Renewal and justice on entering the 21st century

A message from the executive committee

Tamsui, Taiwan, July 1999

On the brink of a new century, the Warc executive committee met on the beautiful island of Taiwan - a land of "fresh flowers and beautiful butterflies". We were overwhelmed by the warm welcome and deep friendship of the people of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. We were immensely enriched by the spiritual experience of their worship and we were challenged by their Christian witness in society. The multicultural background of the committee met with the multicultural experience of the peoples of Taiwan, expressed in dance, song and music.

The theme of spiritual renewal pervaded our proceedings, from our president's address and our general secretary's report to the work of the departments and committees as well as our worship life. The executive committee deliberated on policies and designed programmes for the spiritual renewal of the life of our Reformed family.

The mandate of the 23rd general council (Debrecen, 1997) on a processus confessionis - "a living commitment towards a confession of faith concerning economic and ecological justice" - has been deepened and projected forward. We have created a concerted interdepartmental process to implement this policy in all areas and on all levels. We have begun to sense a movement of member churches to participate in this process and we feel confident that this process will emerge as the high point of the witness of our Reformed family in the twenty-first century.

We were conscious of the fact that we were meeting on the eve of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan's youth jubilee and we welcomed the full participation of young people in our meeting. We rejoiced at the forward-looking visions and significant programme proposals of our youth committee and we strongly urge all our member churches to encourage the participation of young people in every part of their life.

We note with gratitude the historic transition of our leadership as we celebrate the great achievements of Rev. Dr Milan Opocensky, who has faithfully served the Alliance for 10 years. He has led it in growth of membership, staff and programmes, highlighted by the 23rd general council which saw the birth of the processus confessionis. He is still inspiring us with his visions and hope for the future.

With the election of Rev Dr Setri Nyomi we have embarked on a new stage in our 125-year history. We have called a committed Reformed Christian from Africa from a new generation with a new style of leadership to serve as the new general secretary. He is full of hope and will lead the Alliance to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

We greet our member churches and the delegates from Debrecen and we ask for their prayers and renewed commitment to the Alliance. May God bless us all.