We are called to confess the gospel - ever anew. In our confessing, faithfulness to the gospel must remain constant. But in every day we need to relate its proclamation to the new horizons which open before us. Aspects of the gospel which have remained obscure for many generations may acquire fresh relevance as we face the challenges of our time.

The challenges vary from situation to situation. We are not exposed to the same hopes and threats everywhere. Korea, South Africa, Indonesia, Rumania, Guatemala, the United States, Ireland - each situation has its own profile. In recent times many Reformed churches have issued statements of faith, each with differing emphases, in response to their particular situation.

But the Reformed churches spread over the world nevertheless form one family. In what sense is this Reformed family a confessing community? How can we proclaim together the one gospel which remains the same at all times and in all places? Are there ways of not only affirming our varied, particular acts of confessing, but also making common confession with one another?

Both are required: the recognition that each church must respond to its own situation - and the attempt to state together the message of the gospel which we hold in common. While our individual confessions vary in emphasis, certain concerns have emerged today to which we must respond in all places - even if we do not view them from the same perspective, or express them in the same words.

Where, then, do we begin?

As Reformed Christians, the basis of our confessing is always God's word as witnessed in Scripture. God is revealed and calls people through word and Spirit. Therefore, we turn to God's word - listening to Scripture.

But Scripture itself is not the content of our confession. Rather, we confess Jesus Christ, as the source of our salvation. There are two aspects to that confession: (1) the basic and unchanging confession of Jesus Christ, which the church has affirmed throughout the centuries; and (2) the particular implications of that basic affirmation for the present time.

Our Reformed heritage has always placed special emphasis on the need for confessing, and on relating the unchanging confession of Jesus Christ and the specific witness we are called to make in each new day. As heirs of that Reformed heritage, we are bound and encouraged to continue such confessing in and for our day.

Today, as throughout the centuries, we must be alert to two dangers. On the one hand, we must resist the temptation to give voice only to the basic, unchanging confession of Jesus Christ, which is the heart of the gospel, while ignoring the specific issues which are on the cutting edge of our of our Christian witness in the present. On the other hand, we must also resist the temptation to think that today's concerns represent the whole gospel, or can replace the basic affirmation of Jesus Christ as its foundation.

Therefore, as we seek to make common testimony as Reformed churches, we must consider both questions: How can we restate together the central affirmation of our faith? And, what do we need to say together in response to the particular and pressing challenges of today?

Jesus Christ, the source of our salvation

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By God's great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (I Peter 1:3-5).

We affirm that the heart of the gospel is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as the source of our salvation. This is the basic affirmation of our faith, attested in Scripture and proclaimed throughout the centuries. It remains the foundation of our witness today.

Now gathered in Seoul as the general council of WARC, how shall we state this basic affirmation? The Ottawa study document Called to witness to the gospel today made the following affirmation:

"God the creator has expressed love for humanity and the whole of creation in Jesus Christ. God has given the son Jesus Christ who died and was raised again so that we may have life. Despite our disobedience God does not abandon us or the world to destruction and death. As we trust and live in communion with God, we discover that we have been forgiven and can live in the Holy Spirit, a life in thankfulness, hope and praise. There is no other purpose for our life than to glorify God and to manifest God's love in the world."

This statement has provoked much thought, discussion, and reactions among the Reformed churches. Can we now give common testimony in similar or different terms?

Themes of affirmation

What are the themes in the gospel of salvation which today are of particular importance and require special attention? Four such themes are proposed here: (1) concern for creation; (2) concern for victims of injustice and oppression: (3) concern for the future; and (4) the church. These themes represent burning issues of concern for us all, which are already on the cutting edge of debate within many churches. Today, in every place, we must bear witness to the gospel in relation to these issues. That witness need not necessarily be made in the same words, or from the same vantage point. Nevertheless, if we are to proclaim the gospel faithfully today, we cannot ignore or avoid them.

Do you agree that these four themes are of critical importance for our confessing today? What common testimony can and should we make, then, in relation to these issues?

Concern for creation

We have become increasingly aware that the fragile and limited living space of the creation is being destroyed, through indifference, neglect and unrestrained exploitation. Animal and plant species are becoming extinct, threatening the ecological balance of the planet. In the third world, hunger and poverty prevail, intensified by pollution and by our abuse of food-producing land. Globally, temperatures are rising and weather patterns changing, due to our use of the air itself as a garbage dump. Already, full regeneration of creation is no longer possible, and we must speak in terms of an irreversible reduction in the quality of life even in the present. Yet even at this eleventh hour, the church can and must speak and act.

