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WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES Central Committee Minutes of the Fifty-First Meeting Potsdam, Germany 28 January - 6 February 2001 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from World Council of Churches https://archive.org/details/fiftyfirstmeetinOOunse Central Committee World Council of Churches Minutes of the Fifty-First Meeting Potsdam, Germany 28 January - 6 February 2001 World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney P.O. Box 2100 CH-1211 Geneva 2 http://www.wcc-coe.org/ ISBN 2-8254-1342-9 @ 2001 by the World Council of Churches CONTENTS 1. OPENING ACTIONS 1.1 Worship.1 1.2 Call to Order and Welcome .1 1.3 Roll Call and Seating of Substitutes.1 1.4 In Meinoriam. 2 1.5 Agenda and Timetable.6 1.6 Minutes of Previous Meeting.6 1.7 Membership of Central Committee and Commissions...6 1.8 Sub-Committees of Central Committee and Small Groups.9 1.9 Stewards.9 2. REPORTS OF THE MODERATOR AND OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY 2.1 Report of the Moderator.9 2.2 Report of the General Secretary.18 2.3 Discussion of Both Reports.31 3. APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP 3.1 Member Churches.46 3.2 Associate Councils.47 3.3 International Ecumenical Organisations.47 4. PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MODERATOR.47 5. PUBLIC ISSUES 5.1 Procedures for Dealing with Public Issues.49 5.2 Recommendations from the Executive Committee.50 5.3 First Presentation of the Public Issues Committee.51 5.4 Second Presentation of the Public Issues Committee.54 6. SPECIAL COMMISSION ON ORTHODOX PARTICIPATION IN THE WCC.67 7 REPORT OF PROGRAMME COMMITTEE 7.1 First Presentation of Programme Committee Report.82 7.2 Second Presentation of Programme Committee Report.98 7.3 Final Report of the Programme Committee.103 8. REPORT OF POLICY REFERENCE COMMITTEE I 8.1 Relationships between Christian World Communions and the World Council of Churches .113 8.2 Joint Working Group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church .114 8.3 Joint Consultative Group between the WCC and Pentecostals.114 8.4 Interim Report of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC.115 8.5 Membership Issues .117 8.6 The Question of Baptism.117 8.7 The Forum Proposal.118 9. REPORT OF POLICY REFERENCE COMMITTEE II 9.1 Preliminaries .119 9.2 Decade to Overcome Violence.120 9.3 Moderator’s and General Secretary’s Reports .120 9.4 Advocacy Alliance .122 9.5 Economic Globalisation: A Critical View and an Alternative Vision.122 9.6 Plenary on Europe.126 9.7 Regional Plenaries.127 9.8 Climate Change.127 9.9 Action by Churches Together .129 9.10 Racism: Note of Concern .129 IV 10. REPORT OF POLICY REFERENCE COMMITTEE III 10.1 Report of the Officers.132 10.2 Moderator’s Report .133 10.3 General Secretary’s Report .134 10.4 WCC Governing Structure .135 10.5 Timetable . 136 10.6 Human Resources .137 10.7 Forum of Christian Churches and Ecumenical Organisations.138 11. REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE 11.1 Framework of the Work of the Finance Committee.138 11.2 Financial Report for the Year 1999 .139 11.3 Preliminary Financial Results - Year 2000 . 140 11.4 Budget for the Year 2001.141 11.5 Financial Perspectives for the Years 2002 to 2004 . 143 11.6 Income Development Strategy.145 11.7 Pension Fund Study .147 11.8 Compensation and Remuneration Study .148 11.9 Activity-based Costing.149 11.10 Knowledge Management .150 11.11 Bossey Renovation.150 12. STAFFING REPORT .151 13. PLENARY ON ECONOMY .164 14. PLENARY ON THE DECADE TO OVERCOME VIOLENCE 14.1 Plenary Presentation.170 14.2 Message on the Occasion of the Launch of DOV .175 14.3 Launch of DOV.179 15. PLENARY ON EUROPE .180 16. PLENARY ON THE ROLE OF CHURCHES IN A SECULAR SOCIETY. 184 v 17. ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY .188 18. ECUMENICAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATIVE SOCIETY .189 19. STEWARDS GREETING . 