World Alliance of Reformed Churches calls for resistance to "oppressive empire" of economic and political domination

[9-23-04]

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) issued a statement on August 12, 2004,  at the close of its 24^th General Council in Accra, Ghana, in which it reflected on the failure of Christians to resist the trading in human beings as slaves, which went on for two centuries through the "castles" on the coast of Ghana. They move from that to a call for resistance to the global economic oppression of our own time, in the name of the Christ who is the "Lord over all."

We perceive that the world today lives under the shadow of an oppressive empire. By this we mean the gathered power of pervasive economic and political forces throughout the globe that reinforce the division between the rich and the poor. Millions of those in our congregations live daily in the midst of these realities. The economies of many of our countries are trapped in international debt and imposed financial demands that worsen the lives of the poorest. So many suffer! Each day, 24,000 people die because of hunger and malnutrition, and global trends show that wealth grows for the few while poverty increases for the many. Meanwhile, millions of others in our congregations live lives as inattentive to this suffering as those who worshipped God on the floor above slave dungeons.

In our discussions in Accra -- indeed in the past seven years of reflection since we last met in General Council at Debrecen, Hungary -- we have come to realize that this is not just another "issue" to be "addressed". Rather, it goes to the heart of our confession of faith. How can we say that we believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord over all life, and not stand against all that denies the promise of fullness of life to the world?

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If Jesus Christ is not Lord over all, he is not Lord at all. That is why we find in the Bible a constant criticism of idolatry, emphasized in our Reformed tradition. To declare faith in the one true God is to reject divided loyalties between God and Mammon, dethrone the false gods of wealth and power, and turn from false promises to the true God of life.

We know that this does not come easily for any of us. Yet our hope lies in confessing that the power of the resurrected Christ can overturn the idols and the modern gods that hold the world captive to injustice and ecological destruction.

Therefore, we invite you, in Reformed churches throughout the world, to take this stance of faith, standing against all that denies life and hope for millions, as a concrete expression of our allegiance to Jesus Christ.