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News Archives
Church musician killed following international church gathering
Indonesian church musician, Christina Mandang, has died from injuries sustained when hit by a car on the closing day of a global church gathering in Grand Rapids, United States. Read more.
WCRC Creates a 'New Thing' for God's People
In a spirit of unity and cooperation, the newly formed World Communion of Reformed Churches made several decisions, "heard the Gospel of reconciling love," and prepared itself to respond "in joyful hope" to a range of issues in churches and the world, the WCRC said in a final message statement issued Saturday. Read more.
Reformed churches send special message to children
The Uniting General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches ended as it began: with a special message to children welcoming them to the new "family" of 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide that was created in Grand Rapids, United States on 18 June. Read more.
A Week of Joy and Struggle
The World Communion of Reformed Churches began to wrap up its 10-day meeting on Friday by addressing and adopting a number of priorities on which the new organization will focus. Read more.
From small steps, WCRC makes history
"It started with small steps," says Pieter Holtrop,
former WARC executive member and
vice president from 1997 to 2004. "But we
had to take small steps in the beginning.
"Before 1998, the two white South African
churches, suspended from WARC membership
in 1982 for their support for apartheid,
remained active members of REC. It wasn't really
until the largest Dutch Reformed Church
(DRC) in South Africa met the requirements
set by (WARC) to resume active membership
in 1998 that things really began to move
forward." Read more.
Strengthening communion - deepening dialogue
UGC News interviewed Gottfried Locher, the treasurer of the new WCRC Executive Committee, about the significance of this Uniting General Council and the tasks facing the WCRC. Just two weeks ago Gottfried Locher was elected as the new President of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, which has two million members. Read more.
Pope offers good wishes to WCRC
Pope Benedict XVI has been one of several church leaders who have acknowledged the newly organized World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). The pope sent a letter to the new organization as well as a representative of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Read more.
South African Church Leader Elected President of WCRC
Jerry Pillay came to the Uniting General Council in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from South Africa as simply one of hundreds of delegates. But Friday afternoon, Pillay became more than a delegate - and it happened the day after his 45th birthday - when he was overwhelmingly elected as the first president of the WCRC. Read more.
WCRC elects first leaders
Delegates to WCRC's Uniting General Council
also elected four regional vice-presidents,
a general treasurer and 16 members to its
Executive Committee. Those 22, plus the two
presidents of the organization's predecessor
bodies - the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical
Council - and the moderators of WARC's
five regional councils will constitute the
29-member governing body. Read more.
Accra Confession a Hot Topic at WCRC Meeting
Fabia Gutierrez is very hopeful that the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) will decide to accept and work to implement aspects of the Accra Confession. Read more.
United We Stand
Fifteen years ago no one expected this week would ever happen. Read more.
The gift of time and space, of dance and repose
Pray: for the freedom to use the national language in Christian worship; that Bibles using "Allah" for God will not be seized by the government. This is just one of the prayers on the large map of the world in the gallery above the basketball gym in the fieldhouse hosting the Uniting General Council. It invites those passing by to open their eyes to the world, write a prayer and stick it near the relevant region. You can add your own prayer or pray those written by others. This prayer is stuck next to Malaysia. Read more.
Jemimah Musa: Showing the way for women in Nigeria
By Saturday, the Uniting General Council
(UGC) will close and delegates will return to
different parts of the world with various "takehome"
packages of what they have gathered
and plan to do. Read more.
Do you have Calvin on the brain?
As a lifelong Presbyterian, I approached the Calvin Neuron Factor test with fear and trembling. Would I be exposed as a pagan? A heretic? A Baptist? Read more.
Nothing About Us Without Us
Carolyn Thompson knows how perception can affect a person's attitude about disability. She has lived her life with a facial difference due to radiation treatment as an infant. Read more.
"Rescue the Christian faith from the cowboys," Native American tells churches
"We have to rescue the Christian faith from the cowboys," says Native American educator Richard Twiss, a member of the Lakota Sioux Rosebud Tribe.
