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HOW TO BUILD UP A PEACEFUL GLOBAL COMMUNITY

Ahn Jae Woong

 

Introduction

 

I am very glad to be here with you all and especially to be able to meet SCMers from the different parts of the Asia-Pacific region. I am also happy to be here because the CCA-WSCF Joint Programme itself is for us all a meaningful expression of mutual ecumenical commitment by the churches and the Student Christian Movements in the Asia-Pacific region.

In fact, the CCA-WSCF Joint Programme has been set up as a result of the resolution which was carried out by the General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) held in May 1981 in Bangalore, India. I attended the Assembly as a fraternal delegate of the WSCF Asia-Pacific. It was in the middle of a plenary discussion that one of the delegates from Hong Kong, Raymond Fung, stood up and said, "Evangelical groups are getting influential in the campus. What is the policy of the WSCF? We as the CCA ought to take this mission seriously".

John Nakajima of Japan, then the presiding President of the Assembly, requested me to respond. Since I was taken by surprise, I simply said, "It is true that evangelical groups are sprouting up everywhere. They have enough personnel as well as financial resources. Whereas the SCM is struggling to find financial support from the churches. However, SCM has gained a good reputation for actual involvement in social justice and in building genuine humane communities. We need your support for this important ministry because the churches form the foundation for the SCMs".

Consequently, the CCA-WSCF Joint Programme Committee was formed and funds were jointly raised to provide financial support to the WSCF Asia-Pacific region for the purpose of movement building in this region. In fact, the CCA consistently provides financial assistance in keeping with the covenant made with the SCMs in Asia. So far, within the WSCF history, only Asia-Pacific has received the moral and financial support from a regional ecumenical council such as the CCA.

In March 1982, the first CCA-WSCF Joint Consultation was held in Tao Fong Shan Ecumenical Centre in Hong Kong. Since then a number of regional joint consultations were carried out and mutual consultation between the churches and the SCMs also took place.

Let me share with you a brief history of the WSCF. It will be helpful for our understanding of the purpose of such gatherings.

 

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A Brief History of WSCF and Its Regionalization

 

In the historic castle built by Gustavus Vasa at Vadstena on the shores of Lake Vettern in Sweden, six men came together in August 1895, from North America, Great Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia to establish the World Student Christian Federation.1

At the inaugurating Assembly of the Federation in 1895, the following officers were elected:

Dr. Karl Fries of Stockholm was made Chairman and John R. Mott - but seven years out of college - was made General Secretary of this new world movement.2

John R. Mott was the leading ecumenical statesman of the Protestant world throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Mott, who through unusual executive ability, personal magnetism, success in fund-raising, perceptive judgement of human capacities and effective as an evangelist, built a worldwide fellowship of students and young people.

During his varied career, Mott was involved in the YMCA, the student voluntary movement, several diplomatic missions, various national church councils around the world, founder of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The First World War produced problems of incredible magnitude for missions around the world. During this time, Mott directed his energies into diplomatic and humanitarian activities. He served on President Wilson's Mexican Campaign and the Root Mission to Russia, and chaired the United War Work Campaign, which raised $200,000,000 in 1918. In 1946, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

In order to carry on the objectives of the WSCF, John R. Mott, as General Secretary of WSCF, travelled and talked with the students of India, Ceylon, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand one year later to share the story of the formation of the Federation.3

As far as women's programmes were concerned, at Vadstena in 1895, only one of the student movements entering the Federation, namely the British College Christian Union, had women-student branches affiliated to its national organization. Not until 1905, when the Federation celebrated its tenth anniversary at Zeist, Holland, were women admitted to the biennial conference. At Oxford, in 1909, women sat for the first time on the Committee.4

Although not expressedly stated, one of the outstanding results of the Federation's work has been achieving Christian unity through the study of the Bible, social study and social service, missionary outreach, inter-racial relations and women's concerns.

 

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John R. Mott and his wife, Leila, travelled to Asia in order to organize national Student Christian Movements.

In Ceylon, the meetings at Jaffna College, December 11th to 13th, 1895 were the first of the many series of student conferences for which Mott had come to the East.5

The following year, Mott and his wife moved to India and conducted five conferences in Bombay, Lahore, Lucknow, Calcutta, and Madras.6

John and Leila Mott landed at Adelaide, Australia on March 21, 1896.7 They then made visits to Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania and New South Wales in Australia. On April 20, 1896 the Motts had received an invitation from three students of Canterbury College in Christ-church.8 One of them was a Maori named Kohere, a native New Zealander.9 From there they moved to Auckland and then returned to Sydney, Australia on Sunday, May 17, 1896.