We affirm together God as creator, and as owner of this created world. We confess with the psalmist that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwells therein" (Psalm 24:1). God created human beings in God's image, and charged us as stewards to acknowledge and care for the earth as a home for all living things. Yet we have not been faithful in our stewardship.

Reformed Christians in many places must accept responsibility for their part in human activities which destroy God's creatures and the created world. Many have already joined in efforts which take seriously our responsibility as stewards of God's creation. Some Reformed churches have emphasized this concern in recent confessional statements. For example, in 1972 the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) made the following affirmation about creation:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1,1-2). God has not finished His creation once for all, but continues to fulfil it by transforming and renewing it; and He rules over all of its processes by His will. God entrusts human beings with rule over the creatures, and He expects of human beings the development and betterment of His creatures."

Can we join our voices with theirs in making such an affirmation? Can we affirm God as creator without taking our stewardship seriously, without recognizing the rights of all creatures and guarding the earth as their home as well as ours? How can we given common testimony to that responsibility? What consequences flow from that testimony for the life and witness of our churches?

Concern for victims

Many of our sister churches suffer from persecution and oppression. Many individuals and groups within our churches and societies are also victims of injustice and violence. Everywhere we look minorities are oppressed, and human rights are disregarded - in the name of politics, economics, or even religion. As we see this suffering and persecution, we cannot help but ask: where is God in the midst of the increasing injustices in our world?

We affirm together the identification of God with human suffering through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we affirm that, in Jesus Christ, God has revealed a special concern for the poor, the oppressed, the suffering. We confess with Mary that in Jesus Christ "God has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, God has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; God has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich God has sent empty away" (Luke 1:15-53). In other words, God has turned the world's values upside down, and has taken a stand on the side of victims.

In 1982, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa included the following statement in its Confession of Faith:

"We believe that God has revealed Himself as the One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among men; that in a world full of injustice and enmity He is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged and that He calls His church to follow Him in this; that He brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry; that He frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind; that He supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly; that for Him pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering; that He wishes to teach His people to do what is good and to seek the right; that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which means, among other things, that the church shall witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream; that the church as God's possession must stand where He stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged; that in following Christ the church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.

Therefore we reject any ideology which would legitimate forms of injustice and any doctrine which is unwilling to resist such an ideology in the name of the gospel."

Are we not called today to join our voices with theirs in making such an affirmation?

Can we affirm together that God in Jesus Christ takes a stand with the powerless, the oppressed, and the suffering? Can we make this confession without also affirming the dignity and rights of victims? What are the implications of such common testimony for the life and witness of our churches?

Concern for the future

What does the future hold for humankind and for the world? That question is raised, with urgency and anxiety, by many people today. Various answers are given. On the one hand, there are people who are convinced that human beings are master of this world, capable of controlling and directing its future. Many believe that the tools of modern science and technology, created and controlled by an enlightened humanity, hold the key to a better future. On the other hand, there are people equally convinced that human beings have created instead only the possibility for self-annihilation - whether through global nuclear war, or through the slow devastation of the earth and its limited resources. Among many, there is a deepening sense of insecurity and fear that the human capacity for destruction has closed off any future hope. What word does the gospel speak in the face of these concerns and assumptions about the future?

We affirm together God's control over history, and the ultimate victory of God's love over all powers of destruction. Christ's resurrection gives proof of God's victory even beyond death. God's Spirit bears witness to us that the glory revealed through the risen Christ is also the future which God intends and will fulfil for humanity and for all creation. We confess with Paul that "in this hope we are saved" (Romans 8:24). Our future and the future of the world rest securely in Christ.

This affirmation stands over against both the view that humankind has positive control and can create its own future, and from overwhelming despair. It frees us to entrust our future of God. It frees us to witness to and nurture now the signs of that future which are present in the church and the world today.

