The executive committee of the Alliance at its meeting in Princeton, August 1980, received a memorandum from the Federation of Protestant Churches of Switzerland urging upon the Reformed family a specific study of "certain distinctive theological issues that challenge the life and witness of the Reformed..." The executive committee responded positively to this initiative and resolved upon steps for immediate implementation. Specific papers were commissioned on the following subjects: the catholicity of the church, confession and the act of confessing, worship, power and wealth, racism, and the theological basis of human rights. These papers were published in the study guide for delegates for the Ottawa general council. As a further part of the study process, the Alliance organized a small international consultation of the authors with other participants, which met in Geneva August 10-14 1981, with a view to working out a draft study paper on these issues for submission to the general council.

Participants were: chairman, Prof Jan Milic Lochman, chairman of the department of theology, WARC; Prof Daniel Jenkins, UK,. Dr Lukas Vischer, Switzerland,. Brother Max Thurian, Taizé; Dr Allan Boesak, South Africa,. Prof Charles West, USA; Prof Jürgen Moltmann, FRG,. Dr Andor Bekesi, Hungary; staff, Rev Richmond Smith.

The following pages represent the tentative findings of the consultation under the title, Reformed Witness Today.

The executive committee at its meeting in Germany, August 1981, resolved that the work product of the consultation be available to all delegates of the general council in advance in English, French, German, and Spanish.

The executive committee also requested that the same document be presented to the general council "for referral to a special committee of the general council, representative of our constituency, for careful consideration, possible reworking, and final submission to the general council for action". In the nature of the case, the executive committee of the Alliance is not of the opinion that these issues can be resolved merely by a single action of the general council, rather a process of ongoing dialogue and mutual accountability among the Reformed churches is desirable. The planning resolution of the Alliance executive committee, August 1980, is relevant: "... that after due study in the general council, a further study process be initiated throughout the WARC constituency, requesting comment and reaction from the member churches as an integral part of the Reformed self-understanding of role and policy in the ecumenical movement."

The life of the church

What is the witness the Reformed churches are called to bear today? There is need for the Reformed churches to engage in a common reflection on this question. How are the central affirmations they stand for to be articulated today? What are the points of doctrine commonly considered as "Reformed" that require rethinking? What reforms do they need to undertake to become more faithful witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ? How is the role of the Reformed churches in society to be conceived and carried out?

The answer cannot be given by simply referring to the Reformed confessions of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Reformed churches have always placed primary emphasis on witness to the gospel today. In this they continue the living tradition of the 16th century Reformation. They are indebted to the Reformers for renewal of the church in that time in the light of the biblical witness to Jesus Christ, the centre of its witness and life. They meditate and learn from the insights of earlier generations as expressed in their confessions of the faith. But they have always been aware that new situations may require a fresh formulation of the apostolic truth. New issues may arise that demand new answers on the basis of scripture and in the light of contemporary experience. The Reformed tradition is not defined by the identity of today's confession of faith with certain Reformed affirmations of the past but rather by faithful discernment of the gospel message in the context of the contemporary world. Common reflection is therefore needed. The Reformed churches cannot be the church of Jesus Christ without continually articulating afresh their understanding of the gospel and being renewed accordingly in their witness and their life.

Today the Reformed churches find themselves in a situation that is new in many respects. They have come to form a worldwide community. Reformed churches exist today in almost all parts of the world. The Reformed tradition has taken root in a great variety of cultures. It has met demanding challenges in different forms of society. The immense experience that has been gathered in the course of this development needs to become the common property of all Reformed churches. Increasingly they are called to witness and to act together.

In particular, they are faced with the challenge of the ecumenical movement. New relationships with other churches offer the opportunity of witnessing in a new way to the deepest intentions of the Reformation. The Reformers did not seek to establish a new church. They aimed at the renewal of the whole church. The division occurred because of failure to carry through necessary reforms of doctrine and practice in the unity of the Spirit. As a consequence divisions hardened with all their sinful consequences - self affirmation, competition, hostility, even persecution. Today the situation is changing. Dialogue and collaboration have become possible. The issues raised by the Reformers and by subsequent generations can be taken up again in conversation. In unexpected ways, the movement of the Reformation finds today its continuation in the ecumenical movement. But are the Reformed churches really prepared for this new situation? If they are to make a significant contribution to restoring the unity of the church, they need to reflect on their own renewal. Unity can be obtained only through a process of renewal.

