Chilean crisis sparks churches’ alarm and concern.
Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

24 October 2019

As anger and protests in Chile have escalated into violence and caused 18 deaths, the World Council of Churches’ general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has joined other church leaders in calling for a cessation of violence and a mechanism for addressing its root causes.

“I want to express our solidarity with the churches and people of Chile in this situation,” said Tveit. “We fully support the churches in their call for adequate responses to the situation by the government and the people, addressing the root causes for this unrest. In this crisis we see the future of democracy and social justice in Chile at stake.”

After protests initiated by students in Santiago on 16 October over a rise in the price of public transport were met with a strong response by police, the protests widened beyond the students to engage the broader public, workers’ unions and other organizations in several cities, encompassing other issues of concern, including low wages, access to healthcare and economic inequality. Protesters have called for the resignation of President Sebastián Piñera Echenique, despite his mandating an increase in wages and in taxes on the wealthy.

Vandalism and violence have triggered a forceful police response, leading to deaths, thousands of detentions, and a government-declared state of emergency with curfews.

WCC member churches, together with ecumenical partners, have been speaking out about the situation. Calling for peace and condemning acts of violence, they are urging the Chilean government to address underlying inequalities in the country.

Citing widespread economic and social problems, leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chile (IELCH), a WCC member church, pointed to deeper problems sparking the street violence, saying, “What we saw and lived last night in Santiago was the manifestation of a disagreement and silent rage that was contained in the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of our society. And this demonstration is not silenced by repression by the state. It is unfortunate that the government does not have the capacity and willingness to realize that our country is not the oasis of Latin America as the President has declared, but a country with tremendous social inequalities.”

Himself from Chile, Rev. Dr Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, also echoed those convictions, saying, “Difficult and shocking as this is, there are underlying causes that contribute to this eruption of social rage: inequalities and injustices experienced by the people of Chile. Let this be a time to address the root causes. Violence is not the way to solve the issue.”

WCC Faith and Order Commission, Nanjing, China, June 2019, Photo: WCC

14 August 2019

“Come and See,” a theological invitation to the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace was published in May 2019 and, for the close-knit group who labored to develop it, the journey was life-changing.

The special study group, part of the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission, traveled the globe together, discussing in different contexts how to open the doors to common witness with an appreciation of diverse traditions.

The “Come and See” text draws from four different traditions that pave the way for a road on which churches might go on a pilgrimage together.

Sandra Beardsall, professor of Church History and Ecumenics at St Andrew's College, Saskatoon, Canada, is the co-convenor for the study group, and she spoke of her love for the brief glimpse, early in John’s gospel, of Andrew and his friend as they begin walking behind Jesus in a street in Bethany. “Teacher where are you staying?” they ask him. “Come and see,” says Jesus, and their lives are never the same again.

“When the 10th Assembly of the WCC invited the churches on a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, it asked Christians to take up the challenge of journeying together in ways that challenge and change us,” reflected Beardsall. "Pilgrimage is both personal and communal. It is prayerful, and it is curious.”

The “Come and See” text invites us to consider the theology that grounds our walk, she said. “It walks us through scripture and history, theological reflection and contemporary issues,” she said. “It reminds us that journeying together builds community and even unity among persons and churches.”

As the group reflected and re-reflected, through many of hours of dialogue to craft the “Come and See” document, their lives, too, would never be the same again.

Co-convenor Rev. Prof. Dr Jaeshik Shin said that, for him, preparing “Come and See” was a kind of pilgrimage in itself. By meeting at different places around the world, the group had an opportunity to consider the document from different contexts.

“During the pilgrimage of preparing 'Come and See,’ our members have travelled together and become one family beyond differences such as religious affiliation, gender, region, and age,” reflected Shin. “As a Faith and Order document, ‘Come and See’ focuses on the biblical, historical, and theological aspects of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. We expect it might be used in the context of theological education and encourage those struggling for peace and justice.”

WCC Pentecost message “To prophesy is to tell the truth”



Sunrise above the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

23 May 2019

The regional presidents of the World Council of Churches sent special greetings to churches around the world celebrating Pentecost.

“To prophesy is to tell the truth,” reads the message. "No rank or class, no race or club, no gender, nor even any religion, has a monopoly on the truth.”

Even humble fisherman can rise to tell the truth, the message notes. “And no falsehood or lie can withstand the sturdy witness to the all-inclusive, healing, indeed transformative love of God revealed to us in Jesus,” reads the message. "These days, we need such prophetic witness to the truth—in our societies and politics, in ourselves and our churches.”

There are no guarantees of objectivity in science or politics or journalism, the message continues. “We must always search out the truth amid competing probabilities and uncertainties and even self-deception,” the text reads. “Yet the deepest truths of our lives—the goodness of being, the dignity of all persons, the integrity of creation, the need for justice and peace--can be tested not only by the integrity of the quest but also by the authenticity of their proponents and, in the end, by the criteria of love.”

At Pentecost, we witness the birth of the church amid a world of many languages and cultures, continues the message. “God’s truth, enflamed by the action of the Spirit, creates a loving community of truth to counter self-serving deceits of the powerful,” the message reads. “No religious claim that incites extremism or terror can be true.”

God’s vision of justice and peace is the nonviolent alternative to empire, the message concludes. “Its all-embracing kinship prizes yet transcends differences, rebukes self-serving falsehoods, shames demagoguery, and battles oppression,” the message reads. "It heals trauma and reaches out to the stranger and the marginalized.”