The 23rd general council (Debrecen 1997) identified persistent global economic injustice and the growing destruction of the environment as two of the gravest threats to the survival of humanity. Since the two threats were inextricably intertwined, they had to be faced simultaneously. The council invited member churches to clarify together their Christian calling in the struggle for economic justice and in care for creation.

It called on them to engage at every level of their life in a sustained and collaborative process of recognition, education and confession regarding these questions. As a shorthand for this call, it adopted a Latin phrase, "processus confessionis" (ie, a process of confession), partly to distinguish it clearly from the "status confessionis" declared by the 21st general council fifteen years earlier in relation to apartheid in South Africa.

Not many people speak Latin nowadays, and the shorthand phrase caused as many problems as it solved. The executive committee elected in Debrecen quickly recognized that a more communicative title was needed, but took longer to agree on what it should be. In Bangalore, the committee settled on nine words: covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth.

The new title meets the demand of WARC president CS Song that the church "should speak the language of the people" and nicely emphasizes the central thrust of the Debrecen call, which stands or falls with the willingness of member churches to covenant with one another to reflect and act together on these interlinked concerns.