26th General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches of Reformed Communion of the World 26th Council General PROCEEDINGS OF THE 26th General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches LEIPZIG, GERMANY 29 JUNE - 7 JULY 2017 WORLD COMMUNION OF REFORMED CHURCHES PROCEEDINGS OF THE 26th General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches LEIPZIG, GERMANY 29 JUNE - 7 JULY 2017 Rev. Dr. Chris Ferguson, General Secretary WORLD COMMUNION OF REFORMED CHURCHES ISBN: 978-2-9700686-8-6 Copyright © 2017 World Communion of Reformed Churches Knochenhauerstrasse 42 30159 Hannover Germany The texts in this book may be freely reproduced for the purpose of study within the member churches of the Communion, provided the source is acknowledged. Except in this case, no text may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission. The Minutes Team was Alexander “Sandy” Horsburgh, Pauline Weibye and Everett “Rett” Zabriskie. The Minutes were edited by Chris Ferguson, Sandy Horsburgh and Phil Tanis. Table of Contents Preface .....................................................................................................................................................................5 Actions of the General Council .....................................................................................................................9 Narrative of the General Council ...............................................................................................................25 Appendices: Documents Adopted by the Council A: Rules of Procedure (Discernment and Consensus Procedures) ........................93 B: Constitution and Bylaws .......................................................................................107 1. with proposed amendments ..........................................................................107 2. as adopted (with amendments incorporated) ���������������������������������������������123 C: Declaration of Faith on Women’s Ordination (as adopted) ............................. 139 D: Message and Vision Statement (as adopted) ...................................................... 146 Supplementary Material 1: Address of the President .........................................................................................151 2: Report of the General Secretary ............................................................................ 187 3: Message from the Women’s Pre-Council ............................................................ 218 4: Message from the Youth Pre-Council ..................................................................220 5: Address from German Federal President Steinmeier ........................................222 6: Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification Association Statement .... 225 7: Wittenberg Witness ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 233 8: Guidelines for Dealing with Sexual Harassment ����������������������������������������������� 235 Leipzig, Germany | 29 June - 7 July 2017 3 9: Theme Input Documentation �������������������������������������������������������������������������������239 a. Concept Paper: Theology ..............................................................................239 b. Concept Paper: Justice ................................................................................... 245 c. Concept Paper: Gender Justice ..................................................................... 253 d. Concept Paper: Communion in Mission......................................................259 e. Concept Paper: Strengthening Communion ����������������������������������������������270 10: Keynote addresses ..................................................................................................277 a. George Zachariah ............................................................................................277 b. Jürgen Moltmann ............................................................................................293 c. Isabel Phiri .......................................................................................................305 d. Philip Peacock ...................................................................................................315 e. Farid Esack ........................................................................................................321 f. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson �����������������������������������������������������������������������326 g. Collin Cowan ....................................................................................................333 11: Sermons .................................................................................................................... 342 a. Berlin: Chris Ferguson, Alexandra Nikolara, Yvette Noble Bloomfield, Aiko Sumichan ���������������������������������������������������� 342 b. Wittenberg: Najla Kassab ............................................................................... 345 12: Public Witness Committee Report ....................................................................... 349 13: Lists of participants ................................................................................................366 a. Delegates ..........................................................................................................366 b. Ecumenical observers .................................................................................... 384 c. Global Institute of Theology Faculty and Students ....................................384 d. Guests ...............................................................................................................386 e. Non-Member Church Observers ..................................................................386 f. Officers and members of WCRC Executive Committee present .............386 g. Speakers............................................................................................................ 387 h. Staff (WCRC, co-opted, consultants) ..........................................................388 i. Stewards ........................................................................................................... 393 j. Worship Team .................................................................................................. 395 14: Officers and Members of Executive Committee, 2017-2024 .............................398 15: List of member churches........................................................................................399 4 26th General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Preface I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. —Romans 12:1-2 (NRSV) Guided by this high call of the Apostle Paul the General Council embraced the theme “Living God, renew and transform us” urgently, prayerfully, humbly, joyfully and thoughtfully. It was a significant, powerful and historic moment for our Communion, gathered together in Leipzig, Germany. The General Council was framed by three contexts. The first was the context of the 500 year commemoration of the Protestant Reformation. Besides the specific task of adding the specific contribution of our diverse Reformed tradition to this moment we were committed to focus our reflections and actions at the Council to bring the Ref- ormation into the “present tense by addressing the tensions of the present situation.” This included embracing the unfinished business of the Reformation as proper for a Reformed church always reforming according to the Word of God. The second context was the context of our own communion. Recognizing that this was the first General Council since our formation in 2010 we sought to embrace our identity and witness as lifted up in our banner—“Called to Communion and Committed to Jus- tice”—so that our meeting would be a powerful moment in communion building and in justice seeking. In other words we sought to both talk the talk and walk the walk in our meeting. Since our Uniting General Council the WCRC has faced serious financial challenges, moved from Geneva, Switzerland, to Hannover, Germany, and changed se- nior leadership and yet was able to enter the meeting in Leipzig with significant accom- plishments and contributions to God’s mission thanks to God’s own grace and gifts. Thirdly, the context of a deeply troubled and rapidly changing world dominated by massive threats to the wellbeing of all of God creation profoundly marked the worship, Leipzig, Germany | 29 June - 7 July 2017 5 witness, discernment and action of our meeting. We prayed to be given the grace and strength to take all these contexts seriously and respond faithfully to them. Discerning the will of the Living God moved, energized, challenged, interrogated and inspired us in our Bible studies, keynotes, plenaries, worship services and most especially in our consensus and discernment processes. We strove to transform the way we make decisions so that our discernment helped us strengthen our Communion through honouring the role of all the participants consistent with our theological tra- ditions of conciliarity and the ministry of all believers. It is encouraging that in a Coun- cil that saw so many significant and historic moments a highlight