In 1976, the Presbyterian Church in the United States - now a part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) - drafted a declaration of faith which included the following affirmations:

We declare that Jesus is Lord.
His resurrection is a decisive victory
over the powers that deform and destroy human life.
His lordship is hidden.
The world appears to be dominated by people and systems
that do not acknowledge his rule.
But his lordship is real.
It demands our loyalty and sets us free
from the fear of all lesser lords who threaten us.
We maintain that ultimate sovereignty
now belongs to Jesus Christ
in every sphere of life. (chapter 4, section 5)
...
We know our efforts cannot bring in God's kingdom.
But hope plunges us into the struggle
for victories over evil that are possible now
in the world, the church, and our individual lives.
Hope gives us courage and energy
to contend against all opposition,
however invincible it may seem,
for the new world and the new humanity
that are surely coming.
Jesus is Lord!
He has been Lord from the beginning.
He will be Lord at the end.
Even now he is Lord. (chapter 10, section 5)

Are we not called today, in an even more critical way, to make similar affirmations?

Can we affirm together the certainty about the future which we have in Jesus Christ, and the freedom and hope which that provides for our present life? What are the implications of such testimony about the future for the life and witness of our churches now?

The church

In light of concerns such as these, we are also led to reflect on our understanding of the church. What does it mean to be the church, the community of people who profess Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord? There are, of course, many things which should be said in order to provide a full answer to the question. But the issue before us is: What aspect of our understanding of the church is of particular and critical importance today?

We live in a time in which the disintegration of community is evident all over the world, and at all levels of human life. The vacuum left behind by disintegrating communities is a source of slavery, because it becomes filled by all forms of dictatorship and suppression. Therefore, one crucial task of the church today is to witness to, and embody in the midst of this world, the restoration of human community on the basis of the gospel.

The capacity of the church to bear witness in its own life to a restored and reconciled human community is part of our freedom in Christ. For centuries the Reformed churches have emphasized the freedom which God offers in Christ to each individual human being. Now at this time, we must emphasize that this freedom exists only in community - the community of the church, which exists in the name of Jesus Christ to make visible for the world his invisible, living presence. This community is the gift of God's Spirit. Rediscovery of that gift, and its purpose of the world, is essential for faithful witness to the gospel today.

We affirm together the church as the body of Christ, as the new community created by God's Spirit. We proclaim with Paul the freedom which exists within that restored community: "You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:19-21). We claim the vision of that community, and commit ourselves anew to its upbuilding.

In 1987, the Swiss Protestant Synod made the following affirmation:

God's Spirit knits together all nations and races into a new community of sisters and brothers, in which the barriers of poor and rich, of black and white, of male and female are abolished. Even now the church can present symbolically the new life appearing in Christ, because it is his body, the visible form of the invisible, present Christ. It is the visible beginning of a world which no longer knows violence and oppression, in which the hunger for justice and peace is satisfied... For where community is not only proclaimed but lived, where justice and peace are not only affirmed but become embodied, there God's coming kingdom creates for itself, even now in this world, a likeness.

Are we not called today to join our voices with theirs in making such an affirmation?

Can we affirm together the vision and possibility for the restoration of human community offered in Jesus Christ? Can we make this confession without also affirming that our freedom in Christ implies commitment to that new community as part of our witness to the gospel? How can we remove the obstacles which prevent the church being such a community? What are the consequences for the life and witness of our churches?

Matters which affect our common testimony

As we seek to give common testimony to our faith today, there are certain matters which we must face head-on - not as the content of our testimony (although they may direct us to affirmations which we need to make), but because they significantly affect whether and how our common testimony can be given. In that regard, three critical areas are presented here for discussion: status confessionis; the community of women and men; and gospel and culture. Certainly there are other issues which also impact our consideration of a common testimony. However, these three are particularly vital issues for many of our member churches at present, and therefore require our serious attention.

Confessing, confessions and status confessionis

At its general council in Ottawa, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches spoke of a status confessionis in relation to the situation of apartheid in South Africa. That general council declared that "apartheid ('separate development') is a sin, and that the moral and theological justification of it is a travesty of the gospel, and in its persistent disobedience to the word of God, a theological heresy." (Common Testimony of Faith, p.29). On the basis of this declaration, the general council went a step further and suspended the two white Dutch Reformed member churches in South Africa from the privileges of membership in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The full wording of the declaration, and information about its repercussions, can be found in the report "From Ottawa to Seoul".

This declaration of status confessionis poses several fundamental questions. What does it mean for the Reformed churches when status confessionis has been announced? Such a declaration is itself an act of confessing. What consequences follow from that for the confessing and confessions of the Reformed churches? And in particular: what is the role of the World Alliance in this connection?

