"Healing and reconciliation of Europe's people can take place only as Europe and the other rich and powerful nations reconcile with peoples of other continents in a common struggle for a socially just and sustainable future," said Kenneth Kaunda, former president of Zambia, in June. "Only then can Europe contribute to a healthy and just world."

Kaunda was in Trondheim, Norway's third largest city, to give the keynote address to the assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC).

Trondheim in the middle ages was the main centre of Nordic Christianity; in 1153, it became the seat of an archbishopric. Now it was the venue for CEC's 12th assembly, with the theme "Jesus Christ heals and reconciles - our witness in Europe".

The assembly opened with worship in Nidaros Cathedral, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (the "Green Patriarch") as the preacher. Participants gathered again in the cathedral for three eucharistic services - Orthodox, Armenian and Protestant/Anglican; Isabelle Graesslé, moderator of the company of pastors of the Protestant Church of Geneva, preached at the third. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, preached at the closing service, which was held on the banks of the river Nidelven.

The assembly included three plenaries, on the construction of Europe, the charta oecumenica - an "ecumenical charter" setting down guidelines for the growing cooperation among European churches - and youth; and 16 hearings related to the theme, organized by CEC partners.

Hearing on economics and the environment

General secretary Keith Clements noted three highlights in CEC's work since the 11th assembly (Graz 1997):

the complete integration of CEC and the European Ecumenical Commission on Church and Society;
the celebration of CEC's 40th anniversary at Nyborg Strand in 1999; and
the second ecumenical encounter (Strasbourg 2001), co-sponsored with the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, at which the charta oecumenica was launched.

The assembly welcomed the outcome of the Convention on the Future of Europe as "an important achievement... an attempt to give the European Union a set of common values and objectives, including freedom, justice, peace, solidarity and civil participation".

"In the spirit of the charta oecumenica," the assembly added, "we are convinced that the spiritual heritage of Christianity constitutes an empowering source of inspiration and enrichment for Europe." It affirmed the need to strengthen the Christian voice in Europe.

CEC should encourage churches to pursue the debate on European integration, and the accession of new states to the European Union. Through CEC's church and society commission, they should be heard at the European level on such questions as bioethics and the environment.

CEC and its churches should continue to pay attention to human rights and religious freedom, the relations between majority and minority churches, and the relations between mainline churches and churches for migrants and ethnic minorities; and contribute to overcoming violence, specifically by promoting ceasefires and supporting reconciliation.

Other statements dealt with the rights of indigenous peoples, protecting the environment, support for the "Olympic truce", reconciliation in Kosovo, and peace in the Middle East.

A focus on the EU was natural and understandable, but the assembly underlined that CEC's approach to Europe "is not bounded by the present nor by the potential borders of the European Union" and that it goes beyond European interests to "embrace care for the whole of God's creation and for the generations that will come after us".

The structure of ecumenical cooperation in Europe, the assembly said, has to be reshaped to meet the current needs of member churches. It supported proposals to hold a third European ecumenical assembly in Eastern Europe in 2007, and approved plans to integrate CEC with the Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe. Young European Christians and their youth organizations should also be able to see themselves as integral parts of CEC, the assembly said.

CEC should encourage churches to implement the commitments of the charta oecumenica on mission and avoid destructive competition. And it should promote theological cooperation between the different confessional traditions in Europe - in particular between the Orthodox and other churches.

The new CEC central committee has six Reformed members, and four from united churches with Lutheran and Reformed roots. It will meet in Geneva in December.

Luca M Negro, CEC communications secretary