The deepest challenge comes from the developments in the contemporary world. How are the Reformed churches to witness to the gospel at the close of the second millennium"? How are they to meet the threats to human community, human dignity and the survival of the natural world as it has been given by the Creator"? How can they purify their witness in society and become more effective instruments of God's will in ordering and maintaining human community?

The answer to all these questions can be given only by a common effort of the Reformed churches. There is no central authority that could decide and speak on their behalf. Clarity can be reached only by a process that involves the churches and their membership to the largest possible extent. The assembly therefore suggests that such a concerted process be initiated. On the following pages a number of issues are identified that in its judgement require special attention. It is hoped that they will be taken up by the churches in the appropriate way. The replies of the churches will be summarized and evaluated; where possible common perspective will be formulated.

In the first part of the paper, issues are enumerated that concern the doctrine and the life of the church; the second part deals with some aspects of the role of the church in society.

Jesus Christ, the word of God and the church

The Reformers pointed forcefully to the lordship of Jesus Christ. He is the hope of the world. Through his sacrifice on the cross and his victory over death he has brought salvation to human race caught by the power of sin. He is the saving word of God to be heard and proclaimed by the church. Through the power of the Spirit this word of God becomes alive in human hearts. The church in its witness and its life totally depends on Jesus Christ. He is its head and its judge. The word of God gives the church its life and its vitality. In this sense, the Reformers could speak of the church as the creature of the word.

The lordship of Christ over church and the world is of central importance also in the Reformed witness today. Concentration on Jesus Christ as the only source of salvation protects against false promises and the illusions of self liberation. Concentration on Jesus Christ as the only head of the church makes clear that the church does not live out of its own vitality; its provides the basis for self criticism. Concentration on Jesus Christ as the centre of true communion helps the separate churches in their search for unity; it makes possible a sound balance between unity and diversity.

Two questions arise:

The Reformers affirmed the lordship of Jesus Christ in the context of the trinitarian and christological approach of the early centuries. They explicitly recognized and received the early creeds. Today, there seem to be two tendencies among Reformed churches. While some, especially those engaged in union negotiations, maintain the classical line, others place greater emphasis on the humanity of Christ; they tend to construct christology "from below". What is the rightful place of the trinitarian approach in Reformed thinking today?
Do the Reformed churches with their emphasis on the lordship of Christ and the ensuing critical evaluation of the church attribute enough importance to the communion of the church? Reformed churches are characterized by a strong tendency towards individualism. In what ways can it be made clearer, both in theory and in practice, that salvation takes place in the communion of the believers? How is the relationship between the individual believer and the communion of the church to be understood?

Worship, preaching and the Lord's supper

The centrality of Christ manifests itself also in the worship of the Reformed churches. Worship is understood as the moment when the congregation assembles in prayer and adoration to encounter Jesus Christ in his word and to be strengthened in the faith by mutual support and a new awareness of the calling that it has received. Encounter with Jesus Christ takes place both by preaching on the basis of scripture and the celebration of the Lord's supper.

In practice, preaching tends to dominate the worship of the Reformed churches. The elements of praise, meditation, silence and celebration though not absent, tend to remain underdeveloped. The worship of the Reformed churches is often experienced as exposition of biblical passages or of general Christian insights; it speaks primarily to the intellect and does not sufficiently involve the whole of the human person.