These questions call for answers. It is hoped that further clarity can be achieved at the general council in Seoul.

The meaning of status confessionis

Four points should be noted here:

Any declaration of status confessionis, wherever it arises in the church, stems from the conviction that the integrity of the proclamation of the gospel is in danger. The danger arises from an error which has become - or threatens to become - widespread in the church. That error may be either a matter of teaching or of practice. In order to bring to light and to counteract the error, a specific aspect of the gospel must be re-emphasized and unambiguously affirmed. For whoever at this moment does not confess this specific aspect of the gospel runs the risk of denying the truth of the gospel as a whole. The declaration of status confessionis is, therefore, a call from error into truth. It demands of the church a clear, unequivocal decision for the truth of the gospel.
The declaration of status confessionis can refer to the practice of the church as well as to questions of its teaching. Teaching and practice are inseparably related to one another. Thus, the integrity of the church's proclamation can be endangered by specific ethical conduct just as much as by an error of teaching. Of course, not every moral failure of the church can be cause for a status confessionis. Not only the individual Christian, but also the church as a whole falls far short - time and again - of the conduct which its Lord Jesus Christ expects of it. The church, as well as the individual, must rely on Christ's constant forgiveness of these shortcomings. It is only where an ethical conduct which stands in opposition to the gospel is defended by the church and justified theologically that a status confessionis is declared.
The declaration of status confessionis first of all addresses a particular situation. It brings to light an error which threatens a specific church. Nevertheless, the danger inherent in that error also calls into question the integrity of the proclamations of all churches. Therefore, the declaration of status confessionis within one particular situation is, at the same time, addressed to all churches, calling upon them to concur in the act of confessing. The fundamental question raised by any declaration of status confessionis is of such importance that no church has the right to ignore it.
When individual Christians, movements, churches, or even the World Alliance of Reformed Churches announce status confessionis, they declare first of all that they themselves are in a situation in which a clear decision for the truth of the gospel must be made. The declaration of status confessionis, therefore, has the character of self-obligation. At the same time, however, such a declaration seeks to draw the whole church together in an act of confessing. The declaration of status confessionis calls the whole church to a decision between truth and error. Nevertheless, its aim is not immediately to exclude dissenters from the community of the church. Rather, the declaration of status confessionis initiates a process of confrontation and discussion. The content of the declaration is tried and tested step by step, until it becomes clear that the declaration is itself in accord with the common understanding of the church. Therefore, it has rightly been suggested that, instead of a status confessionis, we speak of a processus confessionis. Any disciplinary measures taken against erring churches come not at the beginning of this process, but at the end and such measure would have no other goal than to underscore the call to a decision for the truth of the gospel.

Consequences of a status confessionis for the Reformed churches

The immediate intention of the Ottawa declaration was to make clear that, on the basis of the gospel, the system of apartheid must be rejected as sin. The particular actions which churches might take in opposition to apartheid were not spelled out; in that respect, different responses are possible in the church. Nevertheless, the claim was made that every Reformed church must reject this system of discrimination, oppression and exploitation, if it does not want to contradict the message of the gospel. The Ottawa general council emphatically stated this conviction. Now the question arises as to how, seven years later, the Seoul general council should speak and act.

To what extent are we today at a new stage of the process begun by the Ottawa declaration?

The declaration of status confessionis is itself an act of confessing, which presupposes the confession of Jesus Christ as the source of salvation. When the churches are called to concur with that declaration, they are also asked anew about their fundamental confession of Jesus Christ. The 'No' to apartheid has its proper weight only when it grows out of the church's basic task to confess Jesus Christ and "to proclaim the wonderful deeds of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvellous light."

How do the Reformed churches today - individually and together - confess Jesus Christ as the source of salvation? How do they - individually and together - authentically point to the God who has revealed himself in Christ and through him brings deliverance to humanity?

The Ottawa general council spoke of status confessionis in relation to apartheid. The question arises whether the Reformed churches, and with them WARC, must also speak out against other dangers to the proclamation of the gospel. In recent years, various groups have suggested that today a status confessionis be declared in relation to poverty and hunger, to atomic weapons and the destruction of God's good creation.

What issues are there today on which a clear and unambiguous decision of the Reformed churches is required?

