greed and egoism—are the disease that provokes its burning “fever.” We hear testimony every day—catastrophic wildfires and other calamities that are the screaming voices of the creation for immediate behavioral change of human beings—as a call to avoid the “boiling frog syndrome.” What are your hopes for the WCC 11th Assembly? Dr Andrianos: I hope this assembly will bring at least two concrete steps towards unity and spiritual revival in this time of uncertainties and fast-changing technology. First, I hope that church observers and guest participants will make bold decisions toward the unity of all churches in response to Jesus’s call that all may be one and will walk together within the WCC to complete the ecumenical movement goals in solidarity of minds, souls, and body in Christ. Second is that the assembly may convince many souls to reconcile with the Triune God  and the whole creation by paving new ways of living in metanoia and eco-justice for all in the immediate years to come: to see the fruits of a post-assembly ecological conversion in the daily lives of church members and in all WCC programmes. 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