On Monday, July 6, they finally sailed for Hong Kong. The voyage to Hong Kong would last until July 29, due in part to the hazardous navigation through the Great Barrier Reef and the East Indies; the ship was often forced to drop anchor at night.10

The Motts disembarked at Hong Kong the morning of July 29, 1896. They took the river steamer to Canton the following day, a short and pleasant journey - while on shipboard.11 They then were plunged into the revolutionary heart of the China that was on the threshold of a half-century of upheaval that would culminate in Mao's People's Republic in 1948. From Chefoo to Peking, Tientsin, and Shanghai, the Motts' dominant impression was of China as the greatest mission field in the world because of the vast population and the largest potential converts.

Early in the morning of November 9, 1896, the Motts toured Japan, beginning in Nagasaki.12 They visited the famous cities such as Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, Nara, Nikko, and Sendai. On January 28, 1897, the Motts finally departed for Hawaii and their home in New York.

In 1907 John R. Mott organized the first World Student Christian Federation meeting in Asia which was held in Tokyo, Japan.13 Thus, Asia began to discover one another as Asian Christians.

Of the over five hundred Asians present at this meeting, more than four hundred came from Japan, 74 from China, 15 from India, and smaller delegations from Burma, Ceylon, Formosa, Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, the great majority of them representing truly Asian movements.14

 

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The WSCF General Committee meeting was held In Peking, China from March 29 to April 12, 1922. T.Z. Koo of China was the first Asian staff member appointed. He served the WSCF from 1925-1947.15 The WSCF General Committee met again in Asia at Mysore, India in 1928.

After regionalization, many major events of the Federation were held in Asia. The WSCF General Committee was held in Tokyo in 1971; the General Assembly in Colombo in 1977; the Executive Committee meeting in Manila, Philippines in 1984; and the Executive Committee meeting in Bangkok, Thailand in 1991.

It was Mott's own conviction that the most distinctive, original and daring contribution of the Movement has been its watchword: "The Evangelization of the World in this generation."16 The fact is that a generation has passed since the watchword was adopted, and the world still remains unevangelized. However, this does not in any way affect the value and relevance of the watchword in the present generation.

Regionalization was primarily a structural response by the Federation to concerns from the National Student Christian Movements. The purpose of regionalization was to facilitate relationships and interactions between member movements, between regions, and between the Federation and its movements and regional components. This would be done through mutual sharing, exchange of thought, experience and strategies for concrete engagement and authentic witness within historic situations. The focus was on movement building, leadership formation and training, and the articulation of common concerns and ecumenical agenda. Regional structures were to be designed to enable participation and involvement of the movements in the development of overall regional strategies.

I found a very interesting story concerning regionalization in M.M. Thomas’ book, "My Ecumenical Journey". This eminent ecumenical leader writes:

My "Statement" pointed out that the Federation conference in Java, 1933, had envisaged a certain regionalization in Asia, facilitating collective action between the movements in Asia and Australia, but that this was given up in 1938 under the pressure of the "national and missionary responsibilities" of western nations in Asia, e.g. in US in the Far East, Holland in Indonesia, France in the Near and South East and Britain in the Middle East and India. It was my contention that this policy was now out of date to say the least, as colonial relations were breaking up. It had prevented Asian movements from knowing one another within the unity of the Federation and from building Asian leadership. So the Federation had to go back to the "fundamental policy of regional council for Asiatic movements" and consider policies regarding conferences and staff in that context.

 

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"Even as early as 1928" a half-time secretary for the East was proposed, and in 1930 the Federation extended an invitation to M.K. Kumaraswamy of Ceylon to be "Secretary of the Federation in India, Burma and Ceylon, the Straits Settlements and the Dutch East Indies", and Java 38, reviving the idea, invited Ralla Ram to "give some time in the next few years in visitation work in Asia", though it did not work.17

The trend towards regionalization was most marked from 1964 to 1968. It emerged as a priority by the middle of 1968 amidst the explosion of student revolts around the world and the radicalization of student politics in the context of liberation struggles which had its roots in the WSCF. In fact, regionalization came out of strong, sober postures and assertions by the so-called "Third World" movements participating in the General Assembly of the Federation at Otaneimi in Finland in 1968.

