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Theological Forum Issue

Vol. XXVI, No. 3 & 4, December 1998

 

Contemporary Theological Issues

Pierre Rossouw

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) was founded in 1959 in Nyborg (Denmark). Assembly themes were, inter alia, the proclamation of the gospel in a divided Europe our responsibility to each other, European Christendom in the current secularized world, and service and reconciliation as the task of today's church. The CEC was from the start a collection of mainly Protestant churches from both sides of the iron curtain.

The CEC was one of the four bodies that applied the "Human Rights Program for the Implementation of the Helsinki Final Act." The Declaration of Helsinki was concluded on 1 August 1975 by the High Representatives of 35 nations.

The signatories are constantly reminded by the CEC that the accepted tenets must be implemented unchanged. The plea is made that international law should be given priority over restrictive national law. The agenda of the CEC also includes inter-European interchurch co-operation and joint meetings with the Roman Catholic Council of Bishops in Europe (RCCBE)

Reliable statistics show that 50% of European Christians belongs to the RCC, 19% are Protestant and some 10% Orthodox.

The disappearance of the Iron Curtain as an anti-Christian, drastic ideological division of Europe will reverberate for decades. Moral and spiritual values have to be restored. Liberal theology dominates many theological institutions. New Age spirituality, an eastern religions world view and fascination with the occult divert millions from their Christian heritage.

The CEC is a Protestant body of churches who with the RCCBE recently decided to publish a manifesto on the task of the Christian Church in the new millennium. A press release to this effect was given by Dr. Keith Clements, secretary-general of the CEC and Msgr Aldo Giorno, secretary-general of the Bishops Conference. The date will be 15 April 2001.

Protestants and Catholics on the one hand, and the Orthodox Churches on the other hand have different ways in fixing the date of Easter. Once in a while it happens that the dates coincide, as is the case with 15 April 2001.

It is planned that the manifesto will be signed in the presence of many delegates with special emphasis on the youth members of the churches. The venue has not been decided on but it may be in Eastern Europe. The idea is also to invigorate the spirit of the European Assembly on reconciliation, held in 1997 in Graz (Austria).

Let us pray for the impact of this meeting and especially for the Reformed members of the CEC. May the organizers receive the wisdom and the perseverance to find a meaningful way between doctrinal and practical issues.