Is the declaration of status confessionis the only way to bring about a clear decision among the Reformed churches? What other ways are open in order to bring the liberating claim of the gospel to bear on the great issues of our time?

The role of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches

Finally, the declaration of status confessionis also poses the question of the role of WARC. WARC exerts no authority over its member churches. The decisions made by the general council have no binding character, but rather have authority only insofar as they represent the common convictions of the member churches. WARC is an instrument in the service of its member churches. It can bring the testimony of individual churches to the notice of the community of all Reformed churches. It can promote connections among the churches. It can attempt to collect the diverse witness of the individual churches, and to express and defend it in their name.

How should WARC carry out this task in the future? What priorities must be set in order for the World Alliance to make a more effective contribution to the common testimony of all Reformed churches?

The community of women and men

The issue of women and men as partners in the community of faith, and as fellow human beings, has been of increasing concern among Reformed Christians in recent years. This growing concern was evident at the Ottawa general council as it took steps to include more women among its delegates, as it affirmed the need for staffing and programming within the World Alliance to focus specific attention on women's issues, and as it highlighted the question of "The Community of Women and Men" and concern for "The Family and Marriage" within the study Called to witness to the gospel today.

These issues have become even more pressing since Ottawa. There has been a marked raising of consciousness within many churches regarding full participation of women in the life and ministry of the church, and a growing awareness of the injustices towards women in many societies and cultures of the world today. This growing awareness has led many women to active participation in the human rights movement, as advocates not only for women, but for all who suffer injustice and oppression.

In some parts of the world, Reformed churches have taken the lead in modelling within their society a community in which both women and men participate fully and equally, and in taking an active role as advocates for oppressed and voiceless women in those societies. In other places, Reformed churches have lagged far behind their societies in accepting and supporting women as full and equal participants with men in the work and ministry of the church.

There are many factors, both cultural and theological, which affect attitudes and social practices toward women. As Christians, we must seek guidance from the example of Jesus Christ, and from God's word in Scripture. Jesus Christ brought forgiveness, healing, and salvation to women as well as to men. He included women among his closest companions, paid attention to women's needs, ministered to and received ministry from women. How, then, can the church do otherwise? God created humanity - male and female - in God's own image (Genesis 2:28). How, then, can the church stand by while women or men are denied basic human rights? Scripture affirms the promise that in Christ there is "neither male nor female," but all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:27-28). How, then, can the church set limits on women's participation within the body of Christ?

Women and men: created in God's image

The biblical affirmation of human beings created in the image of God "radically confronts every kind of exploitation, oppression and degradation of human beings, identifying these as denial and defacing of the divine image." ("Towards a Common Testimony: Report of consultation 'Confessing the Faith Today'", Reformed World, March 1987, p.653). Whenever women are denied justice and basic human rights - at the level of family, work, or social organization - their creation in God's image is rejected.

How can Reformed churches today - individually and together - appeal to society at large to respect the human dignity and rights of women as well as men? What affirmations need to be made? Can they make such an appeal without also setting the example in terms of the ordering of the church community?

Women and men: made one in Christ

Christian women and men alike share a common baptism. Both have received forgiveness and redemption in Jesus Christ. Both have received gifts from the Holy Spirit for the upbuilding of the whole church and its ministry. In Christ, all are made one - male and female, slave and free, Jew and Greek. This is the liberating vision of the gospel. At many times and places in history, and in the present, the church has failed to embody that vision. But is it not our goal, not only in the areas of culture and race, but also in terms of the renewal of the community of women and men within the church?

How can the Reformed churches today - individually and together - break down the barriers which still divide women and men in the church, and more clearly witness to the renewal of human community promised in Christ? What are the obstacles which prevent that witness - interpretation of Scripture? Social ethos? Church structures themselves? What else? How can Reformed churches help and challenge each other to overcome these obstacles?

What steps need to be taken in order for women and men to become full partners and participants in the ministry and community of the church? Certainly, the ordination of women as elders and as pastors is one such step. The ordination of women as well as men acknowledges our common baptism. It also affirms the gifts and calling by God of both women and men to particular tasks of leadership and ministry. Yet ordination in itself is not enough. The affirmation of women's gifts and calling will also entail new styles of collaboration and leadership in the church. Hence, it will require new sensitivity and openness to perspectives different from our own, or different from the "traditional."