The Federation also had its share of student radicalism in its own meetings and in particular at the historic meeting in Finland in 1968. The Federation was concerned from 1956 to 1968 with the questions of the "Changing. University in a Changing World" and "Christian Presence in the Academic Community". At the same time, several regional conferences and consultations sponsored under the two programmes provided practical programmes for regionalization in the Federation.

The first step toward regionalization in the Asia-Pacific area was taken when the provisional Asia Committee was set up in 1968. Its members were the Asian and Pacific delegates to the General Assembly, officers of the Federation, and representatives of the East Asia Christian Conference (EACC) which preceded the current Christian Conference of Asia (CCA). Consequently, in its first official meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1969, the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee began basic programmatic functions such as planning regional programmes, determining priorities for regional, national, and local common tasks, as well as exploring financial resources and developing leadership for the region. Therefore, the CCA-WSCF Joint Programme is very important for the strengthening of the ecumenical mission and Student Christian Movements in our region.

As far as leadership of the Federation is concerned, D.T. Miles of Sri Lanka was the first Asian Chairperson of the Federation from 1956-1960; Bishop Poulose Mar Poulose of India from 1986-1990; and currently Marshall Fernando of Sri Lanka is serving as Chairperson for the 1990-1994 term. Feliciano Carino of the Philippines was the first Asian General Secretary of the Federation from 1973-1977; Christine Ledger of Australia from 1986-1990; and since 1990, Gigi Balan-SyCip of the Philippines continues to work in the Geneva Office as Co-Secretary General of the Federation. Many leaders in our region have served in different leadership capacities throughout the history of the Federation.

 

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The Ecumenical Influence of the Leadership of the WSCF

 

The early leaders of the ecumenical movement perceived the universities to be the strategic locus for providing future ecumenical leadership. This tradition still continues to be a unique expression and contribution of the SCM's presence in the academic community.

The first line leadership of the WCC soon after its formation was John R. Mott who became Honorary President of the World Council, W.A. Visser't Hooft, its first General Secretary, Robert C. Mackie, Associate General Secretary, and Henri-Louis Henriod as Warden of the Ecumenical Institute, a study centre conducted by the WCC. All of them were former General Secretaries of the Federation.

Through the leadership of the Federation, the Congress of the Federation at Constantinople was able to establish an inter-confessional character for the young movement. This served as a bridge for Orthodox participation in the ecumenical movement. It is recorded as a great achievement in the history of the ecumenical movement which was carried out by the Federation.

The Federation leaders were key architects in conducting a major ecumenical gathering such as the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910. This Conference led to the formation of the International Missionary Council (IMC) at Lake Mohonk in 1921; the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work at Stockholm in 1925; the World Conference on Faith and Order at Lausanne in 1927.

Later, however, both the Faith and Order and Life and Work were integrated into one movement called the World Mission and Evangelism at Utrecht in 1938. This decision laid the solid foundation for the formation of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1948. The process for the formation of a permanent World Council was begun at this meeting by the drafting of the WCC Constitution by the provisional Committee of the WCC.

On the occasion of Visser't Hooft's 80th birthday, a number of selected outstanding ecumenical leaders contributed articles compiled into a book called "Essays in Honour of W.A. Visser't Hooft" in honour of Hooft's achievements for the ecumenical movement. In it, Philip Potter highlighted that "his ecumenical vision seems to be these three emphases: The Whole Church, the Whole World, the Whole Gospel which are not only an interesting part of our heritage, but abiding characteristics of the ecumenical movements."18

Therefore, the vision of the first General Secretary of the WCC clearly spells out the three important roles as the main thrusts of the ecumenical movement. Moreover, M.M. Thomas recalled that an assessment of ecumenism in Asia in 1980 can be made in the light of what Visser't Hooft put forth then as goals of Asian ecumenism.

 

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Visser't Hooft stressed three points in his 1959 John R. Mott Lectures delivered in Kuala Lumpur at the inauguration of the EACC. Although it is a rather lengthy quotation, I would like to share it for the purpose of reminding us of the significance and meaning of Asian ecumenism.