The Indigenous leader made his remarks yesterday in an address to participants at the Uniting General Council of Reformed churches in the Midwestern American city of Grand Rapids. Over 300 delegates from 108 countries have gathered for meetings to mark the launch of a new global organization of Reformed churches, the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Read more.
Drums mark first global Pow Wow in Midwest American city
The sky, which had been dark and ominous only hours before, was filled with sunshine and white clouds as a group of Native Americans crossed a pedestrian bridge over the Grand River and approached leaders of the newly formed World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) who waited at the other end. Read more
Speaker calls for truth and reconciliation commission
A renowned Native American leader today appealed to the newly-created World Communion of Reformed Churches to establish a truth and reconciliation-like commission to "seek ways to make restitution to tribal people" for the churches' complicity in "co-opting the Bible as a tool of colonialism and imperialism" in North America over the last 400 years. Read more
"God wanted me to be here"
Many of us coming to Grand Rapids from abroad have horror stories to tell about our travel -- 36 hour journeys, flights missed, long waits at airports and so on. But maybe the story to top them all is that of a delegate from France, Roger-Michel Bory of the Reformed Church of France.
Read more.
Pilgrimage from the Past
For many delegates at the Uniting General Council in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, one of the most striking displays in the foyer is the long banners that trace the hundred years of mission, starting with the Edinburgh 1910 Missionary Conference until the present day. Read more
Native American Sees Link With Christianity
Mike Peters, pastor of 4 Fires Ministry in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a member of the Odawa tribe, says the Bible is his plumb line. Read more.
Native Americans Spotlighted at Pow Wow
Early on, it seemed that the Native American presence at the Uniting General Council would be minimal, perhaps limited to having Native Americans make statements and offer gifts of welcome to delegates who have come from all over the world to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the upper Midwest of the United States, to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). Read more.
Goooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look at these enthusiastic Brazilians and Chileans, despairing Englishmen and Italians, and how disappointed those Germans are, and the South Africans and Australians; look at the smiling Dutch and South Koreans, how thrilled the Swiss were -- at least until yesterday ...
Read more.
Ecumenical Pioneer Dies
Delegates to the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) have taken time from doing their ecumenical business to mourn the death of Rev. Nico Smith, an ecumenical pioneer from South Africa. Read more.
Children help usher in new era for Reformed churches
About 3,000 Reformed Christians gathered at Calvin College Sunday for a worship service celebrating the birth of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, which unites 80 million believers in 108 countries. Read more.
WCC Official Hopes For Joint Efforts with WCRC
Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, had no intention of missing the recent merger of the Reformed Ecumenical Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches into the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Read more.
Delegates visit Westminster Presbyterian
After two days of intense business, delegates
of the World Communion of Reformed
Churches (WCRC) spread across several
churches in West Michigan Sunday to worship
in local congregations. Read more.
Stately Service Impresses WCRC Delegates
Several African delegates to the newly constituted World Communion of Reformed Churches worshipped Sunday morning inside the stately sanctuary of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the upper Midwest of the United States. Read more.
Three Hungarians Welcomed by Hope
Three leaders of the Reformed Church in Hungary joined worshipers at Hope Church in Holland, Mich., Sunday as part of visitations to local congregations by delegates to the Uniting General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches in nearby Grand Rapids. Read more.
Nyomi, van Houten look to the future of WCRC union
The general secretaries of the Reformed
Ecumenical Council (REC) and the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) gave
their final reports Saturday as the day-old
World Communion of Reformed Churches
(WCRC) took flight. Read more.
REC leader steps down as unity realized
In a sense, Richard van
Houten is retiring just
as his work for Christian
unity has come to full
fruition.
General secretary of the
Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) since
1989, van Houten steps down from that
post following this Uniting General Council
(UGC). He does so grateful to see the creation
of a global Christian body he and other
ecumenical leaders first discussed at Calvin
College in 2006. Read more.
