In April this year, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches installed a new general secretary with a promise to bring Warc and its member churches closer together.

Now the Alliance is taking steps to make good on that promise.

"There have been times in our history when our member churches have done wonderful things to transform the life-compromising situation of our communities," says general secretary Setri Nyomi. "The Alliance has also done many wonderful things."

"Our challenge as we begin this new era is how we can bring these closer together so that our member churches feel closer to the Alliance and experience the Alliance as an ally in our common calling."

In meeting this challenge, communications plays an essential role. The executive committee, meeting in Bangalore, India, from July 20 to 29 2000, approved a new communications policy in which publicity and news work will from now on be given the same attention that the Alliance has devoted to its publications. The communications office was asked to prioritize work on developing a network of communicators in the Alliance member churches.

Proposals for a partnership with the Johannes a Lasco library in work on the world wide web were also adopted. The library, based in Emden, Germany, intends to develop a "Reformed Online" website as a major theological and education resource for the Reformed family worldwide, and many of the Alliance's documents and publications will find a natural home there. The executive committee resolved to appoint the Johannes a Lasco library as the Alliance's official online publisher, acting on behalf of Warc.

The 23rd general council (Debrecen, 1997) identified concern for youth as a priority for the Alliance and affirmed that a youth secretary was one of the essential posts in the Warc secretariat; but financial constraints made it difficult to fill the post.

Now the executive committee has agreed to appoint a youth secretary, to encourage more effective participation of youth in the life of member churches and the programmes of the Alliance, and to plan and implement young people's participation in the 24th General Council, scheduled for Ghana in 2004 (see separate release). The appointment will be made in the second half of 2001, and the months in between will be used to secure the funding needed.

The department of theology is also shaping its work with a clearer focus on member churches. It has a mandate to develop a Reformed statement on mission, but it insists that it wants more than words on paper.

"What we need is a focus on mission that will produce fresh missiological thinking and energy in response to the new contexts in which Reformed churches find themselves at the beginning of the 21st century," the department says. "The goal should be not just a statement on mission but the renewal of our churches for a fresh understanding and engagement in mission."

Similarly with the long-standing programme of international bilateral dialogues that the department has traditionally conducted on behalf of the Reformed family. In preparing an evaluation of these dialogues, one of the main concerns is how they relate to the living issues of member churches today. "We need an approach to dialogue that strengthens and enriches us in our common ministry," says theology secretary Odair Pedroso Mateus from Brazil. "We need to find specific areas that can further our common witness at the local level."

The department of partnership of women and men is launching a theological education fund for women in the southern hemisphere, who find it much harder than men to get a theological education. The aim is to help them to take a first degree in theology in their home country or region. It will be a major undertaking to raise the level of the fund to the point where it can provide real assistance.