February 22, 2011

The leaders of two families of churches with roots in the Protestant Reformation and a shared commitment to seeking visible church unity through cooperation have held talks in Geneva, Switzerland aimed at strengthening links among their member churches at the local and regional level.

The meeting between the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council (DECC) and of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) comes in the wake of the decision in June 2010 by the global governing body of the WCRC to accept the DECC as an associate member.

The designation allows the DECC, a worldwide fellowship of Disciples of Christ/Churches of Christ churches, to participate in programmes of the WCRC. Previously the DECC had been a "partner" of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, one of the predecessor organizations of the WCRC.

Senior leaders participating in the discussions included Robert Welsh, DECC General Secretary; Setri Nyomi, WCRC General Secretary; David Thompson, past moderator of the DECC and consultant on dialogue with other Christian churches; and Douwe Visser, Executive Secretary for Theology, Mission and Communion for the WCRC. Their discussions coincided with meetings of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in Geneva that conclude today.

Welsh believes the move from partnership to associate member status opens new possibilities for creative sharing among members and congregations from the two organizations and will lead to increased cooperation at regional and global levels. He notes this model is consistent with the vision of unity shared by the DECC and WCRC.

"We prefer this to building up our own initiatives as separate organizations at the expense of what is being done in the broader ecumenical arena," Welsh says. "For example, we can alert each other on programmes of mutual interest, such as consultations on the ordination of women in member churches or conferring about our respective dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church."

The American church leader also pointed to a shared commitment to justice issues. "The language used at the founding meeting of the WCRC identifying the two ‘pillars' of communion and justice as interrelated, and not separate, concerns resonates positively with Disciples," he says.

Nyomi welcomes the move from partnership to associate membership as a signal of the commitment of Reformed churches to the unity of the church.

"WCRC member churches seek to work together in meaningful and respectful ways to address common concerns for justice and to deepen their theological understanding of mission in today's world," the Ghanaian theologian stresses.

WCRC was created in June 2010 through a merger of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). Its 230 member churches representing 80 million Christians are active worldwide in initiatives supporting economic, climate and gender justice, mission, and cooperation among Christians of different traditions.

World Communion of Reformed Churches