First, ecumenism is churches in mutual dialogue in Christ. Asian ecumenism should be understood essentially as the conversation of the churches of Asia among themselves and with the non-Asian churches in Christ. This inter-church dialogue is necessary for mutual correction and for a common discrimination of the Word of God from human words. It will lead each participating church to an increasingly deeper conversation with Jesus Christ, and all the churches to a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ as their one 'common foundation' and 'common criterion of truth'. It will help 'purify our message and our task' and discover 'a common word for the church and the world' in our time.19

On this particular descriptive statement, M.M. Thomas assessed that, "The communication of the Gospel of Christ and re-interpretation of Christianity in terms of the categories of Asian cultures, religions, and life...led to mutual correction which is one of the great functions of the ecumenical movement".20

Second, ecumenism is liberation of the churches from an idolatrous attachment to outdated values and patterns of life which are passing away...The end of these patterns in the relationship of Church to State. Society, culture, and religions must become the hour of spiritual liberation of the Asian churches from the idols of that epoch...Now was the hour when the church could rediscover how it depends only on God, enabling it to carry on its mission in greater purity and without entangling alliances. This spiritual liberation is the path towards ecumenism.21

Again M.M. Thomas commented on this as "the search for church union...a wider and deeper affirmation of Christian truth. Church unity must transcend and overcome not merely confessional and doctrinal differences but also the tribal, linguistic, ethnic, and racial identity and divisions in which the churches are embedded.22

Third, this spiritual liberation from the bygone world and its idols is liberation for a new Christ-centred involvement in the emerging Asian World, with a view to its renewal in Christ. In the Bible, freedom in Christ is 'to be available for the work of Christ in the world'. This can neither be withdrawal from nor idolatrous conformity and syncretism with the new Asian World; it involves 'real conversation' with the world of independent

 

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nationhood, renewing societies, renascent indigenous cultures, and resurgent religions, in order to witness to Christ.23

Once again, M.M. Thomas expressed his concern over this matter. "The struggle for 'the responsible society' is to 'witness to the Lordship of Christ over the world’. Today, the question is: Have the Asian churches moved in this direction?”24

While we are going through this journey of ecumenical endeavours together with these giant ecumenical intellectuals, it seems to be clearer that Asian ecumenism has a rather different emphasis compared to that of the western hemisphere.

Let me share with you what Philip Potter as General Secretary of WCC had to say in his interview with the WCC publisher on the occasion of the WCC's first thirty years when he was asked, "Looking ahead, what do you see as issues likely to preoccupy the ecumenical movement"? Potter replied:

I think the crunch for us is on two levels. One concerns the just society in which there is participation by all, in which we are able to sustain the resources of creation for the benefit of all. This involves the new international economic order, transnational corporations, human rights, the militarism issue, the role of science and technology and all that - extremely tough issues, which engage us right to the core of our existence...

And for doing that we need secondly to discover the tremendous reality and power of the various Christian communities in each place which are all part of the whole worldwide community...

We need to make opportunities out of being both local and global. That is the task before us. In terms of the church it's to discover what it means to be the universal church in each place, in communion with the churches around the world. It also involves this universal dialogue of cultures that I talk about, which is much more than people normally mean by the word "culture"; it is the sharing of all that we are and have. And to be in the midst we need to discover the tremendous reality and power of the Christian community, as part of the worldwide community of peoples.25

Potter's prophecy of the ecumenical movement still remains a high priority on the ecumenical agenda.

Another ecumenical leader, Alan Brash, in his memoir "Voice for Unity", expressed his concern that the ecumenical movement should focus on the following:

 

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1.    We are called to be peacemakers-pacifists.

2.    Ecumenism is an expression of our unity in Christ and is at the heart of the Gospel.

3.    We must serve the poor of the world.

4.    The Church must stand for justice.26

I find Masao Takenaka's article on "Implications of the Nairobi Assembly for Asia" very interesting. There he articulates clearly the Asian uniqueness:

While some Christians from the West hesitated to have joint collaboration with people of other faiths and ideologies because of the fear of syncretism, those of us from the East are quite open for such dialogue and cooperation. I can see three kinds of "Easts" which are beginning to find a common ground each in its own way, quite different from the West. First is the geographical East; namely, Asian Christians who have been living as a minority group among the people of other faiths. The second is the political East; that is, those Christians who have been living in the socialist countries where dialogue with the people of Marxist ideology is a constant concern. Thirdly, we count the ecclesiastical East; those Christians who have the traditions of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Church. Despite the differences among them they share common characteristics; namely, they take a positive attitude towards open dialogue and joint collaboration with the people of other faiths and ideologies. At the present time, they still live at a distance both geographically and culturally, but through closer relationship and mutual stimulation they may contribute a unique theological understanding different from that of the West in relation to their encounters with nature and the people around them.27

After all, the ecumenical agendas seem to be an ongoing task for all of us to carry on in this particular juncture of history. "Doctrine divides, service unites". This famous slogan captures the ecumenical spirit which ought to serve as a continuing reminder to all of us who are deeply involved in the ecumenical movement.

