Reports from the Witherspoon Conference
BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation to Global Discipleship
A Witherspoon conference on global mission and justice
September 16 - 19, 2007, Louisville, Kentucky
Installment # 4 [9-27-07]
by Doug King
Tuesday morning
A Challenge from Accra for North American Churches
The second morning of the conference began with gathering
music and prayer, led again by the Rev. David Gambrel.
We then turned our attention to the very important
statement issued by the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches meeting Accra, Ghana, in 2004. A recently published pamphlet with
the text of the Accra Confession introduces it by explaining that the
Confession was "based on the theological conviction that the economic and
environmental injustices of today’s global economy require the Reformed
family to respond as a matter of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The
Accra Confession calls upon Reformed Christians around the world to engage
injustices in the world as an integral part of their churches’ witness and
mission."
To lead us into this material, we heard first from the Rev. Dr. Clifton
Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) and current President of the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches, and then from the Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi, who
is the General Secretary of the World Alliance, and is originally from
Ghana.
Following their presentations, we heard about one
impressive example from Cameroon of the Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the
Earth Project, which has been sponsored by WARC as an expression of the
convictions stated in the Accra Confession. Then in the afternoon the Rev.
Roberto Jordan, who was a member of the team that drafted the Accra
Confession, gave a commentary, rather than a summary, specifically from his
own background as a member of the Global South, and specifically as one from
Argentina. (We will post these last items just as soon as possible!)
A Challenge from Accra ... for
North American Churches
Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated
Clerk of the PC(USA)
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Clifton Kirkpatrick |
Clif Kirkpatrick began with a word of appreciation to
the Witherspoon Society for presenting to the Presbyterian Church "a
consistent concern with justice." He then mentioned that the workings of
Providence had provided us on this one day a unique gathering of resources
for a discussion of Accra: Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of WARC,
was in Louisville for a meeting of the General Assembly Council of the
PC(USA), and Christi Boyd and Valéry Nodem were also in town, and
would be able to speak about one project in Cameroon, the Joining Hands
Network, which exemplifies the vision set forth in the Accra statement. And
then Roberto Jordan, who had been invited by Witherspoon at
Kirkpatrick’s suggestion, would be able to add his own observations on the
Accra Confession.
Kirkpatrick began with his own personal confession: "This is my passion. ...
I left Accra with the conviction that to be a faithful church we have to be
a part of the larger church ... for to be Presbyterian is to be
ecumenical."
By way of background he explained that the World Alliance
of Reformed Churches includes some 75 million members, in 214 churches in
107 countries. Founded about 150 years ago by churches in North America and
Scotland, the body soon decided to reach out to church in Eastern Europe,
and now it is a truly global body, determined to act as an agent for justice
on behalf of God’s people. Currently it is seeking very intentionally to
"give priority to God’s call to us to do justice."
"So we gathered about 2000 people," he said, "in Accra, in
2004, centering around Jesus’ words in John 10:10: "... that all may have
life ..." One of the critical moments in the assembly came as the delegates
were taken on visits to some of the slave dungeons from which African slaves
were shipped to Britain and the Western Hemisphere. This gave a very
specific awareness to the whole assembly of the oppression which has been
visited on the Global South, and in particular Africa, by the "Christian
West" over the centuries.
Adding to his changing perspectives, Kirkpatrick was
placed in a Bible study group on the book of Ruth, with fifteen
participants, "with only myself from the ‘developed world.’ Well, there was
one person from Wales, but she made it clear that she was also from an
occupied country. But for these people, the story of Ruth and Naomi was
their story."
"We became convinced," he said, "that we must be a church
together."
Out of all the Assembly’s deliberations, three major
challenges emerged:
1. Spiritual renewal among Reformed churches.
That’s the real source of power, but in many Western church, and even
elsewhere, we are not dynamic, not growing. "We’ve got to be ground in the
Spirt, in prayer, in healing," he explained, "getting outside our
individualism." He quoted former PC(USA) moderator Syngman Rhee as talking
about "roots and fruits," with the warning that "we are too focused on the
fruits, and not enough on the roots of our faith and life."
The Accra gathering became convinced, he said, that God is
calling us to "take on the principalities and powers – and that required us
to be communities of faith, love and prayer."
2. A call to mission renewal. He said that "this is
a growing sense in churches around the world, so our gathering affirmed
spiritual renewal along with renewal in mission." This led to an
affirmation that be a New Testament church is to be involved in the
transformation of the world, along with an equally important awareness that
"this mission is the mission of the church as a whole."
3. The most difficult challenge: To covenant together
for justice in the economy and the earth. Kirkpatrick explained: "We had
a sense that we have to move from acts of compassion to challenging the
institutions that are enslaving people – enriching those who have capital by
exploiting those at the bottom." This led the group into "shaping a Biblical
understanding of Empire" which began to develop in earlier WARC assemblies,
and took clearer shape at the Debrecen (Hungary) Assembly in 1997. That
gathering initiated a process to study God’s call to the church in a time of
globalization and a growing gap between the rich and the poor. This led to
the Accra Confession, which challenges the church not just to act, but to
rethink their very nature and calling.
Kirkpatrick then spoke personally about some of the
suffering he has seen around the world in his travels: the plight of the
refugees in Sudan; the people of Argentina as their country moves from
middle class status into poverty; a Pacific island which is being swallowed
up by the rising level of the ocean due to global climate change.
In this age of a global order of capitalism, he said, we
must build economies where "there’s enough for all – but it will take
both work and theological conviction" to do this.
