Church unity in South Africa

Executive committee sends letter, appoints taskforce

Taipei, July 8 1999

Concerned by reports that "efforts toward the unity of the Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa may be faltering", the executive committee of the Alliance agreed to send a pastoral letter to its "sisters and brothers in the Dutch Reformed Church" and appointed a special taskforce to visit all its South African member churches early in 2000 in order to further unification.

In a related move, the committee decided to publish a volume in the series, Studies from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, on the ecumenical implications of the Belhar confession.

The executive committee was meeting here at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.

The text of the pastoral letter follows.

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

We rejoice in the news that the general synod of the Dutch Reformed Church has approved by an overwhelming majority the joint resolution between your church and Warc in which we commonly affirm that apartheid is "wrong and sinful not simply in its effects and operations but also in its fundamental nature." We are delighted that this common witness to unity and reconciliation has allowed the suspension imposed by the 21st general council of Warc to be lifted and for the Dutch Reformed Church to be welcomed back into active and full membership in the family of the World Alliance.

As part of our joint agreement Warc pledged to "work pastorally with the Dutch Reformed Church and other churches in Southern Africa in the process of unity and reconciliation". In order to facilitate that commitment we have appointed a special taskforce of the Warc executive committee to accompany the churches in South Africa pastorally in the search for unity and reconciliation. We have been concerned at our meeting here in Taiwan to hear reports that efforts toward the unity of the Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa may be faltering. Like you, we believe that the real test of our repudiation of apartheid is the concrete progress among the churches to find unity in Christ across the barriers that divide the human family.

We look forward to meeting with you and with the leadership of other member churches of Warc in South Africa in the search for unification, especially in the Dutch Reformed family, that can give a visible demonstration to the broader society of our unity in Christ. May God richly bless the churches in South Africa as you seek to "be one in Christ that the world might believe." (John 17.21)