The following questions arise:

How can the Reformed churches, without losing the legitimate emphasis on the word of God come to celebrate a form of worship that includes more effectively these neglected dimensions, especially the Lord's supper? In dialogue with other churches, particularly in union negotiations, the Lord's supper has played a central role. How can Reformed churches give more prominence to the celebration of the Lord's supper in their worship?
Ecumenical discussion has led to common perspectives on Baptism, the eucharist and the ministry. The faith and order commission of the World Council of Churches has recently sent to all churches three agreed texts on these subjects and has asked them to examine their own doctrine and practice in the light of these findings. Should the Reformed churches not use the opportunity of this challenge to reflect together on their understanding and to share their responses with one another? How can an understanding and a practice be developed that in faithfulness to the biblical witness contributes to closer communion with other churches?

With regard to the eucharist, special attention should be paid to the role of the Spirit in celebration (epiclesis), the role of the ministry in the administration, and the eucharist as the expression of authentic communion of the church.

Sola scriptura

The question of the authority of the scriptures is fundamental for Reformed churches. It is because God's word comes through the scriptures, as the Reformers reaffirmed, that the proclamation, worship and government of Reformed churches take their characteristic form. The word is not heard except through the inspiration of the Spirit, but it is always the Spirit of the word, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The principle sola scriptura was developed in the Reformation to secure the obedience of the church to the liberating word of God and to protect it against the false authority of additional human traditions.

That witness is as relevant today as it ever was but the ecumenical context in that it has to be made raises some old questions in a new way. Jesus Christ is the word of God, the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments derive their authority from their witness to him and the proclamation of the churches becomes the word only as they point to him in the scriptures. Yet we see that the scriptures belong to the church and that throughout the ages the Spirit has guided the church in interpreting the scriptures. Even in maintaining the principle sola scriptura, therefore, the church must give heed to the witness of tradition. Where the Reformed churches may differ from some others is in their insistence that the Spirit that inspired the authors of scripture must control any evaluation of the witness of tradition, and it is a Spirit that calls the church forward in the light of the coming kingdom.

For these reasons we ask the Reformed churches to try to reach a common mind in their understanding of sola scriptura today.

Three issues require special attention.

How is the authority of scripture to be understood in the light of the historical research accomplished by scholarly exegesis? On the one hand the strong emphasis on the authority of the Bible can easily lead to a view that isolates the words of the Bible from the historical context in which they were written. On the other hand, the recognition of historical-critical research can easily lead to relativizing the authority of the biblical witness. The question is how to understand the relationship between the word of God and scripture.
What is the relationship between scripture and the tradition? There is a tendency in Reformed thinking to emphasize the tension between the authority of the biblical witness and the claims of subsequent traditions. Recent thinking, especially in the ecumenical movement, while retaining the warning against the danger of additional human traditions, has led to new appreciation. Scripture as expression of the tradition initiated by Jesus Christ and continuing through the power of the Spirit in the church until today. The same Spirit who inspired the witness of the Bible is acting today in the church. Scriptures have originated in the communion of the church and can be rightly understood only in the communion of the church.
The renewed emphasis on tradition requires the Reformed churches to clarify their position in relation to the status of the ecumenical creeds. Their authority was recognized in the 16th century but there is today need for a redefinition of the degree of authority they possess and of their place in the liturgy of worship and instruction. Such clarification is obviously important for the dialogue with other churches especially in union negotiations.

Confessions and confessing

In accordance with the emphasis of the Reformed tradition on the witness of the church in the contemporary world, many Reformed churches have been led recently to restate their faith and commitment in contemporary confessions. They vary in form. Some seek to summarize the faith, some provide a doxology for worship, some are written for catechetical purposes, some are responses to a crisis that calls into question the authenticity of the church's witness.

These contemporary statements do not speak with one voice. They are rooted in particular contexts and express the response of the church to the challenge that the witness faces in this context.

A dynamic approach is needed. The churches of the Reformed family scattered over the world need to engage, each in its context, in new acts of confessing. They will not confess in a uniform way. But if they are to form one confessing communion the confessions should not contradict one another. The Reformed family must be prepared to accept new emphasis and insights that arise from a fresh confrontation with the biblical witness, but it must also be on guard to defend everywhere the gospel from betrayal. How can the Reformed churches, despite the diversity of these statements, form one confessing community?