So the Accra Assembly affirmed that God’s intention is for
a world where all have enough. Yet the forces of this nation (the
U.S.) Seem to be behind the dying of people in Africa. So, he asked, "why
did this group vote for me as the new President of their body?" They were
saying, he said, that the PC(USA) has stood for justice; but more than that,
"there’s a huge expectation that we in the U.S.A. can make a difference. Our
new statement on justice in globalization reflects that kind of commitment,
he added. And we have had some experience in this kind of struggle, as we
have shared in the struggle of the Immokalee farmworkers for some kind of
justice. He noted that when the PC(USA) joined in supporting the Taco Bell
boycott, YUM! Brands corporate officers in Louisville, who happened to be
members of Presbyterian churches, were told to press their congregations to
attack the General Assembly action. And the commitment of our church was
strong enough that not one such effort succeeded.
"This call for justice is urgent," he added, "and I hope
you [Witherspoon members] will continue to hold a special passion for this."
He closed by returning to the Accra delegates’ visit to
the "slave castle" on the coast of Ghana. The slave trade ("that whole
industry") had gone on for 300 or 400 years, as a global network involving
American slave owners, British and Dutch traders, and the traders in Africa
itself. In the place he visited, the Dutch Reformed people had build a
chapel on top of the dungeon where women were held – "and they never saw a
problem." And so today, he concluded, there are still injustices in which we
are involved. And we are called to stand against them, alongside our sisters
and brothers in faith.
Setri Nyomi, the General Secretary
of WARC
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Setri Nyomi |
Setri Nyomi followed Kirkpatrick’s talk, and began by
saying "It’s been a joy working with Clif, and we value the vision and
passion he brings to this effort."
He then, "in faithfulness to our Presbyterian and Reformed
heritage," began by reading Jesus’ words from John 10:10, which were taken
as the theme for the Accra General Council: "The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to
the full." He then cited the words of Deuteronomy 30:19-20 in which God
offers the people of Israel the choice between life and death, and calls on
them to "choose life."
Yet, he said, people today are so often choosing death
over life, arranging the world in such a way that people are suffering and
dying because of the way we have organized our world. Millions subsist on
less than one dollar a day; good education is available only to those who
can afford it; millions are dying of HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other diseases.
And we are even choosing death for the natural world as well.
So, he said, "we came to Accra with a conviction that we
must work for justice." And then he indicated some of the WARC resources
which can give a much more complete picture of what has gone into the
document known as the Accra Confession.
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Resources from the Accra General Council
"Today, we define Empire as the
convergence of economic, political, cultural, and
military interests that constitute a system of
domination in which benefits are forced to flow from the
weak to the powerful. Centered in the last
remaining superpower yet spread all over the world,
Empire crosses all boundaries, reconstructs identities,
subverts cultures, overcomes nation states, and
challenges religious communities."
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Dr. Nyomi noted, as had Clif Kirkpatrick, the impact on him and on the whole
gathering of their visit to the slave dungeons, in part to commemorate the
paage of 200 years since the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. "I’ve
been there at least ten times," he said. "I’m not a very emotional person,
but I’ve never come away from there without weeping."
He went on to ask, "How can we stay silent when the way
the household is managed leads to death for some members of the household"?
He then talked about what has happened since the Accra
gathering. "Some responses have been, ‘How dare you?!’ That has been mostly
from Europe. Not much reaction from North America, perhaps because people
don’t know about this, or they just think ‘This too will pass.’"
A consultation has been held in Manila to deal in more
depth with the context of Empire. And Dr. Nyomi reported that he had just
returned from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
Republic of Korea. Most discussions have focused on the Accra Confession;
some churches have adopted it, while most have referred it for further
study. He noted that discussions have moved much faster in Latin America
than in other areas.
Dr. Nyomi then listed three important features of the
Accra Confession:
First, it is clearly stated as "confession." While there
may be doctrinal differences among the churches, this is set forth as a
statement of an active faith in response to the major challenge of our time:
economic systems which are killing people.
Second, each section of the Confession consists of two
steps: What we believe, followed by what we reject. The first step is
clearly positive, but without an accompanying "No," it would be meaningless.
And third, it concludes with a commitment, a call for
action on our part. He then read sections 30
through 36 of the Confession.
Setri Nyomi closed with some challenges for the churches
of North America – not as prescriptions, he said, but as questions to
ponder:
1. The Accra Confession is a move in which we covenant in
obedience to God’s will as an act of faithfulness in mutual solidarity and
in accountable relationships. Can Christians in North America be party to
this? Can this be done as an act of faith in solidarity with victims of
economic injustice in this country as well as with other countries of the
world?
2. What are the personal, cultural and institutional fears
that prevent us from moving forward in a covenanting for life movement?
3. What contributions can Christians in North America make
to ensure that the goals of the Accra Confession are fulfilled?
4. As churches which live and witness in North America,
how can we ensure that our ministries are addressing the needs of the "least
of these" (Matthew 25: 40 & 45)?
5. We cannot stay silent or refuse to act. What structures
are this church and its courts ready to put in place in order to show
clearly that we are not going to be inactive?
6. What lifestyle changes are we prepared to make to slow
down global warming and foster better responsibility for the earth we have
been created to take care of?
7. The General Council called upon all WARC member
churches, on the basis of our covenanting relationship, to undertake the
difficult and prophetic task of interpreting this confession to their local
congregations and urged all to implement this confession by following up the
Public Issues Committee’s recommendations on economic justice and ecological
issues. I hope churches in North America are not afraid to take a prophetic
stance by moving in this direction.
NOTE: These challenging questions are condensed
from Dr. Nyomi’s written text. Click here
for the full text.
When Kirkpatrick and Nyomi finished their presentations, they had to leave
quickly for a General Assembly Council meeting a couple blocks away, so
there was little time for discussion. That came later, when Robert Jordan
gave his perspective on the Accra event.
