Introduction

Terry L White

"That all may have life in fullness," the focus for this number of Reformed World, is the theme of our upcoming 24th general council, scheduled for the summer of 2004 in Accra, Ghana. The theme comes from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, where Jesus says: "I have come that [all] may have life, and may have it in all its fullness" (Jn 10.10 NEB). In the articles included in this issue, members of the WARC executive committee and the coordinator of the upcoming general council reflect on the theme from their particular contexts.

Speaking about the theme, Dr Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the Alliance, says: "We live in a world in which all do not have life in fullness and the church cannot stand by unconcerned... In the early part of the 21st century, the church has a responsibility to engage in a critical self-review on the extent to which we have been instruments of God in bringing about and advocating life in fullness for all as a counter-force to all the powers of death around us."

The concern with fullness of life was also given attention in February of this year when the central committee of the World Council of Churches announced the start of the Decade to Overcome Violence. On a similar note, our sister communion, the Lutheran World Federation, will gather in 2003 around the theme: "For the healing of the world."

These are clearly times when the powers of death are all around us. The pandemic of HIV/AIDS is devastating southern Africa and other parts of the world; economic globalization, while bringing fruits to some, is leaving many struggling for existence as economies decline under enormous debt burdens; violent conflicts trouble all regions of the world; and the violence of injustice deprives many of the fullness of life, if not life itself.

The 23rd general council (Debrecen, 1997) called the churches to work to "break the chains of injustice". The 24th council will seek to move further in this direction with its emphasis on fullness of life.

In a new approach, the 24th general council is being planned as part of a broader gathering process. The preparatory committee sees the upcoming council not merely as an event in itself, but as a "key moment in a process of gathering together the whole Reformed family." The committee is seeking involvement of the WARC member churches at all stages of the planning for the council.

Dr Nyomi explains the approach: "We don't want to prepare this general council for our member churches; we want to prepare it with them. Our aim is to engage all in the family - young people, women and men, lay people and clergy, theological institutions, area councils and other regional bodies, and other Reformed organizations - in a unified process. If the general council is to be truly a gathering of our Reformed churches in fellowship, then we must engage those churches in its preparation from the very beginning."

The vision guiding the preparatory committee includes:

• consulting with member churches on how to shape the theme of the council;
• asking member churches to name their delegates by June 2002, so that delegates and others in the churches can engage in a two-year study process before the council meets;
• preparing resource materials which churches will be encouraged to include in their Christian education programmes in 2003-4;
• asking member churches to work with the executive committee in drawing up preliminary proposals for the shape and direction of the Alliance beyond 2004; and
• engaging member churches more fully in covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth - the processus confessionis called for by the 23rd general council - and in mutual commitment to breaking the chains of injustice worldwide.

The process of reflection on the theme of the upcoming general council began when members of the general council preparatory committee came to its last meeting with stories about the threats to life in their home settings. One of the most moving presentations was a poem read by Dr Nyomi from the Child Survival Study Guide:

Today is my turn to eat

Today, it is my turn to have some food.
Yesterday my two brothers and my sisters ate.
They were luckier than I was:
Daddy did not come home.
He stayed overnight at the home of our other mother.
Our group: that is me, Mummy and
my sister Jeanne and little Junior.
Junior has something to eat every day:
some cassava porridge, because he is still a baby.
At school, during break, the girls used to share their fritters with me.
But school is no longer for me;
Daddy has said there was not enough money left
to pay for all of us.
Only my brothers still go to school;
for us girls, we were told that we will find husbands.

I shall perhaps attend literacy classes with the other Mummies,
as they are free of charge.
I shall perhaps go with my cousin and do some trade
on the marketplace.
I shall perhaps go to town and do some baby-sitting
for the white people.
But Mummy told us tomorrow she would go and get
some maize from Grand-Dad's fields in our village.
She will be back next week,
she will sell the maize, and buy medicine
for Jeanne's malaria.

I will stay, to carry Junior on my back, and prepare
his cassava porridge every day.
It is good he is not so heavy, and this is my chance:
I can have some of his porridge!