In such cases the churches need to raise their voices and to stand by the oppressed. "None of the brethren can be injured, despised, rejected, abused, or in any way offended by us, without at the same time, injuring, despising and abusing Christ by the wrongs we... We cannot love Christ without loving him in the brethren (Calvin)." What can the Reformed churches do to put such mutual accountability and responsibility into practice?
In certain situations, the confession of a church needs to draw a clear line between truth and error. In faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ, it may have to reject the claims of an unjust or oppressive government and denounce Christians who are prepared for compromises. It may have to issue a call to return to obedience to the gospel and to form a confessing community. Where such a status confessionis is imposed on a church, the question arises as to how other Reformed churches will show their solidarity. The whole family may need to exercise church discipline, in some cases even to the extent of excommunication, where a church member justifies error, injustice or oppression.

The commitment to the catholicity of the church

Proclaiming the lordship of Jesus Christ implies a vision of and commitment to the catholicity of the church. The church is catholic because Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world, is present in its midst. It is catholic by witnessing to his work of salvation. It is catholic by embodying in its life the message addressed to all people: be reconciled with God. It is catholic by being a sign of the communion to which all people are called. The church will live in the horizon of the whole world. It will not be narrowly concerned with itself but seek to be open to all people and their aspirations and sufferings. It will be a wandering people looking forward to the fulfilment of history in the kingdom of God.

What are the consequences of this vision and commitment?

The most obvious implication is the commitment to the unity of the church. The Reformed churches will not be primarily concerned with preserving the Reformed tradition. They will seek to serve the unity of all Christians. Commitment to union negotiations is the natural consequence of their vision of the catholicity of the church. Their striving for union with other churches will not be set primarily, however, in the context of past traditions and existing structures but in that of the coming kingdom. Otherwise, union can easily frustrate rather than further the freedom to follow the Spirit into new situations. In order fulfil to their commitment to the catholicity of the church the Reformed churches need to face a number of questions. How can they express more effectively the unity among themselves? What are the reasons for the multiple splits that have occurred in Reformed churches and how can this tendency be overcome? What structures are required for securing the unity of the church in the freedom of the Spirit?
The commitment to the catholicity of the church requires a commitment to a communion capable of expressing the message of reconciliation. Barriers that keep people separate from one another, especially barriers that lead to domination, oppression and exploitation, need to be overcome. The church that is a sign of the coming kingdom needs to be governed by the words, "there is no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free, no male nor female, you are all one in Christ Jesus". Commitment to catholicity means a constant growth to maturity in this respect. Inherited patterns of domination, eg the long history of male domination in the church, must not prevent such growth. The implications of the gospel for the communion of the church become clear as they are judged in the light of the coming kingdom.
Reformed churches have always attributed special importance to the mystery of the continuing witness of those who, while not acknowledging Jesus as the Christ, yet claim to be the true Israel. Today, many Reformed churches place special emphasis on this mystery. What place does this mystery have in the perspective of the catholicity of the church?

The church in the world

The Reformed churches have a strong tradition of constructive social theology and action. They have always confessed the lordship of Christ over the whole of the common life and have sought to bear witness to this lordship in the discipline of their own communities and in responsible engagement with the political, economic and social powers of the world. Nevertheless, Reformed Christians must face the fact that in the popular mind their tradition has often become associated with social attitudes that are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to the best insights of Reformed theology. Among these are:

Justification of a human society divided by race and of a special calling of the white race to domination (apartheid).
Sanctification of human greed as a motive for economic development and of wealth as the reward and evidence of spiritual self discipline through labour and thrift ("Calvinist work ethic").
Glorification of individual private religious experience and discipline at the cost of accountability to the church in its public witness to the world (Protestant individualism).

Reformed churches carry these attitudes as a burden that we must throw off, both by clarifying the true witness to Christ in society, to which we are called, and by purging their influence from the life of our churches. To this end we suggest the following issues for our witness and work.

