"Beloved of God, the earth our home is gravely threatened." The year is 1989, the place is Seoul, and delegates to WARC's 22nd general council are addressing an open letter to the children and young people of the planet. "In relation to one another, in our dealings with other forms of life, and in our use of the planet's land and resources, we human beings have behaved in foolish and prideful ways."

Delegates see a threefold threat to the earth:

gross injustice, with many human beings doomed to lives of unending poverty and oppression;
violence and war; and
the destruction of nature through human greed and carelessness.

These three kinds of problems can be separated for analysis, but are in fact inseparable - parts of "a large and complex web of evil which, if it is not recognized and tackled today, will only grow worse tomorrow".

"We here in Seoul have tried once more to discover the future that is promised by the God of our Judeo-Christian tradition," the delegates say. Their open letter is realistic in its diagnosis, but full of hope: "Against all the forces of chaos and destruction; against injustice, war, and the spoiling of nature; against death in all its forms, God is at work in the world to give us another future".

This promise of "another future" is stated in scripture and rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly" (Jn 10.10): already in 1989, the Alliance understands these words as the foundation for its future course. The concern for others and for the planet we share with them is not "merely ethical". It is, from the beginning, rooted in the gospel.

Confessing our faith

Eight years later, delegates to the 23rd general council (Debrecen 1997) - "challenged by the cry of the people who suffer and by the groaning of creation" - return to these questions. They speak with passion of the "appalling circumstances" in which many people in many parts of the world live and the "ongoing destruction" of the environment. They align themselves with the "many" who believe that "the time has come to make a confession of faith which rejects and struggles against these injustices, while affirming our faith in the triune God who in Christ offers a new creation." And they underline the point: "We consider this affirmation of life, commitment to resistance, and struggle for transformation to be an integral part of Reformed faith and confession today."

The Debrecen delegates therefore call unanimously for a committed process of "progressive recognition, education and confession" within all member churches at all levels regarding economic injustice and ecological destruction.

God's covenant

When Reformed Christians speak of covenant, we mean in the first place God's covenant - God's faithfulness to all creation.

"Our God has an abiding commitment to the earth," says the Seoul open letter. "That is the fundamental fact, the reality that we intend to hold to, no matter what may seem to be the case." God will not abandon the world.

"But this world- and life-affirming God does not and will not act all alone for the preservation of creation." God calls us into the covenant and enables us to live under his promise. God invites us "to become partners in the creation, recreation and redemption of the world."

And it is for this reason, and for this reason only, that we may call one another to covenant together.

Covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth

Meeting in Bangalore in 2000, on the eve of a new millennium, the WARC executive committee reiterates the Debrecen call by inviting member churches to covenant with God and with one another for justice in the economy and the earth. This is a central element in "gathering" the churches for the 24th general council (Accra, 2004).

The committee recognizes, however, that if Alliance churches are to reach out to one another in mutual responsibility, the Alliance must reach out to them.

In Holland, Michigan, in 2001, it appoints Russel Botman to a key role in this outreach - systematically visiting member churches, listening to them, hearing of their convictions and commitments, learning about their actions, and helping them to move towards a common mind.

What outcome does the Alliance envisage? It's an open question - and Alliance churches will answer it together.

All we can do here is to state again the Debrecen hope that more and more Alliance churches will give special attention to understanding economic processes; educate their members about economic life; work towards the formulation of a confession of their beliefs about economic life which expresses justice in the whole household of God, reflects priority for the poor, and supports an ecologically sustainable future; and act in solidarity with the victims of injustice.

Our goal throughout this gathering period is that the Accra council will be able to act in accordance with the covenant theology of the Alliance, contextualized and concretized by the thoughts and actions of member churches.

Jesus Christ came to give us all the gift of life in all its fullness. WARC invites its member churches to covenant with one another so that this gift may be affirmed wherever people are suffering and the earth is groaning.

Towards Accra

The children of 1989 have grown up, the young people addressed by the Seoul open letter are now adults, and the web of evil of which it spoke has in many respects grown manifestly worse. It is time for us, in and under God's covenant, to act together.