Final preparations for world churches’ assembly next week; Churches revive ‘Thursdays in Black’ campaign against gender violence; Korean ministers and peace activists’ prayers against nuclear weapon; Ecumenical Centre in Geneva to become ‘Green Village’
Final preparations for world churches’ assembly next week
Final preparations are underway for the opening of the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), to be held in Busan, Republic of Korea.
At the Sansung Presbyterian Church in Busan, more than 50 volunteers gathered on Thursday and Friday, 24 to 25 October 2013, to pack the welcome bags for assembly delegates and several thousand other participants who are expected to attend the 10-day assembly.
The bags include an array of assembly publications including worship and Bible study materials, programme and resource book and information about the work of the WCC since the last assembly, held in 2006 at Porto Alegre, Brazil.
During the two days of work, the volunteers individually filled some 3,000 bags with books and other gifts for the assembly participants.
The assembly, which has the theme “God of Life, lead us to justice and peace”, opens 30 October with an opening prayer service in which some 5,000 people, including 2,500 Koreans, will participate.
The opening service will be broadcast through an online live stream from the Christian Broadcast System in Korea, the oldest Christian television network in Korea.
The live stream will broadcast several other events from the WCC assembly. A schedule of programming is now available on the WCC assembly website.
In addition to a number of live stream broadcasts throughout the assembly, access to the assembly from afar will be facilitated through a number of other sources.
The WCC Assembly website will feature daily news stories and updates about the assembly.
For tablets and mobile phones, a downloadable free mobile application that will feature daily stories, photos and links to videos from the assembly is available through the iTunes Store and Google Market.
Each day a 15-minute video broadcast, Madang Live, will be available on You Tube and show highlights and feature stories from the assembly.
And the assembly will be trending through social media networks such as the WCC Twitter site, @oikoumene, @OlavTveit and the assembly Twitter site, @wcc2013.
The WCC Assembly Facebook event is now a running space on social media, engaging some 600 people from around the world through sharing of information, articles and links about the assembly.
Information on the visitors’ programme organised by the Korean Host Committee of the WCC has also been made accessible through wcc2013.kr (in Korean).
* Official website of the WCC 10th Assembly: http://wcc2013.info/en
Churches revive ‘Thursdays in Black’ campaign against gender violence
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is working toward the revival of “Thursdays in Black”, a campaign against sexual and gender-based violence. The emphasis is pertinent to the theme of the WCC’s upcoming assembly: “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”.
On 31 October 2013, during the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea, participants will be encouraged to wear black. Through this simple gesture, participants are invited to be part of a global movement urging an end to violence against women.
Thursdays in Black was started by the WCC in the 1980’s as a form of peaceful protest against rape and violence – especially taking place during wars and conflicts. The campaign focuses on ways through which individuals may challenge attitudes that cause rape and violence.
“Thursdays in Black”, according to Dr Fulata Mbano-Moyo, WCC programme executive for Women in Church and Society, is a “united global expression of the desire for safe communities where we can all walk safely without fear of being raped, shot at, beaten up, verbally abused and discriminated against due to one’s gender or sexual orientation.”
“Through this campaign we want to accompany our sisters, who bear the scars of violence, invisible and visible, in Syria, Palestine and Israel, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and the whole world, where women’s bodies remain a battlefield, whether in armed conflict or so-called ‘peaceful’ situations,” adds Mbano-Moyo.
“Through this campaign we are demanding a world free of rape and violence!”
The Thursdays in Black campaign is significant for the women and men’s pre-assembly events in Busan, where issues related to violence against women will be in focus, instigating varied reflections from theological, ethical, legal, spiritual, social and political perspectives. The pre-assembly programmes will take place on 28 and 29 October.
Thursdays in Black has influenced several church and ecumenical initiatives in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women. The campaign was further strengthened by the “Women in Black” campaign born out of women-to-women solidarity visits to Serbia and Croatia during the Balkan war in the 1990s. Through this initiative, Serbian women called people to join them in speaking against the use of rape as a weapon of war.
Thursday in Black also has a link with Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a movement of mothers who protested against the policy of having dissidents “disappeared”, a term used to describe people killed during the political violence in Argentina between the 1970s and 1980s. These mothers walked around Plazo de Mayo in Buenos Aires, every Thursday, to register their protest to the responsible authorities.
The Thursdays in Black campaign is currently observed in South Africa by the Diakonia Council of Churches and the Christian AIDS Bureau of Southern Africa (CABSA), ecumenical partners of the WCC’s project Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) and the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV or AIDS (INERELA+).
The WCC will continue to work with its partner organisations to revive the Thursdays in Black campaign. Partners include CABSA, We Will Speak Out Coalition, the Lutheran World Federation, the Fellowship of the Least Coin, the United Methodist Women and the World YWCA, among others.
