An international Ecumenical meeting at the level of the actual challenges

Dr. Michel E. Abs

Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches

This week, the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches is The Event.

After a long absence imposed by the pandemic, the international ecumenical family is gathering today in a general assembly with a busy schedule.

Place: Karlsruhe, Germany.

Date: From August 31 to September 8, 2022.

This was preceded by a large number of specialized assemblies that paved the way for maturing the agenda of this assembly.

Preparations have been in full speed for more than two years due to the magnitude of the event as well as the greatness of its organizers: a council of churches around the world, comprising more than three hundred churches including more than half a billion believers.

In the few days that preceded the opening of the General Assembly, you see people by hundreds of volunteers and experts from all parts of the world in order to put their competencies at the disposal of the event, which will not be an ordinary one this year. It may surpass in its cruciality the general assemblies held since the beginning of the concretization of the ecumenical movement in a world council of churches.  

The intensity of the events made many points of discussion, and that is the preoccupation of the organizers to deal with everything that touches the suffering humanity at its core.

From the war in Ukraine to the "sanctions" and the embargo imposed on some countries, through the wars in the Middle East, to modern sexual choices, there are controversial topics to the point of explosion.

Father Ioan Sauca, the current Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches, paved the way for this General Assembly with a series of visits to various regions of the world, including with the Secretary-General of the ACT Alliance, Mr. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, and everyone knows how loyal these two leaders are to our region and their support to our causes and with humanitarian causes in general.

The General Assembly may cause turmoil in Germany, as groups concerned with the issues raised in the General Assembly intend to act in order to make their voices heard for those concerned.

What is important in all of this is that all groups, regions, and views are represented in this event and their competencies appear in the way the World Council of Churches deals with the problems at hand: it does not overlook any matter and put everything on the table with transparency and acceptance of diversity and differences between groups.

It is a blessed path and by their fruits you know them.