July 25, 2003
by Laurie Spurr
Ecumenical News International

GENEVA - A prominent Indian environmentalist and scientist, Dr. Vandana Shiva, is to be the main speaker at a worldwide gathering of Reformed churches scheduled to take place next year in Accra, Ghana.

Shiva is to give the keynote address at the gathering, the 24th General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), meeting on the theme "That All May Have Life in Fullness," from July 30 to Aug. 12, 2004.

The author of dozens of publications, Shiva has served as an advisor to governments in India and beyond, and founded the independent Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in Dehra Dun, which addresses contemporary ecological and social issues.

In her published work Shiva has drawn on Hindu scriptural references and rituals to reject global industrialized agriculture in favor of what she argues are more sustainable forms of cultivation.

The choice of a speaker from Hindu-majority India highlights a new emphasis for the Reformed alliance on interfaith co-operation in responding to global challenges.

Stimulating some of the interest was a series of team visits last year to trouble spots in Indonesia-the country with the world's biggest Muslim population-and an interfaith consultation in Jakarta, the capital, with strong Muslim participation. WARC has 27 member denominations in the southeast Asian country.

"Reformed churches live mostly in religiously pluralistic environments," explained Douglas Chial, a General Council coordinator. "For most of them, it's a concern they've always had."

Chial was speaking to ENI after a meeting this month in Torre Pellice, Italy, of WARC's executive committee, which approved key proposals for the gathering next year.

The general council, WARC's top governing body, meets every seven years to set the direction of the alliance's programs and elect new executive committee members and officers, including the president, from among the delegates of WARC's more than 200 member denominations.

The meeting in Ghana will draw about 1000 delegates, observers, visitors and staff.

The two-week council will include a "pilgrimage" to the Cape Coast and the Elmina slave dungeons, "from which countless Africans were sent into slavery," the WARC preparatory committee for the General Council said in a report. The dungeons include the infamous "door of no return" through which slaves passed onto ships heading across the Atlantic.

A group of Africans in the diaspora who have already visited the site is assisting the Reformed alliance in preparing historical and liturgical background for the visit, Chial said.

They will also try to tie the historical experience to current forms of injustice, especially economic forms, he said, and "how new forms of slavery in the world are affecting people."

For the first time, a three-week theology seminar, called the Global Institute of Theology will be held in conjunction with the General Council, bringing together students and faculty from around the world, using in part the council itself as a sort of classroom. Students will also take part in the general council, the preparatory committee report said.

Other speakers at the General Council will include Choan-Seng Song, WARC president, who will preach at the opening worship service, and the Rev. Setri Nyomi, WARC general secretary.

"The General Council will reaffirm the streams we're working with as content: covenanting for life, and covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth," said Nyomi recently.

He was referring to a major WARC program which challenges Reformed churches to take strong action to help the poor and to protect the environment.

"We have reaffirmed that we need to strengthen that work. We need to ensure that the outcomes of the general council strengthen the mission of our churches. This involves spiritual renewal as well as mission."

The council will be hosted by two churches: the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.

Events and meetings will be held both on the campus of the University of Ghana and at the Graduate Institute for Professional Management and Administration, 3 kilometers away.

WARC has already raised about 80 per cent of its 3.1 million Swiss franc (US $2.3 million) budget. It still needs to raise 650,000 Swiss francs (US $470,000).

Presbyterian News Service