Human rights: theological basis and political consequences

The theological foundation of human rights in the tradition of the Reformation is the essential dignity of the human being, created in the image of God, called and claimed by God in his covenant, reconciled to God in Jesus Christ. and partaking of the hope of the coming kingdom when the triune God will glorify human beings and they will take part in his eternal life and his unending joy. Human rights are therefore not attributes of individuals in themselves; they are functions and descriptions of relations between human beings that reflect the covenant, grace and promise of God. The dignity of human beings in this relationship implies also responsibility; rights imply duties. The liberation of persons to live in responsible community with God and their neighbours, and to realize in themselves and in the community God's promise for them, is the gift of God in Jesus Christ and the command of God to realize human rights in society.

The struggle for the recognition of human dignity and the realization of human rights takes place in a sinful world that is characterized by violence and injustice. Therefore, the liberating promise of God for human beings most often takes the form of limiting and centralizing social powers in the legal and political expression of human rights. Suspicion of unchecked power and the demand for its constitutional limitation is a heritage of Reformed theology. Rights must be defined concretely over against powers that may violate them.

Therefore different combinations of rights are most important in different situations in this divided world. Nevertheless, human rights form a unity in their positive intention to bring the divine dignity of human beings to expression in the community of this world.

This perspective, reflected in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' studies in human rights during the past decade, suggests certain questions for further study and action by the churches.

How can the churches relate their theological understanding of human rights to the various ideologies - liberal, Marxist and other - that understand them differently?
How should basic individual liberties - of speech, of press, of religion, or of economic enterprise - be related to public responsibility?
How may basic social rights - to food, housing, clothing, medical care, education and a healthy environment - be secured consistently with individual freedom?
How is the basic right to life related to the right of resistance, violent if necessary, against unjust power structures or criminal threats (including problems of capital punishment, war, revolutionary resistance, torture and mistreatment of prisoners)?
How are the rights of others to be evaluated in relation to the rights of one's own person or group (including the rights of the earth over against human exploitation; the right of future generations over against the needs of the present; the rights of enemy peoples over against one's own)?

Racism and South Africa

Jesus Christ has affirmed human dignity by himself becoming a human being. Through his life, death and resurrection, he has reconciled people to God and with themselves; he has broken down the wall of partition and enmity and has become our peace. He is the Lord of his church who has brought us together in the one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who is the father of us all. (Eph 4.5-6).

The gospel of Jesus Christ demands, therefore, a community of believers that transcends all barriers of race - a community in which the love for Christ and for one another has overcome the divisions of race and colour.

The gospel confronts racism, which is in its very essence a form of idolatry. It fosters a false sense of supremacy, it denies the common humanity of people created in the image of God, it destroys the community of believers and denies his reconciling, humanizing work. It systematizes oppression, domination and injustice. As such the struggle against racism, wherever it is found, in overt or covert forms, is a responsibility laid on the church by the gospel of Jesus Christ in every country and society.

At the present time, without denying the universality of racist sin, we must call special attention to South Africa. Apartheid in South Africa today poses a unique challenge to the church, especially to churches in the Reformed tradition. The white Afrikaans Reformed churches of South Africa through the years have worked out in considerable detail both the policy itself and the theological and moral justification for the system. Apartheid is therefore a pseudo-religious ideology as well as a political policy. It depends to a large extent on this moral and theological justification. The division of Reformed churches in South Africa on the basis of race and colour, even at the table of the Lord, is being defended as a faithful interpretation of the will of God and of Reformed understanding of the church in the world.

The promises of God for his world and for his church are in direct contradiction to apartheid ideals and practices. These promises, clearly proclaimed by the prophets and fulfilled in Christ, are peace, justice and liberation. They contain good news for the poor and deliverance for the oppressed, but also God's judgement on the denial of rights and the destruction of humanity and community.

The churches that have accepted Reformed confessions of faith have thereby committed themselves to live as the people of God and to show in their daily life and service what this means. This commitment requires concrete manifestation of community among races, of common witness to justice and equality in society, and of unity at the table of the Lord. The white Afrikaans Reformed churches in South Africa, in not only accepting but actively justifying the apartheid system by misusing the gospel and the Reformed confession, contradict in doctrine and in action the promise that they profess to believe. The churches must ask whether in this situation a status confessionis is given in the sense described in A 4 above. If so, what confession would be called for, in word and in action, by the church in South Africa and by churches related to it elsewhere?