What are the implications for the Reformed family that our churches differ on the practice of ordaining women? How does that affect our unity? Our common testimony? How can we encourage both women and men to use their gifts for the church? How can women and men together discover fresh ways of sharing in the church's ministry, leadership, and decision-making as full partners?

Full participation of women in the ministry and community of the church involves more than just the acceptance of women in leadership roles. The language of the church's worship and confessing must also include both women and men. That means using language which makes clear that women and men are both included among the people of God. That means drawing language about God from a broad range of biblical images, not only the images of God as father and king. That means developing liturgy which reflects and respects the experience, needs, and insights of women as well as men. That means including in our confessions of faith not only language which affirms the community of women and men, but also language which gives voice to the witness of both women and men.

What testimony should the Reformed churches make today - individually and together - concerning the community of women and men, in the church and in the world? How do women articulate the confession of Jesus Christ, as well as the implications of that basic confession for issues like creation, victims, the future, the church? How might the special contribution of women enrich and strengthen the confessing of our churches?

Women and men: the role of WARC

What is the role of WARC in affirming the co-humanity of women and men, created in God's image and made one in Christ Jesus through baptism?

How can WARC best support and encourage its member churches in their own efforts? How might WARC itself better provide a model, within its own structures and work, for the possibilities inherent in the liberating vision of a church transformed and strengthened through the full participation of all its members?

Gospel and culture

The task of bearing witness to the gospel does not occur in a vacuum. Witness is borne within a particular cultural context which shapes the lives and experience of people. Each cultural context provides challenges, both positive and negative, to faithful Christian witness.

What do we mean when we speak of culture? Culture is the means by which a people give expression to their common life. By creating a culture, a people give voice and shape to their common identity, through their daily life and work, through the ordering of human relations, through religious practices, customs and arts. Culture provides a home for people, a secure, intelligible and meaningful context in which to live. But culture can also become exclusive and oppressive - suppressing new and different expressions of a people's common life, or isolating people of one culture from their neighbours and from God. In other words, culture can become a means of institutionalizing power and privilege, rather than of empowering people for their common life.

What is the church's task amid the diversity of human cultures? The Ottawa study document, Called to witness to the gospel today, addressed this question. It stated that:

Culture bears the marks of divine-human encounter in tension, conflict, and in reconciliation whether or not the gospel has been heard in it. The meaning of culture must be fathomed theologically, not anthropologically alone. The Bible itself can be our guide in doing this. The history of the people of Israel is one of constant reformation of culture, by an ever renewed experience of God in the midst of the nations. The New Testament message led the apostles out of Israel into the Gentile world, with the promise of the risen Christ for its cultures and its future. We are to go the same way into the cultures of our world. The church with its gospel needs to penetrate into the soul of a culture where people celebrate life in all its joy and agony and experience hope and despair. Witness to Christ is the extension of his ministry here at the very heart of human experience, bearing the suffering of the people through the cross and leading them to hope in his risen presence (Called to witness, pp. 37-38).

When the church allows the gospel to "penetrate into the soul of a culture," it will in all probability discover aspects of that culture which, in the light of gospel, can and should be affirmed, as well as aspects which should be corrected. As gospel and culture interact, the church must take seriously both the task of affirmation and of correction. These tasks may also require that prior interpretations of the gospel be reconsidered, and fresh insights explored and developed.

Even beyond the tasks of affirming and correcting existing human cultures, does the church not also have the task of creating culture? The gospel calls us to a renewal of human relations. It finds expression in a community which is governed by love. What does this mean in terms of culture? The Christian community is not just called to affirm or correct existing cultural forms. If it is living according to its calling, it creates a "culture of compassion, solidarity and service", a culture in which limits are set on the human and institutional abuse of power, and which reflects instead the power and authority of God's love. The church cannot be content only to proclaim the gospel, but must also seek to offer new ways of living together. Imagination is required from the church to discover and even invent cultural forms appropriate to the gospel.

The issue of gospel and culture is a complex one. It presents very different challenges in different cultural contexts. How does each church respond to the challenge of its own particular context? What does the challenge of expressing the gospel in a particular culture mean for the church at the global level, and vice versa? What is, or should be, the role of WARC in regard to this issue?

