07702
October 31, 2007

Two Reformed church groupings look to cement union in 2010

by Stephen Brown
Ecumenical News International

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Leaders of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches have proposed that a global assembly be held in the United States in 2010 to seal its union with the Reformed Ecumenical Council.

“I hope this will give Reformed Christians a renewed sense of commitment to overcoming divisions,” WARC general secretary the Rev. Setri Nyomi told Ecumenical News International on Oct. 27. “This will be a time when we can celebrate the sense of communion in the Reformed family … while also remaining committed to the ecumenical movement.”

WARC has 75 million members in more than 210 churches, while REC has 39 churches with 12 million members. Of the REC’s 39 member churches, 27 also belong to WARC.

The WARC committee has recommended to the REC that the uniting assembly, called a general council, take place from June 18-28, 2010 in Grand Rapids, MI, where the REC has its headquarters

The recommendation follows an earlier decision by WARC’s executive committee at its Oct. 18-28 meeting here to support a merger with the REC to create a Reformed grouping that WARC says will gather more than 80 million Protestants.

The WARC leaders proposed that the new global body be called the “World Communion of Reformed Churches.”

The executive committee agreed to send a delegation to the U.S. State Department early in 2009 to ensure that all delegates to the 2010 meeting are granted visas.

WARC is also to continue discussions with the World Council of Churches and other church groups about taking part in a global assembly in 2013 that unites different world church groupings. The WCC, which like WARC is based in Geneva, is examining the feasibility of its future assemblies providing an opportunity for meetings of ecumenical partners and Christian world communions such as WARC.

The WARC committee agreed to establish a $20 million endowment fund through the Presbyterian Foundation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to stabilize the financial situation of WARC and the new Reformed body. It also approved a 2008 budget of just under 2 million Swiss francs ($1.7 million) that included cuts of 147,000 Swiss francs ($126,500) compared to 2007.

The committee heard that two member churches in Latin America had decided to leave the Reformed alliance. The WARC leaders were told the Presbyterian Church of Brazil — one of three Presbyterian denominations in that country — “did not approve of certain theological stances” of the Reformed grouping. This included a visit to Pope Benedict XVI by the alliance’s president and its general secretary.

The United Evangelical Church of Ecuador said it now sees itself as primarily Methodist, and has changed its name to reflect this fact. As a result it is no longer eligible to be a WARC member.