This booklet contains the study material for the justice, peace and the integrity of creation (JPIC) section of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' general council, Seoul, Korea, August, 1989. The booklet is divided into three major parts. Part I is the principal study document for the delegates assigned to the JPIC section. It includes questions for discussion and action. Part II contains the background reading for the study document. It consists of an introduction, a discussion of the "churches and the powers", and separate chapters on Reformed theology and justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Part III relates the issues of justice, peace and creation to the specific context of South Korea. This part of the volume will be especially useful in introducing the delegates to the witness of the church in Korea, particularly as this relates to Minjung theology and to the issue of reconciliation between North and South Korea. Both of these latter issues will be important points of discussion at the general council.

I am grateful to the many people who contributed to the content of this booklet: to the World Alliance taskforce on justice, peace and the integrity of creation, Paul Abrecht, Seong-Won Park, Anneke Geense-Ravestein, and Lukas Vischer; to the principal writers of the volume, Anneke Geense-Ravestein, Levi Oracion, George Hunsinger, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Kim Yong-Bock, and Samuel Lee; to the participants in the consultations that discussed the documents with the writers and made valuable suggestions for revision, Robert Lodwick, Paul Fries, Dieter Lenz, Hans Schravesande, Jill Schaeffer and the WARC/JPIC taskforce; and to clergy and lay participants in consultations in southern Africa, Europe and North America who offered valuable comments on the documents from their respective cultural and theological contexts.

My hope is that this booklet may be an instrument of God to move the world family of Reformed churches towards solidarity and new forms of witness on the urgent issues of justice, peace, and the integrity of creation. This hope is grounded in God's covenant promise which has inspired and empowered the people of God through the centuries: to deny that Christ can still appear among his people and renew those who follow him with the courage and creativity that accompanied his first appearances to the disciples would be to deny that Christ is still alive. Throughout history, here and there, now and then, Reformed Christians have been a restless and resisting presence against the "powers of darkness" in the world. With great risk to their lives and livelihood, these have made concrete the "dangerous memory" of our covenant tradition, by responding to the cries of the unprotected, by struggling for God's justice and shalom, by confronting those who would destroy life, and by being signs of the reign of God in the world. In the face of the present threats to life, God calls the whole church to reclaim the covenant, which promises life and hope amidst the forces of death and despair. This booklet aims to encourage our faithful response to that call. Everything is at stake.

James W van Hoeven