Unity, Peace, and Justice Are Linked
In a keynote presentation on Saturday morning at a meeting of the newly formed World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), four panelists urged delegates, observers and visitors to walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to the issues of unity, diversity, social justice and peace. The presentation was held on the second full day of the Uniting General Council, which on Friday formed the WCRC out of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) in ceremonies on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, located in the upper Midwest of the United States. Read more.
World Communion of Reformed Churches is Born
More than 80 million Reformed Christians in 108 countries around the world formally united Friday when the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) approved articles of union and a constitution bringing them together as the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). Read more.
WCRC: a new day in Reformed history
More than 80 million Reformed Christians in 108 countries united Friday when the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) agreed to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). Read more.
WCRC Springs to Life
The World Communion of Reformed Churches, the marriage between two worldwide Reformed organizations, took place Friday amidst prayer and praise and words of joy in Van Noord Arena on the campus of Calvin College in the northeastern United States. Read more.
Women, Youth Find Fellowship Before UGC
Prior to Friday's opening of the Uniting General Council (UGC), women and youth from around the world met this week at Calvin College to share ideas and prepare for the historic ecumenical event. Read more.
A "New Beginning" for Reformed Churches
For Maria McDaid, Friday's opening of the Uniting General Council culminates nearly a year of excited anticipation. "I was looking forward to meeting people from every part of the world," says McDaid, a 25-year-old UGC steward and Sunday School teacher from London, England. "We're different denominations but we're all Christians. It's a privilege to be here." Read more.
Accra Confession: A Covenant of Justice
From financial meltdown in the United States to the earthquake in Haiti, the worldÕs economic and ecological crises cry out for Christians to get involved, say church leaders meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the northeastern United States this week. They are urging a renewed commitment to social action based on the Accra Confession, a statement of economic and environmental justice to be taken up by the Uniting General Council (UGC) that opens Friday. Read more.
Young Theologians Learn from the School of Life
They come from India, Kenya, Malawi and beyond. At first glance, their lives and contexts are very different. But the 43 students in a unique theology seminar in the United States are quickly learning that they share common challenges. Read more.
God's Economy
From financial meltdown in the United States to the earthquake in Haiti, the world’s economic and ecological crises cry out for Christians to get involved, say church leaders meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the northeastern United States this week. They are urging a renewed commitment to social action based on the Accra Confession. Read more.
Women's Pre-Council: Taking the Jesus Bus to Poverty
Under the motto, “Come with Jesus into the streets,” delegates to the Women’s Pre-Council were invited to get to know Grand Rapids, Michigan from the “other side.” Beyond the boundaries of the beautifully landscaped Calvin College campus and the large upper-class homes of East Grand Rapids, they listened to and experienced people who are challenged to cope day-to-day. In so-called “Jesus buses,” they were driven Tuesday to a struggling section of the city called “Heartside,” and confronted with the economic problems of a deteriorating auto industry and its impact on the population. Read more.
The Life of a Steward
Making new friends for the first time has always proven difficult for me. What makes it even harder for an 18-year old born in Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America, is making new friends in a new country. Read more.
Reformed Women Gather in Grand Rapids
With an expected 150 registered delegates, the Women's Pre-Council is gathering both women and a few men from the entire world in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week. Read more.
Moving Against the Current: Two Global Church Networks Merge
The world’s two largest networks of Protestant churches in the Reformed tradition are meeting in Grand Rapids in the northeastern United States June 18 - 26 to found a new organization signaling a new level of relationship between two families of churches once divided from each other. Read more.
New Reformed church organization to be launched at global assembly in the United States
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) are coming together in a new union representing more than 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide - the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). "This is an opportunity to celebrate unity and understanding among Reformed churches worldwide," says REC president Peter Borgdorff. WARC president Clifton Kirkpatrick agrees, "We are blessed to be gathering at this time and place to reflect and learn together."
Read more.