Different challenges in different contexts

The challenge of witnessing to the gospel is not the same in every cultural context. One obvious area of difference is that of traditional non-Christian cultures, on the one hand, and the so-called Christian cultures of the west, on the other hand. Clearly, there is great variety within each of these broad categories. Nevertheless, they may provide a useful starting point for understanding the complexities, and the importance, of the issue of gospel and Culture.

The majority of Reformed churches bear witness to the gospel in traditionally non-Christian cultural contexts. They must respond to the challenge of indigenous cultural expressions shaped by religions and perspectives different from the Christian faith. Some, such as the churches in Malawi, exert little or no influence within their societies, which are shaped by other religions and ideologies. Others, such as the Korean churches, have become a recognized factor in shaping their societies today. In addition to the challenge of non-Christian cultures, third world churches face a compounded difficulty. Initially they received the message of the gospel from western missionaries, who clothed it in western cultural forms and, more often than not, demanded that converts to Christianity renounce their own cultural heritage and identity. The greatest danger for Reformed churches witnessing in non-Christian cultural contexts is to follow the course of rejecting and destroying culture rather than liberating it through and for the gospel. The gospel itself challenges these Reformed churches to re-examine and reclaim the cultural heritage of their members, in an effort to bear witness more authentically within their cultures, and to discover the theological significance of their cultures.

The issue and challenge of gospel and culture is not, however, limited to churches in traditionally non-Christian contexts. Critical and creative examination of culture is equally important in the so-called Christian cultures of the western church. Western culture has long been called, and claimed to be "Christian." The greatest danger for Reformed churches in the west is to assume that claim to be true. The gospel itself challenges these churches to re-examine and critique the western cultural traditions which, centuries ago, they helped to create. Does contemporary western culture truly reflect and make manifest Jesus Christ? Are the assumptions and values of modern western technological society congruent with the demands of the gospel?

How does the church - in every cultural context - go about criticising their cultures and, at the same time, affirming their positive aspects? What work must be done to free the gospel itself from the limitations or misunderstandings imposed on it by any particular human culture?

Does the church have the task of creating a counter-culture, an alternative way of life grounded in the gospel?

Relationship between particular contexts and our common witness

The immense diversity of cultures in which our churches must bear witness to the gospel becomes in itself a special challenge to our common testimony as a Reformed family of churches. We are called to affirm the gospel both in our own particular situation and as an universal community. The witness in each cultural situation must not become a threat to the common affirmation of the gospel. At the same time, our common testimony must not deny the importance and integrity of our individual witnesses. How, then, can we testify together to the gospel in and for our world today?

How can we not testify together? We would all affirm that the gospel is not the property of any one church in any one culture. Christ came to redeem the world. Christ's judgement and forgiveness rest on all human cultures. To this we can and must witness. Moreover, our explorations into the issue of gospel and cultures have made clear that the challenge is not only universal, but also interactive. The challenge in Indonesia is not only the relationship of the gospel to indigenous cultures, or to the cultural expressions of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The challenge is also the relationship of the gospel to the industrial and technological culture imported from the west. The challenge in France is not simply freeing the gospel from a "Christian" cultural tradition, but witnessing to the gospel in a post-Christian society where Christians are in the minority and cultural expressions are diverse. Our world and our cultures are becoming increasingly interactive and interrelated - often with negative consequences for us all. Therefore, we must face the challenge of making common testimony for the sake of our world and our cultures.

It is, perhaps, especially at the universal level that the church needs to make a creative contribution to culture - to give voice and shape to the common identity of all human beings. The church as a universal community needs to model for the world new ways of living together across national and cultural boundaries, ways which affirm the dignity and worth of all persons, which emphasize and promote human community, which recognize our interdependence and mutual responsibility for one another, and our shared responsibility for all of creation.

What elements of universally shared or interrelated concern are present amid the diversity of our particular cultural situations? What emphases would you include as important contributions of the church toward the creation of a positive universal culture?

The role of WARC

The global and multicultural character of our Reformed family is obvious. The World Alliance, since Ottawa in particular, has recognized this reality, and has attempted in various ways to involve the whole spectrum of the Reformed family in its work. More can be done, and more needs to be done, so that the work and structures of the Alliance better reflect the perspectives and experience of the whole Reformed family.

How can WARC best go about this task? What priorities need to be adopted? How can the Alliance become more inclusive? What recommendations would you make for the future programme of the Alliance?