ECUMENICAL INITIATIVE TO ACCOMPANY CHURCHES IN CONFLICT SITUATIONS

Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (Comunicados de prensa)
f/index/pr-07-90.html
Dec 20 2007
Switzerland

A new World Council of Churches (WCC) initiative aimed at supporting
Christians living in conflict situations around the world has begun.

"When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it,"
Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the WCC said in a videotaped
address to experts in international relations and ecumenical partners
at a recent consultation held in Geneva, 8-10 December.

Many situations of conflict today have some basis in religion,
he said, adding that providing support and accompaniment includes
finding creative methods to engage other religious leaders in finding
strategies that lead to justice and peace.

"We have new martyrs in Iraq", said Baghdad’s Armenian Archbishop
Avak Asadourian, the primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See
of Etchmiadzin) in Iraq. He recalled that Christians used to enjoy a
"good life" in an "innocent Iraq", where "amicable coexistence" with
"Muslim brothers and sisters" was the norm.

However, today, some extremist groups identify Christians with the West
and make them "targets". Nonetheless church leaders continue to play
an important role in sustaining the community and contributing to the
reconciliation process together with Shi’a and Sunni religious leaders.

In Pakistan, religious minorities are often denied basic civil
liberties, including religious freedom, in spite of guarantees
inscribed in the letter of the constitution, explained Bishop Munawar
Rumalshah, head of the Peshawar diocese of the Church of Pakistan.

A vivid example of the hardships Pakistani Christians face shocked
participants when in midst of the consultation news broke of the
kidnapping by unknown gunmen of two staff members – a doctor and a
driver – from the church’s hospital in Bannu, a district of half a
million inhabitants in the North West Frontier Province. "We are a
fragile […] part of the body of Christ, please come over and help
us", Rumalshah said.

In addition to Iraq and Pakistan participants shared first hand
information on conflict situations and stories of reconciliation from
Sudan, South and South-East Asia and the Middle East.

"It was not only a brain-storming, but a heart-storming session",
said Rev. Dr Shanta Premawardhana, director of the WCC’s programme
on Inter-religious dialogue and cooperation.

"Listening to real-life stories from real people allowed us to gain a
deeper theological as well as practical insight on how to accompany
communities in situations of conflict. The kidnapping in Pakistan
highlighted the urgency of the issue. As we heard the story, shared
the pain and lifted in prayer that situation, we actually engaged in
an act of accompaniment," he added.

The project "Accompanying churches in situations of conflict" will
endeavour to express solidarity between members of the one body
of Christ, while keeping in dynamic tension the fact that conflict
situations affect other faith groups. The next step is to identify ways
in which its intervention will lead to concrete and effective action.

Local churches’ engagement, multilateral dialogues and regional
cooperation will be part of the project’s action. It will also seek to
engage other faith communities, as the project aims to hold together
interreligious dialogue and advocacy.