Called to be the one church

 — Feb. 22, 200622 févr. 2006

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An invitation to the churches to renew their commitment to the search for unity and to deepen their dialogue.

WCC assemblies have adopted texts offering a vision, or identifying the qualities, of “the unity we seek”. This assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is invited to consider and adopt the present invitation to the churches. The purpose of this invitation to the churches is twofold: (1) to reflect what the churches, at this point on their ecumenical journey, can say together about some important aspects of the church; and (2) to invite the churches into a renewed conversation – mutually supportive, yet open and searching — about the quality and degree of their fellowship and communion, and about the issues which still divide them.

Update: The draft document “Called to be the one church” was revised during the WCC Assembly ending February 23. The Assembly was asked to:
a) adopt the Ecclesiology Text as an invitation and challenge to the member churches to renew their commitment to the search for unity and to deepen their dialogue;
b) call upon each member church to respond to the ten questions at the conclusion of the Ecclesiology Text with the expectation that, by the Tenth Assembly, each member church will have so responded;
c) direct the WCC to prepare periodic reports to the Central Committee of the number and content of responses received, so that responses can inform the direction of work towards deepening the understanding among member churches and furthering progress towards the visible unity of the Church.

The present Invitation to the churches was produced at the request of the central committee of the WCC (2002), in a process organized by the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission. A first draft was written at a meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, in March 2004; this was revised (on the basis of extensive comments received from WCC governing bodies, the Faith and Order Commission, and the steering committee of the Special Commission) at a second meeting in Nicosia in May, 2005. Faith and Order extends on behalf of the WCC its appreciation to the Church of Cyprus, which graciously hosted these preparatory meetings. A final revision took place at the Faith and Order standing Commission meeting in Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, in June 2005.

To assist this process, Faith and Order has produced and sent to the churches a new study document, The Nature and Mission of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement, Faith and Order Paper no. 198, 2005.

Posted: Feb. 22, 2006 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=209
Categories: NewsIn this article: 2006, church, ecclesiology, WCC, WCC Assembly, WCC Commission on Faith and Order
Transmis : 22 févr. 2006 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=209
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : 2006, church, ecclesiology, WCC, WCC Assembly, WCC Commission on Faith and Order


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