WCC NEWS: WCC president from Europe: “I believe that unity begins with relationships – Christ becomes visible as we look with attention to each other”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly elected eight new presidents on 5 September. Below, Rev. Dr Susan Durber, WCC president from Europe, reflects on the new role, and a vision for how insights gained at the assembly will carry forward. 6 September 2022, Karlsruhe, Germany: Rev. Dr Susan Durber, newly elected WCC president for the Europe region at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches is held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August to 8 September, under the theme "Christ's Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity." Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 08 September 2022 What inspires you most about taking on this important role within the WCC? Rev. Dr Durber: I am honoured to be asked to be an advocate for our fellowship within the European region. There are some places where our work in calling one another to visible unity is well known and others where it is not. I believe that unity begins with relationships so that Christ becomes visible as we look with attention to each other. My priority will be to make and build relationships. I have been part of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, bringing my Faith and Order experience there, and I hope to go on participating in the breadth of our WCC life and speaking about it wherever I can. What are the top concerns among churches in Europe? Rev. Dr Durber: Europe is presently facing the reality of a war within our borders, and a war in which Christians are fighting Christians. The churches are tangled with war and with the problems that have led to it – we are not “above it,” and we must be active in overcoming and ending the violence. We also fail to notice the many other conflicts that scar our world. I long for a Europe that is not defensive and protective of its own concerns but is open to the wider world. Europe has within it some of the world’s strongest economies and we must do our part in addressing inequality in our world, so hungry for justice. Many of the churches in Europe, perhaps all of them in different ways, are facing a time of decline in numbers and in our cultural power. We are rediscovering our role as those who are ‘salt’ in the world, rather than the world itself. How will the WCC 11th Assembly help move you forward on the path of reconciliation and peace? Rev. Dr Durber: It helps me by reminding me that Europe is one part of a fast moving and complex world. The colonial story of European powers still haunts the ways that we, in Europe, belong to the world. A gathering like this assembly shows me how I am part of a wider family and that new kinds of relationships within it need to be shaped. My first identity is as someone “in Christ” – and the challenge is to live out my discipleship with faithfulness in this part of our beautiful and hurting world. Christ’s love moves the world – and moves all of us who are Europeans! Livestream of the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany Photos of the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany 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

WCC NEWS: European churches reflect on transformation of pandemic of death to pilgrimage of life and faith

How will the churches use the wide range of new opportunities in the post-pandemic context? How will they call to faith and trust as we move beyond the global health crisis to a time of renewal? These were the core questions that representatives of the European region addressed during a discussion that took place at the World Council of Churches central committee meeting, 23-29 June. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 30 June 2021 “The COVID-19 pandemic brought forth the relationship between the church and the secular. We have witnessed all tensions rekindling between churches and states and, at the same time, new forms of collaboration and alliances emerging in the service of the broader community,” Katerina Pekridou, executive secretary of Conference of European Churches, stated in her opening remarks.  Pekridou also announced a Conference of European Churches pre-assembly meeting, to take place in Warsaw, in February 2022, to prepare European participants for Karlsruhe, with a thematic focus on how European churches can best contribute to world Christianity within an increasingly secular context.  Participants reflected extensively on a series of questions with direct impact to the European societies, churches and ecumenical work: How can we avoid self-centered thinking among nations and regions and build international solidarity? How do we develop societal literacy and engagement with science to respond to the problems of the world? The topic of racial justice and white supremacy was prominent throughout the discussion. Racism and the connection with Europe’s response to the refugee issue was recognized as one of the main topics European churches need to respond to, self-critically and with an authentic reflection on what it means to be white in the contemporary global context. “As churches working together, what is the rationale as we discuss the topic of racism? How do we  look at our own institutional picture and what is the Biblical imperative, the reason we are compelled to do something in connection to the issue of racism?” asked Rev. Canon Dr Leslie Nathaniel (Church of England), WCC central committee member.  It is time for the European churches to start a discussion on how the ecumenical movement and WCC should look in the future in order to find ways to deliver to societies in need the word of God and the Christian messages that bring meaning to life. “We are talking to the world as churches in a period of a global pandemic and we are listening to their agony, the anxiety of death. We are coming in this space as WCC and Conference of European Churches to a world that is in pain and suffering. As Christians, beyond our confessional differences, the core question is how would we transform this pandemic of death to a pandemic of faith. How do we turn the anxiety of illness to a praise of life?” said Prof. Marina Kolovopoulou, a WCC central committee member from the Church of Greece. “This pilgrimage to life is a great opportunity for all Christian churches in Europe to strengthen the feeling that, as Christians we have gone beyond death.” WCC central committee meeting 2021 The 11th Assembly of the WCC in Karlsruhe, Germany Participants of the European regional meeting at the World Council of Churches central committee 2021. Photo: WCC 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 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 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