WCC Meeting

The World Council of Churches Central Committee meeting is held every 12 to 18 months. The Central Committee members are elected by the WCC Assembly from its delegates, the Central Committee will govern the WCC till the next Assembly meeting which is held every 7 years. From its responsibilities are to execute the adopted policies by the Assembly, to supervise and review WCC programmes and the Council’s budget.

This year the Central Committee meeting was held from 16th till 22nd of February 2011 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. During each Central Committee meeting WCC invites young people from all around the world as a steward to help WCC staff during the meeting. The Stewards programme was from 10th till 24th of February 2011. There were 15 stewards during the CC meeting, from 14 different countries including Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Finland, Madagascar, Malawi, Myanmar, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, USA and Lebanon represented by ACUSA member Razmig Michaelian.

The first day, 10th of February 2011, was the day for arrivals. Stewards from the different parts of the world arrived and the multi-cultural journey began, and the family grew by the hour…

The five days before the Central Committee meeting, was divided into activities and lecture/discussions about the topics that will be discussed during the Central Committee meeting. To mention some of the discussed topics: Community of Men and Women was a very effective lecture/discussion, as the discussion of the verse from the Holy Bible made the subject more interesting, where it showed that women were treated as liabilities and were of less importance in their family than their brothers. Migration and Focus on Middle East broadened the stewards’ perspective by answering to: Who are the migrants? What problems do they face? What are the problems the Christian churches face in the Middle East? What is the responsibility of the Churches abroad? How to keep the Christian existence alive in the motherland of Christianity? Ecclesial Landscape was the topic that made everyone realize that each region has the same problem but in a different context.

After the five day preparatory workshops the stewards were assigned to different WCC Central Committee Meeting tasks including Communication department, the prayer and bible study group and the floor management team.

The Central Committee adopted many statements and resolutions on Iraq, the Middle East, Libya, Colombia and Australia and migration and water and sanitation problems were discussed during the meetings. It criticized USA veto usage for the condemnation of the settlement-building in Palestine. Also Central Committee adopted “God of life, lead us to justice and peace” as the Assembly “theme” for the 10th WCC Assembly, which will take place in Busan, South Korea, in 2013.

During the Central Committee meeting, there were many regional and confessional discussions. A public hearing was held with the Iraqi Christian leaders about the situation in Iraq and the Christian migration. A meeting for the Living Letters WCC programme was held where everyone discussed and shared their own experience during their journey to Sudan, Australia, Philippines and others…

After the closing prayer of the Central Committee meeting the stewards got back to their assigned Home Groups of 3 stewards each, and discussed the 6 week programme that each group will execute after they leave Geneva.