Interfaith Peace Summit In the last four decades, 35 of the 53 states in the African Union have been wracked by conflict, much of it internal. At least 23 African heads of state or government have military backgrounds, among them men who have led armed rebellions against the state. Africa has a history of violence, exacerbated by slavery and colonialism, that continues to this day.

"There can be no future for Africa unless faith communities work together to promote coexistence," Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), told the interfaith peace summit in Johannesburg last October. "We are called by our own traditions and cultures to build networks of dialogue and cooperation in order to overcome efforts to instrumentalize religious diversity for violent purposes."

The summit brought together African religious leaders from 21 countries, representing African traditional religions, Bah'ai, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. It was convened by the LWF, hosted by the National Religious Leaders' Forum of South Africa, and supported financially by the Finnish government.

"People listen to you," Kirsti Lintonen, Finnish ambassador to South Africa, told the participants. "You have an authority based on faith and word, ethics and morality."

For the first time in African history, representatives of the different religions on the continent affirmed together their resolve to work together to promote peace.

Common prayer was a feature of the meeting. The different religious communities sat in one place and prayed together. "We did not go to individual places for our respective prayers," Ishmael Noko emphasizes. "We jointly participated in the prayer offered by a different group each day."

Summit participants The Alliance worked with the LWF to develop the initiative and was represented at the summit by Setri Nyomi, general secretary, and Majaha Nhliziyo, coordinator of the Southern Africa Alliance.

"In spite of Africa's richness in human and material resources, in life-giving cultural traditions, and in our embracing of faith commitments," Nyomi told the gathering, "the general image that people have of our continent is one of conflict, war, poverty, suffering, disease, violence, and injustice of every kind."

Religious communities needed to be vigilant if they were not to be coopted by the machinery of war, Nyomi said. But peace-building meant more than quiet and calm: it meant addressing the injustices that prompt people to turn to violence, so that everyone can have fullness of life.

Nyomi offered WARC's interfaith consultation in Indonesia (Update vol.12 nos.2/3, October 2002) as an illustration of what religious communities could do together to oppose and overcome conflict.

The summit heard moving testimonies from victims of violence who had turned their suffering into peace-building.

Bishop Baker Ochola spoke of his daughter, who committed suicide after she was defiled by rebels in northern Uganda, and his wife, who was blown to bits by a landmine.

"I felt like a tree that had been split from top to bottom by lightning," said Ochola, who is now active in the Acholi religious leaders peace initiative. "I do not want anyone else ever to go through what happened in my life."

In an interfaith declaration signed at the end of the meeting, participants embraced the vision of an "African renaissance", a new spirit for unity and development in Africa.

They acknowledged that they had sometimes "been intolerant of each other's beliefs and allowed ourselves and our religious traditions to be manipulated" and "failed to speak and act against division, injustice, degradation of human dignity, corruption, poverty, disregard for rule of law, and dictatorial leadership".

They committed themselves to protecting human life and the environment in Africa; teaching respect for each other's religious traditions and refraining from denigrating them; advocating for human rights, religious freedom and the principles of international humanitarian law; sustaining democratic institutions; holding political leaders accountable; and working for peace and conflict resolution.

In a plan of action, they agreed to establish a continuation committee; address immediately the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast, Sudan and Uganda; convene regional summits across Africa in the next 18 months, adapted to each region's specific needs; and reassemble in three year's time to assess and advance progress.

"We are grateful to Ishmael Noko and the LWF for their lead role in this initiative," Setri Nyomi told Update, "and to all the religious leaders who took part."

"I hope that the commitments they made will remain fresh in their minds as they return home. The words spoken and signed in Johannesburg are deeply encouraging, but it is only in common actions that we can address the conflicts of Africa."

"Embracing the gift of peace" and articles relating to the summit can be found on the Lutheran World Federation website www.lutheranworld.org.

WARC and REC must "work in closer cooperation", joint committee says

Alliance representatives met with a team from the Reformed Ecumenical Council in Hendersonville, North Carolina, in October.

The two international organizations both serve the Reformed family of churches, but differ in history, size and emphasis.

REC was founded in 1946 by churches largely of Dutch origin. Today it has 39 member churches, compared with WARC's 218: of these, 23 churches belong to both bodies.

REC lays a special stress on biblical and confessional integrity. "Clarity on the essentials of the Christian and Reformed faith will assist member churches to maintain their unity in the midst of different cultures, diversity in ministry emphasis, and disagreement on non-essentials," it says. "In an organization consisting of millions of believers on every continent tension between truth and unity should be seen as an opportunity for constructive dialogue."

REC sees itself as a growing family of Reformed churches, unified across cultures.

It values a "holistic Reformed spirituality" that takes seriously public and private means of grace and prepares God's people for works of service; humble recognition that the Reformed churches are but one branch of the worldwide body of Christ; and confidence in God's providential care.

In meetings of the joint REC-WARC committee, representatives have talked openly about the differences between the two world organizations and celebrated the close relationships now developing between them.

A report to governing bodies from the Hendersonville meeting says, "We have to work in closer cooperation for the benefit of the WARC and REC constituencies, and in order to meet the needs of our member churches more efficiently."

Areas in which the committee sees possibilities for cooperation include the mission in unity project, partnership of women and men, Pentecostal dialogue, theological studies on church and state and religious pluralism, and youth work.

The committee expressed its appreciation to REC for the gracious manner in which it had moved its next assembly into 2005, so as not to clash with the Accra council, and recommended that the two organizations participate in each other's global gatherings in ways that reflect their growing relationship.

This was the third meeting of the joint committee in four years. REC was represented by Richard van Houten, Douwe Vischer and Jim Lont, WARC by Pieter Holtrop and Setri Nyomi.