* Thursdays in Black – South Africa: http://www.thursdaysinblack.co.za
Korean ministers and peace activists’ prayers against nuclear weapon
Korean church and peace activists in Busan are taking part in a 40 day fasting and prayer vigil against nuclear weapons from 30 September to 8 November 2013, coinciding at the end with the World Council of Churches Assembly there – and drawing attention to the consolidated action of churches against weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
The common prayers of the Korean ministers and peace activists are as follows:
We repent that our lives that have caused catastrophic problems for the ecology and have threatened the survival of all humankind by indiscreet use of nuclear energy;
We repent that we have turned blind eyes and stopped our ears to the dangers of nuclear power generation despite the warning from Fukushima;
We pray that we can turn from the road to nuclear power generation which can be disastrous to ecology and humanity;
We pray that a world of peace is realized and the dignity of life is protected as we convert nuclear energy into renewable natural energy;
We pray that the world’s Christians may abandon the great catastrophe of nuclear weapons and power plants and instead walk together toward the path of peace for all.
* World Council of Churches (WCC) project: Churches viagra order engaged for nuclear arms control – https://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/nuclear-arms-control
Ecumenical Centre in Geneva to become ‘Green Village’
After an intensive two-day process, a jury has declared the project ‘Green Village’ winner of the architectural competition launched in June to find the best idea for the development of the Geneva site of the Ecumenical Centre and offices of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
‘Green Village’ is designed by the Geneva-based firm LRS Architectes Sàrl, which will develop future plans for the WCC property in Geneva, Switzerland. The project was one of ten different concepts submitted by the firms selected by the WCC and its partner, Implenia, the leading Swiss development and construction company, to participate in the private competition.
Prominent features of the ‘Green Village’ project include office space primarily for international organisations in separate buildings, hotel-residence and residential apartments. These buildings will be surrounded by gardens and park, walkways and cycle-paths.
The Ecumenical Centre will be at the centre of the ‘Green Village’, while the future Promenade de la Paix will wind its way by the chapel and gardens.
The jury, which included architects, local officials and WCC and Implenia representatives, was particularly impressed by how the ‘Green Village’ achieves spatial harmony through the quality of the landscaping, while meeting the increased density of floor space inherent in the competition’s objectives. The planned building for the international Global Fund on a neighbouring site has carefully been taken into account in the ‘Green Village’ design.
The Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the WCC General Secretary, said: “The WCC is pleased with the outcome and the good co-operation with the Geneva authorities. Green Village will enhance the Geneva international district, bringing a new urban style to the Jardin des Nations, with green spaces and amenities for community use.”
Dr Tveit added that the project will “respond to our needs for the future as a council and allows us to continue our work in Geneva along with our ecumenical partners.”
The architectural competition meets the requirement of a “particularly Swiss process”, observed the president of the jury, Andréa Bassi, architect. The process of selecting the winning architect project included a panel of representatives of the cantonal and communal authorities in Geneva, the Foundation for Buildings for International Organisations (FIPOI), as well as Implenia, the WCC, and independent architects.
“There was shared wisdom and a process of true consensus-building” noted Tveit. During its work, the jury heard reports from quantity surveyors on potential construction costs, on the manner in which the projects complied with local regulations, and an assessment of the projects’ application of sustainable development principles.
While the competition was organized by Implenia, its preparation was also guided by the WCC steering committee, which included the Rev Dr Walter Altmann, Dean Anders Gadegaard, Bishop Ivan Abrahams, Bishop Sally Dyck, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Emanuela Larentzakis, Professor Dr Seong-Won Park and the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.
“Before we could instruct architects, we needed clarity on our own needs for the future, and an understanding of both the heritage quality and the technical features and state of the current buildings,” said Dr Tveit.
The rules and specifications for the competition, which were shared with the competitors in June, included ideas for the consideration of the architects in the development of the site. They were also provided with a profile of the anticipated requirements for office space and amenities for the Ecumenical Centre in 2017, as well as results of studies undertaken by a staff working group, formed by the WCC General Secretary last year.
Another annex provided an evaluation of the renovations required to the existing buildings, should they be maintained. The architects could refer to the Heritage Study, prepared by the Geneva cantonal department of heritage and sites, which provides guidelines for the preservation of the central building and garden, and most particularly, the chapel in the Ecumenical Centre, qualified as “undoubtedly one of the most outstanding specimens of religious architecture in the canton”.
Dr Tveit commented: “The WCC is grateful to its partner, Implenia, which organised a number of preliminary meetings, allowing jury members, advisors and specialists to review the plans, and encouraging a consultative approach in preparing for the jury work.
“While plans must evolve, and there remains much work to be done, selection of the project is an important step forward to meeting the objectives for the real estate development project.”
The WCC aims to reimburse the loan which secured pensions, build a new Ecumenical Centre for the future, and hold property which will generate a substantial annual contribution to support the WCC’s work.
The ten project designs submitted by a variety of Swiss architects for the competition will be on display before the year’s end at the Ecumenical Centre in Grand-Saconnex, 150 route de Ferney, headquarters of the WCC.
The next steps in the development of the WCC property will be the adoption of the area development plan and then the granting of definitive building permits. Construction is planned to begin in 2016 with the first buildings completed during 2017.