WCC Head Defines Ecumenism on Taiwan Visit

In a pastoral visit to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, the head of the World Council of Churches stressed the significance of ecumenism while denouncing the possession of nuclear weapons.

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, WCC’s general secretary, concluded on Sunday his four-day visit to Taiwan where he and the PCT head affirmed the “true spirit of koinonia.””The way we live our faith as churches ecumenically informs our common witness, just as our failure to act together and to give a clear witness to the world reflects our failure to be church,” said Kobia in his remarks to faculty and students of the Taiwan Theological College and Seminary. “Ecumenism cannot be separated into spiritual or justice-oriented ecumenism, nor into church-based or world-open ecumenism. These different aspects belong together.”

Kobia underscored the significance of working together in a later meeting with PCT’s general secretary, the Rev. Chang Te-Chien.”The more we engage together as churches, the more we become fully a church. And that is what the ecumenical movement is all about,” he said. “It is that space which brings churches together to witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to engage together to overcome any divisions we may have, doctrinally or otherwise.”