American Indian religious educator to address global church event
A respected American Indian religious educator and cultural consultant is to be a featured speaker at an international gathering of Reformed churches in the United States this June. Richard Twiss, a member of the Rosebud Lakota/Sioux Tribe, will address the founding meeting of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in Grand Rapids.
Read more.
Tributes pour in for American Indian leader, Wilma Mankiller
Tributes from Reformed church leaders are pouring in for Wilma Mankiller, an American Indian rights advocate who died Tuesday (April 6) at 64 after a brief illness. Mankiller, a member of the Cherokee Nation in the United States, was scheduled to be a keynote speaker this June at a global assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) in Grand Rapids, United States.
Read more.
Jesus Bus to raise economic justice awareness in hard-hit US state
Inspired by the spirit of International Women's Day, women from many nations will take a Jesus Bus in June through the hard-hit U.S. state of Michigan to highlight the connection between justice and the economy.
Read more.
"We are committed to justice", say Reformed church leaders
Leaders of two global networks of Reformed churches set to merge in June have issued a statement declaring their commitment to a continued focus on justice concerns following the merger. The text includes specific reference to racial justice. Read more.
Globalization we can grasp
Christians are increasingly articulate critics of economic, social and environmental abuse. What is often missing for ordinary people in those critiques is an idea of what they can do to make a difference at home, in their parishes and in the broader community. Read more.
Grand Rapids destined to host the Uniting General Council
On a cold February day in 2006, eight people of faith changed the course of ecumenical history. Read more.
Drums to signal world unity at Uniting General Council
For a Native American minister from Grand Rapids, June's Uniting General Council will do more than launch a new ecumenical organization.
Read more.
American sisters pen winning song about peace and unity for global church event
A song written by two sisters from the eastern United States has won an international competition to compose the theme music for the Uniting General Council. Read more.
Volunteers Still Needed for Historic Merger
As next summer's merger between the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) nears, much work yet needs to be done, especially in the area of recruiting volunteers for a range of duties and functions. Read more.
Call for Artists and Vendors for Enigokamigak Powwow
The Uniting General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council invites you to submit your application for artist/vendor at the historic World Powwow being held on the banks of the Grand River at Ah-Nab-Awen Park in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more.
Choose Life, Act in Hope: published
WARC has published a guide to the Accra Confession that points to the declaration's importance to Christian ethics in the contemporary world. Read more.
Korean student wins Lombard Prize for study of Calvin and ecology
A Korean theology student has won the 2009 Lombard Prize for his study of the implications of John Calvin's theology for the current ecological and economic crisis. Read more.
Strong emphasis on need for action by Christians against economic and ecological injustice
Strong emphasis was laid on action by Christians to fight the injustices of the global economy and to seize the opportunity presented by the near-collapse of its financial system to change world institutions, in a message of an ecumenical conference at Willow Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Read more.
Global Institute of Theology Planned for 2010 General Council
Planning has begun for the next Global Institute of Theology (GIT) to be held in conjunction with the uniting General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in June 2010. Read more.
New Reformed movement will open local congregations to global connections
Representatives of member churches from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council have agreed to recommend merging as a global "communion"--a move they believe will have a direct and positive impact on local congregations worldwide. Read more.
A Significant Moment for Reconciliation of Reformed Church Groups
The creation of the 80 million-member World Communion of Reformed Churches marks an opportunity "to reinvigorate Reformed witness" in a fractured world, says one of the architects of the union. Read more.
Draft Constitution Set for New Ecumenical Body
Rev. Peter Borgdorff, executive director emeritus of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, says the draft constitution of the newly created World Communion of Reformed Churches is nearly finished and will be sent out on June 10, 2009. Read more.
WARC Endowment Fund Launched
The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has announced the establishment of the WARC Endowment Fund, which is being temporarily managed by the Reformed Ecumenical Council. Read more.
Reformed church Christians propose sacramental union
Representatives of Reformed, United and Presbyterian churches from diverse traditions have voted to form a union which is unprecedented in its inclusiveness and overcomes longstanding divisions among some churches. Read more.
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