World Alliance of Reformed Churches 1970

BACK From "A Comment and Reflections" on Church as Community and Common Witness to the Kingdom of Godby Rev. Jos Vercruysse s.j.

WORLD ALLIANCE OF REFORMED CHURCHES (WARC) founded in 1970 from the merger of

Alliance of Reformed Churches throughout the World Holding the Presbyterian System (1875)

International Congregational Council (1891)

WARC is “A family of churches” consisting of 75 million Christians in 216 churches in more than 100 countries. Its member churches are Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches."

However, not all 'reformed' churches are members of WARC.

"A world-wide fellowship of Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. These churches retrace their origins to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century in Europe, especially in Switzerland, where first Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) in Zurich and afterwards John Calvin (1509-1564) in Geneva were prominent. Various historical and political circumstances helped this current of the Protestant Reformation spread world-wide through emigration and mission from the Netherlands, England and Scotland. The “Reformed” considered themselves more consistent with the original ideals of the reformation sparked by Martin Luther. Different from the Lutheran churches whose name is taken from their initiator, Martin Luther, and Anglicanism whose name refers to a nation, the English kingdom, the Reformed churches referred to their church order, whether Congregational or Presbyterian, and always with a strong synodal structure. Even “Puritan” did not have a moral meaning but an institutional one: by rejecting the episcopacy and adopting a congregational or presbyterian order these churches understood that they were adopting a purer church order, more consonant with the gospel."

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/alliance-reform-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20070124_vercruysse-comment_en.html

Bilateral dialogue between the precurser groups of WARC (ARCWHPS & ICC) during and after the Second Vatican Council became a hallmark of the ecumenical movement, and this newly forming alliance "took up" contact with the Roman Catholic Church "in view of" bilateral dialogue in 1968.

"Setting up such a dialogue was somewhat more difficult in the Reformed world because of the reserved role the Alliance wanted to play in relationship to its member churches, preferring to favour the appropriate local initiatives already on the way in various countries and the relations within the wider ecumenical movement."

"The preliminary meetings with Catholic representatives in Geneva (November 1968) and Vogelenzang (Nl) (April 1969) decided that the initiative was feasible and desirable. The official conversations began in Rome in April 1970. The results of the first phase were published in 1977 under the title The Presence of Christ in Church and World."

A third series of annual conversations, was held in Venice 1998, Oegstgeest (NI) 1999, Castel Gandolfo 2000, Cape Town 2001, Dromantine, Newry, Northern Ireland 2002, and a final drafting session in Toronto, Canada 2003 resulting in a final report: "Church as Community of Common Witness to the Kingdom of God".

co–chaired by the South-African Reformed Professor H. Russel Botman

Catholic auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor (Northern-Ireland), Mgr. Anthony J. Farquhar