I feel like asking Daddy why they want to put us out of our home;
I feel like asking Daddy why he wants to sell our transistor;
I fell like telling Daddy that I have outgrown my dress,
that it is all worn out, that my shoes are too small.
But Daddy only comes home to change his clothes
And he is always cross.

Dear God, why do we have to suffer that way?¹

In this issue

The articles in this issue continue reflection on the theme, not only identifying the threats to life that rob it of its abundance, but also expressing the Christian hope of new life seen in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the opening article, Douglas L Chial (Presbyterian Church, USA), one of the Geneva-based coordinators for the 24rd general council, guides us through an understanding of the theme and its biblical basis. He suggests a liturgical relation between the theme and that of the 23rd general council: the "two themes together can be heard as a responsive liturgical call in which the leader says 'Break the chains of injustice' and the people say, 'That all may have life in fullness'". The theme is a model and a challenge, a "model for faithful living and a call for critical reflection on what it means to be Reformed Christians living in the 21st century". After carefully exploring the passage in the tenth chapter of John from which the theme is taken, he guides us in considering its meaning in the context of today's world.

Dr Paul Haidostian (Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East), a professor of theology at the Near East School of Theology in Lebanon, reflects on a very personal experience of the contrast of life and death. He suggests that the fullness of life is often seen in the mirror of death: "The definitions and expressions of life are intricately interwoven with the challenges of death." Remembering his teenage quest for a place of safety, Haidostian notes the ambiguity of communities in which we live, which can be both places of support for life and places which limit the fullness of life. But it is Christian hope which is the foundation for true fullness of life. "The crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is our real bus ride home."

Thania Izarra de Torres (Presbyterian Church of Venezuela), reflecting on the lives of the young children she teaches in Venezuela, points to the joy of life that children can find even in the midst of threats to its fullness. We are reminded of Jesus' calling of the children, when Ms Izarra speaks of the simple trust of children that sustains them through life. The threats to life are many: materialism/consumerism, technological and scientific advances without a human face, poverty, violence, deterioration of health and environmental degradation. But Ms Izarra finds "lights along the way", not only in children, but also in women volunteering in hospitals, in NGOs working to protect the environment, and in movements against violence and for human rights. She calls us all to be part of a network of support for the fullness of life.

Anna Melissa Jackson (Reformed Church in America) is moderator of the preparatory committee and pastor of a congregation in New York City. Speaking from the North American context she focuses on choices - choices that are considered a God-given right, but choices which can be "plagued by sin that threatens to destroy our lives and that of others around the world." US policy choices can become "forces that act as thieves threatening to steal life" from others. "To believe that Jesus Christ has come so that all may have life in its fullness is not only to affirm that each person is offered life but also to recognize and address the many ways in which our actions, or lack thereof, hinders, deteriorates or destroys the life of others around us."

Dr Choan-Seng Song (Presbyterian Church of Taiwan), a theology professor from Taiwan teaching in the USA, and president of the Alliance, offers a Bible study on the beatitude, "blessed are the poor (in spirit)". He contrasts the "poor", those who lack material abundance, with those who lack spiritual abundance. For both the fullness of life is to be found in seeking the reign of God. Dr Song calls us all, whether lacking in materials goods or not, to seek together to live as those who are "poor in spirit". "For Jesus 'abundant life' is nothing other than [living according to] the rule of God."

In the concluding piece, Dr Kim Yong-Bock (Presbyterian Church of Korea), a theologian from Korea, and moderator of the WARC department of theology, lifts up the idea of the general council as a "festival of life". In the midst of the signs of the times that point to death and destruction, Christians must hear the invitation to the messianic feast, to the festival of life. Building on the festivals of the Old Testament as well as the messianic feast, Dr Kim describes the festival of life as a celebration of liberation and reconciliation; of the covenant between God and all creatures; of peace, justice and the promise of new life. The general council should be seen as a festival of life which embraces Jesus Christ as the gift of life to the world.

The articles are intended to challenge all members of the WARC family to begin now to think about the meaning of the theme in their own contexts. It is hoped that what is shared here will not only provide food for thought, but will provide a model for the "gathering process" envisioned by the preparatory committee by providing reflections from different parts of the WARC family. Future issues of Reformed World will focus on the theme from other perspectives.

Note