01 Sep 2006

September 2006 - Some Highlights at the World Methodist Conference

Bishop Sunday Mbang
Rev. Elias Chacour
 Rev. John C. Barrett
Before the World Methodist Conference gathered other smaller events took place. The Methodist Women held their own conference (see article in this issue). The Methodist Youth also had an international Leaders Seminar.

The World Methodist Council met for official business before the Conference. Malaysia was represented by delegates, both clergy and laity, from the General Conference and all the Annual Conferences.

"God in Christ Reconciling" was an appropriate theme for the World Methodist Conference. Even before it properly began events showed how alive the need for real reconciliation was.

Tensions were raised on the Korean Peninsula with missile tests conducted by North Korea. And in Lebanon the war between Israel and Hezbollah had just begun. Both events had some connection to the conference.

Bishop Sunday C. Mbang of Nigeria, out-going Chairman of the World Methodist Council said, "It is through the special providence of God that all Methodists from around the world are coming together in Seoul to pray for peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula in such a time of heightened tension."

The Council affirmed and called on Methodists the world over to support the reconciliation and peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, to be mediators for peace.

The Rev. Elias Chacour, a Palestinian from Israel, was to be one of the key-note speakers at the Conference. He was the recipient of the 1994 World Methodist Peace Award for his work to bring peace between the Palestinians and Jews in northern Israel. But he could not come because of the bombings of the towns in Galilee under his care.

He wrote, "Presently I am touring our parishes to encourage them and be present to them mainly since the outbreak of new hostilities…. No place is secure any more. Lebanon has been destroyed ... Israel's northern and central parts are daily exposed to the worst bombing with rockets … The language on both sides is one of vengeance, of hatred, of retaliation."

Never was such a theme more relevant and needful than in those days of the Conference.

Methodists Join Lutherans and Catholics in Historic Agreement
At the conference the Methodist Council formally put their agreement to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Lutherans and Catholics signed in 1999. This document was a landmark agreement that paved the way for closer ties between the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church.

In joining the Lutherans and Catholics, the Methodists declared their basic agreement to the resolution of the doctrine of justification marked out in the Joint Declaration. The historic signing was done together with leaders from the Lutheran and Catholic Church.

The World Methodist Council welcomed the agreement with great joy and hopes that there will be closer relationships with the other two churches. It also committed them to "strive together for the deepening of their common understanding of justification in theological study, teaching and preaching."

New Chairman for the World Methodist Council
The Rev. John C. Barrett was elected the new chairperson of the World Methodist Council. He is with the British Methodist Church but works in Singapore as the Principal of the Anglo-Chinese School (International).

At his installation during the closing worship service, he said, "I feel a great sense of pride today belonging to this company, and I am humbled by the prospect of giving some leadership. In doing this job, I need to rely on God's grace, and I need to ask for your prayers."

Working in Singapore he has seen the church grow in recent years although it is in decline in Great Britain. Rev. Barrett believes God's Spirit is still at work in the world and church growth will continue in other parts of the world. "Over the past decade, Methodism has increased by almost one million members a year. We expect this to continue."

Rev. Barrett succeeds Bishop Sunday Mbang from Nigeria, and will serve for the next five years.