 

How to Build Up a Peaceful Global Community

 

We are in an age where we are facing tremendous fears of super-power domination. Besides dominating world politics, we also experience super-power domination through exploitation of our economy as well as our natural resources. Conflicts are happening everywhere. Mass killings have become such a common feature that peace seems to be an impossibility as long as this trend persists.

 

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Despite this darkness that surrounds us, we may still be able to draw some insights from the Bible on how a peaceful community can be achieved and where all the members of that community may live together without fear.

Wherever peace prevails, we will find some common features in that particular community. If we carefully examine the biblical text of Isaiah 11:6-8, we may discover the wisdom to live together, lie down together, feed together, eat together, and play together. These are the basic requirements of community life whether it be strong or weak, great or small, developed or under-developed, harmful or safe. No matter what state it is, togetherness is an important element in community life.

"Wolves and sheep will live together in peace". Here is a very sharp contrast of animals which are totally different. However, it is still possible for them to live together in peace. This should be our dream for our ecumenical vision. We should work to develop our ecumenical vision based on Isaiah's dream. This ideal state of people living together in peace is still absent from our midst.

How do we overcome the cunningness of wolves, the aggressiveness of leopards, the powerful ness of cows, the greatness of lions, and the poisonousness of snakes? Unless we strive actively to build up a true relationship with each other, it is not possible to live together in peace.

A pre-condition for building up a trusting relationship with each other is to have confidence in each other. This is sometimes expressed in creeds, covenants, accords, agreements, laws, and so on. Through this we may be able to eliminate super-power domination over our global community.

We will then be more able to build up our relationships so that we may live together in peace and lie down together to rest peacefully instead of fighting with each other on the battlefield. Furthermore, we may feed together without exploiting each other's natural resources and eat together with joy and love. Finally, we may play together in joyous celebration and with excitement just as little children at play with rules to guide them. This is what the Bible tells us of Isaiah's vision. Here, we find the little children as guardians of all the beasts. These are little children of simple and innocent minds who will lead this new peaceful global community. It is not the aggressive master-minded and evil-spirit possessed people who will lead the way.

The role of the little children will be a clue to resolving all the enmity and the overcoming of all the barriers. We, as SCMers and members of the youth constituencies in the mainline churches, have to play the role of guardians in dealing with the beastly affairs of this world.

 

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I envisage the ecumenical movement as one which will build up a new global community where Isaiah's dream will come true. It will be a community wherein all creatures will live together In peace and He down together happily and feed and eat together without worries, and play together in harmony. I hope and pray that this will be your dream and mine as we work together through the ecumenical movement to build up a peaceful global community.

 

NOTES

 

1.    John R. Mott, The World's Student Christian Federation: Origin, Achievements and Forecast (Geneva: World's Student Christian Federation, 1920), 1

2.    Clarence P. Sheed3 Two Centuries of Student Christian Movements: Their Origin and Intercollegiate Life (New York: Association Press, 1954), 361

3.    Ibid., 362

4.    Mott, The World's Student Christian Federation, 25-26

5.    C. Howard Hopkins, 20th Century Ecumenical Statesman - John R. Mott (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1979), 145

6.    Ibid., 146

7.    Ibid., 156

8.    Ibid., 164

9.    Ibid., 165

10.  Ibid., 174

11.  Ibid., 176

12.  Ibid., 189

13.  Ibid., 122

14.  Hans-Ruedi Weber, Asia and the Ecumenical Movement 1895-1961, (London: SCM Press, 1966), 73

15.  bid., 90

 

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16.  Basil Mathews, John R. Mott: World Citizen (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1934), 215

17.  M.M.  Thomas, My Ecumenical Journey (Trivandrum: Ecumenical Publishing Centre Pte. Ltd., 1990), 26

18.  Ans J. Van der Bent (ed.), Voices of Unity (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1981), vi

19.  Ibid.,          92

20.  Ibid.,          92-93

21.  Ibid.,          93

22.  Ibid.,          93

23.  Ibid.,          93

24.  Ibid.,          94

25.  WCC, What in the World is the World Council of Churches? (Geneva: Risk Book Series 1, 1981), 13

26.  Alison O'Grady, Alan Brash - Voice of Unity (Auckland: PACE Publishing, 1991), 12

27.  Masao Takenaka, Cross and Circle (Hong Kong, Christian Conference of Asia - Urban Rural Mission, 1990), 415