The World Council of Churches—Cooperation or Confusion?
By Awake! correspondent in Australia
THE assembly opened February 7, 1991, on the picturesque grounds of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, the nation’s capital. An estimated 4,000 lay people and some 316 church leaders from over a hundred countries attended. The previous six assemblies of the WCC (World Council of Churches) had been held in various countries over a period of some 35 years, beginning in 1948 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
What is the WCC? It is not a superchurch. It is a fellowship of churches, a forum for the exchange of views. The official address of welcome for this seventh assembly was given by Australia’s prime minister, Robert J. Hawke—even though he is a self-confessed agnostic. The theme chosen for this two-week assembly was in the form of a prayer: “Come Holy Spirit—Renew the Whole Creation!”
However, the unexpected turn of events on the world scene diverted the mood and expectations of the delegates away from renewal by holy spirit to politics and the morality of the Persian Gulf war. This early swing away from spiritual discussion caused Sir Paul Reeves, an Anglican archbishop and former governor-general of New Zealand, to express his bewilderment: “We tend, in assemblies like this, to quarrel about power, which has little to do with the Holy Spirit.” The archbishop of Canberra attempted to rationalize on the value of disagreement: “Unity is the gift of the Holy Spirit. A healthy diversity is the gift of the same Holy Spirit.”
David Gill, general secretary of the Australian Council of Churches, also expressed concern that the integrity of the WCC was itself at risk, noting that the organization was becoming increasingly subservient to cause-oriented groups that are looking for a platform from which to air their particular concerns.
Women’s Ordination—More Disunity
The role of women in the contemporary church was also on the agenda, but the women were unhappy. Most of them regarded it as male dominated. Lois Wilson of Canada testily summed it up: “The politics of the WCC stink to high heaven and I don’t think it is what Jesus had in mind.” What brought on this frustration? The newspaper Canberra Times had this to say: “There had been a lot of crying in the women’s wash-room because women had been intimidated to prevent them accepting nomination to the council’s central committee. One woman had been told that she would be excommunicated from her church in an attempt to discourage her from accepting nomination.”
What Happened to the Spiritual Theme?
Some were concerned that the assembly had not emphasized sufficiently the Biblical or theological nature of its work. This is not surprising, for most of the major items on the agenda were political in nature. In fact, in the printed reports on the assembly, the reader found only one brief reference to the Bible.
The religious magazine National Outlook said that David Gill “reflects the thinking of others who have attended WCC gatherings in the recent past, and who, as one individual said recently, went with high hopes but came away feeling dry and empty.”
In contrast, when the spiritually hungry and thirsty came in contact with Christ Jesus, they did not go away feeling “dry and empty.” They went away refreshed: “Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for your souls. For my yoke is kindly and my load is light.”—Matthew 11:28-30.