Human wealth and power

The problem we face is familiar to us all. There has been an extraordinary expansion of human wealth and power, of technological control over nature, and of human productivity in the past two centuries. Yet we face the prospect, by this very exercise of power, that we may become victims of our own systems and may destroy the earth that is our home. Power is becoming more and more centralized. We feed it with our own short term interests, our greed and our fears. We need, theologically and in practice, a new understanding of God's judgment and promise for our stewardship of the earth, our ways of securing the common good, and our hopes for the future. For study and action, therefore, we make two specific suggestions.

A. Our churches need to discern and proclaim together a new vision of the promise of God for human society and nonhuman creation that will replace the goal of ever-expanding, unfairly distributed wealth and power with which the world today is obsessed. The human justice that flows from divine justification in Christ is a shared community in which the public good is defined and renewed by the free participation of all its members. In a world where Christ is Lord, this is the model for both church and society. The limits that God has placed upon his human creatures through nature and through the claims of other persons are gracious opportunities, not fetters on our humanity. To celebrate and enjoy the gifts of God is the first human task. Work in the service of God and the neighbour is an extension of this response. To bring forth the fruits of creation in ever more just and harmonious ways is the human calling, not to expand technological control over nature until we destroy it and ourselves. Self-denial for the neighbour in need is the way of promise and fulfilment for every community, be it the family, the neighbourhood or the world. To redefine human goals and redirect human power toward a fuller celebration of divine grace in creation and covenant, toward a deeper and more sensitive justice in human community, and toward a more fruitful stewardship of the gifts of creation, is our calling.

B. Our churches need to explore the interaction of three ways of witness in a world where powers and principalities are constantly defying the purpose of God and the lordship of Christ.

The way of responsible participation in the power structures of the world with the aim of making them more human and more just. These powers may be political - authoritarian or interest-controlled government. They may be economic - exploitative and profit-centred business concerns. They may be social - prejudiced and self-centred races and nations. They may be ideological - self-righteous movements that tolerate no critique in pursuing their goals. Christians in the Reformed tradition cannot simply withdraw from a world in which power serves ambivalent ends. Nor can we imagine that there is a totally righteous form of involvement. At the same time, there are limits to responsible participation in unjust power structures. The churches together need to follow their members in their responsible participation with intercession, critique, and where necessary, with either support or warning, according to careful discernment of the direction of those powers toward just or unjust ends.
The way of alternative witness in the life of the church but on behalf of society as a whole. To exemplify a Christian life style at odds with the powers of the world is not only the heritage of sectarian Christianity. The Waldensians, the Czech Brethren and the Puritan communities of England and America have attempted similar experiments. Nor need the effort require withdrawal from the world. A church in society can be a place of continual experiment with spiritual disciplines in the use of money, the values of community life, the conservation of resources, and self-giving for one another, which can free human beings from social imprisonment in a consumption-oriented society ridden by greed and exploitation. The new reality of Christ's lordship can come to expression here as it did in the early community in Acts, in the midst of the power structures of the world as a sign of judgement on them and hope for the world. Here, too, the churches need to follow the work of their members with intercession, critique and support.
A third way to give expression to our obedience to God in political responsibility is to offer active resistance to unjust power structures. In a sense, this resistance is an element in all Christian witness that points toward the coming judgement of God and acts in his name. When this is translated, however, into participation in a struggle to replace an unjust power with one relatively more just, especially when this struggle is violent, special opportunities and temptations are involved. Acts of violence, even in a just cause, have their own dangerous consequences. The other forces of revolution with which one must cooperate have their own goals and impose their own discipline on the struggle. At the same time, it may well be that only by taking part in such a struggle can the Christian give expression to that solidarity with the oppressed that is the condition of any ministry of reconciliation. The churches are called to participate in this witness also by accompanying it with intercession, critique and support.