190 20. DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS .191 21. CLOSING ACTIONS .191 APPENDICES I. List of Participants .194 II. Membership of Sub-Committees .212 III. The Protection of Endangered Populations in Situations of Aimed Violence: Toward an Ecumenical Ethical Approach .219 IV. Interim Report of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC .243 vi Minutes of the Central Committee Meeting 28 January - 6 February 2001 1. OPENING ACTIONS 1.1 Worship The Opening Worship Service took place in the St. Nikolai-Kirche in Potsdam. Bishop Dr. Christoph Klein preached the sermon. The daily morning worship services took place in the Plenary Hall of the Hotel. They were planned and led by the member churches of the Ecumenical Council of Berlin-Brandenburg. On Sunday, January 28 in the morning, participants were invited to attend worship services in local congregations in and around Berlin and to preach or to bring greetings. After the worship most of the ecumenical guests had the opportunity to talk with the members of the local congregations. 1.2 Call to Order and Welcome The Moderator, His Holiness Aram I, called to order the fifty-first meeting of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches at 09.00 hrs. on Monday, 29th January 2001. The Moderator warmly welcomed all participants. He expressed special thanks to the Evangelical Church in Germany, and in particular to Bishop Huber, for inviting the Central Committee to come to Potsdam. He noted that a central point of the meeting would be the opening of the Decade to Overcome Violence. 1.3 Roll Call and Seating of Substitutes The General Secretary called the roll of the Officers, Presidents and members of the Central Committee. Apologies for absence had been received from several members. He then welcomed the advisers, observers and guests and drew attention to Msgr. John A. Radano and Msgr. John Mutiso-Mbinda, delegated observers of the Roman Catholic Church, to whom he extended a particular welcome. The following substitutes were agreed and seated as voting members : Rev. Francisco de Assis da Silva, Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, for Rev. Inamar Correa de Souza; Rev. Rowena Francis, United Reformed Church, U.K., for Ms. Jenny Downing; Metropolitan Karekin Bekdjian, Armenian Apostolic Church (Echmiadzin), for Archbishop Balliozian; Bishop Anba Damian, Coptic Orthodox Church, for Bishop Serapion; Bishop Dr. Walter Klaiber, United Methodist Church, for Ms. Lois McCullough Dauway, Rev. Canon David Perry, Episcopal Church, USA, for Dr. Pamela Chinnis; Mr. Andrei Elisseev, Russian Orthodox Church, for Mr. Georgy Roschin; Rev. Roberto Aguago, Pentecostal Church of Chile, for Rev. Luis Ulises Munoz; Prof. Vlassios Phidas, Church of Greece, for Prof. John S. Romanides. The following was appointed as substitute during the course of the meeting: Rev. Robina Winbush, Presbyterian Church USA, for Rev. Dr, Clifton Kirkpatrick, 1st-6th February. 1.4 In Memoriam During the Opening Worship, a moment of silent prayer was observed in memory of a number of persons who had been close to the life of the WCC and the ecumenical movement and who had passed away since the last meeting of the Central Committee: Metropolitan Alexander Mar Thoma, head of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church from 1976, died on 11 January 2000 at the age of 87. After his retirement in 1999, Metropolitan Mar Thoma became the first "Valia" Metropolitan of the church, which broke away from the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in 1836. He was consecrated as bishop in 1953 and installed as Metropolitan in 1976. Metropolitan Alexander played a major role in setting up a major ecumenical body - the Joint Council of the Church of North India (CNI), Church of South India (CSI) and Mar Thoma Church in 1978. 2