COMMENTARY: Women’s conference could point way for church unity movement

c. 1998 Religion News Service (Carol Fouke is the director of news services for the New York-based National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.) HARARE, Zimbabwe _ A four-day festival marking the end of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women 1988-1998 offered a snapshot of the Decade’s achievements, a forward-looking […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

(Carol Fouke is the director of news services for the New York-based National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.)

HARARE, Zimbabwe _ A four-day festival marking the end of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women 1988-1998 offered a snapshot of the Decade’s achievements, a forward-looking action agenda and a”listening model”that could prove itself a great gift to the ecumenical movement at a critical moment in its history.


Some 1,200 women _ and a few men _ from around the world gathered here Nov. 27-30 for the”Decade Festival: Visions Beyond 1998.”Initiated by the World Council of Churches, the Decade program urged the WCC’s 330-plus member churches to affirm women’s participation and to address the impact on women of racism, violence and the global economic crisis.

The event offered ample space for each church to identify additional issues of concern in their specific context _ and those issues are numerous, a fact illustrated by a detailed”challenge letter,”which will be put before the WCC’s 8th Assembly which began meeting here Thursday. The tightly packed document _ six single-spaced pages in its English version _ presses more than a dozen specific initiatives.

Most immediately, the Decade Festival and its challenge letter may have come just in time to offer a way forward on a church-dividing issue simmering just beneath the surface of the Assembly: the different understandings of homosexuality and of the rightful status of gays and lesbians in the church.

At the Decade Festival, most discussions around homosexuality took place informally and not on the formal agenda. Nor is homosexuality named in the challenge letter, although it clearly was at issue, as debate centered on wording about”human sexuality in all of its diversity.” Just seven sentences _ which simply acknowledge the differences around issues of human sexuality and the difficulties of addressing these issues in the church community _ served as the test of how to reach consensus on a document when delegates are polarized on a point of content.

The Rev. Bertrice Wood, a United Church of Christ pastor from Cleveland, Ohio, served as moderator for the debate, and proposed an approach that proved key to ultimate agreement on the challenge letter.”This is a document that will be global and ecumenical,”she said.”It will draw on all of the diversity in this room. Don’t ask, `Is this how I would have written it?’ but rather, `Have I been heard? Have others been heard?’ If each of us is heard, we may also have to hear some things we don’t want to hear.” When delegates reached the paragraph on human sexuality, Wood added,”People are here from churches that have different stands on this issue. The test for us now is can we find a way to incorporate the diversity of perspectives transparently in the document?” Two delegates’ comments illustrate the polar opposites that the document seeks to hold together. An Orthodox woman asked that the document say,”For some men and women in our midst, addressing this issue is not legitimate.”She explained,”Our church has taken a very serious stance on the topic and we aren’t in a position to change it here.” A delegate from the Netherlands, identifying herself as a lesbian, said,”My church has been discussing sexuality for 20 years and I can be open about my sexuality in my church.” Besides the sound approach _ don’t force agreement where it doesn’t exist, but do acknowledge the difficulties and differences _ good process contributed greatly to the ultimate consensus reached by the Decade Festival delegates.

For example, even though the time available for debate was limited, the process built in time over a tea break for the drafting committee to meet with delegates who had strong feelings on either”side”of the issue to work together toward acceptable wording, which won consensus in the plenary.

The section reads:”We recognize that there are a number of ethical and theological issues such as abortion, divorce, human sexuality in all of its diversity, that have implications for participation, and are difficult to address in the church community. During the decade we acknowledge that human sexuality in all of its diversity has emerged with particular significance. We condemn the violence perpetrated due to differences on this matter. We wrestled with this issue aware of the anguish we all endure because of the potential to create further divisions. We acknowledge that there is divided opinion as women and men on this particular issue. In fact, for some women and men in our midst, the issue has no legitimacy. We seek the wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we may continue the conversation in order that justice may prevail.” It could be a sound process for the WCC in the coming days as well.


DEA END FOUKE

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