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Christian
Engaged Projects |
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| Based on the conviction
that issues of justice, peace, and environmental
protection
are inextricably related, the Justice, Peace and
Creation team (JPC) of the World Council of Churches
(WCC) seeks to foster the creation of just and
sustainable communities around the world. Based
on its vision of an ecumenical Earth, the WCC challenges
Christian individuals, denominations, and churches
around the world to work together to resist social
and ecological destruction and to create viable
alternatives to corporate globalization. Guided
by a vision of Earth as Home, a life-centered form
of ethics, and a firm commitment to economic justice,
the JPC team runs a variety of programs concerning
the environment, women, youth, racism, Indigenous
Peoples, people with disabilities, globalization,
and peace. Taking up the recommendation from the
WCC’s Eighth Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe
(1988) that the WCC focus its attention on creating
an alternative to corporate globalization, the
Ecumenical Earth Program promotes a vision of the
world based on the Christian commitment to the
oikoumene, which it variously defines as the diverse
unity of the whole inhabited earth. To address
the myriad destructive effects of corporate globalization,
the JPC team uses a methodology of analysis, critique,
and the creation of alternatives based on the following
principles: equity, respect for biological and
cultural diversity, accountability, participation,
sufficiency, and subsidiarity (defined as “the
downward distribution of power”). In cooperation
with WCC member churches and ecumenical partners
(including Christian development agencies such
as Christian Aid, Brot fur die Welt, Church World
Service, Norwegian Church Aid, and Church of Sweden
Aid), Ecumenical Earth programs focus on such issues
as climate change, transportation, biological and
cultural diversity, and biotechnology. |
| Christianity |
| International |
| 1983–Present |
In the 1970s, the
WCC began to recognize the connections between
justice, peace, and ecological
sustainability. At the Vancouver Assembly in
1983, the WCC encouraged member churches to publicly
commit to addressing environmental concerns as
part of a common effort to promote Justice, Peace,
and the Integrity of Creation, which became known
as the JPIC process. In 1988, the WCC launched
its Climate Change Program to promote the transformation
of socioeconomic structures and personal lifestyle
choices that contribute to global warming. In
1990,
the WCC sponsored the World Convocation on Justice,
Peace, and the Integrity of Creation in Seoul,
Korea. Climate Change was at the center of one
of four
covenants at the Seoul convocation. At the Canberra
Assembly in 1991 the WCC strongly affirmed the
JPIC process, and a Justice, Peace, and Creation
Unit was formed. That same year, the WCC initiated
its Theology of Life Study, which drew on the
experiences of twenty-two local groups from around
the world, each
reflecting on one of the ten affirmations made
at the 1990 World Convocation on Justice, Peace,
and the Integrity of Creation. The purpose of
Study was to ground WCC theology more firmly
in the lived
experiences of local communities around the globe.
The WCC strongly engaged with the preparatory
process and the follow-up to the 1992 United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) summit in Rio de Janeiro. It participated
in
all of
the
sessions
of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Sustainable
Development and the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The WCC regularly addressed the delegates to
the UNFCCC and organized seminars and worship
services
accompanying the events. In 1995, the WCC presented
a petition with approximately 500,000 signatures
to the UNFCCC in Bonn. In 1997, the coordinator
of the
WCC Climate Change Program, David Hallman, delivered
a “justice statement” to a gathering
of senior governmental officials at the summit
on climate change in Kyoto, Japan. The current
JPC team was formed during the restructuring
of the WCC after the Harare Assembly in 1998.
In 1999,
issue sixteen of Echoes, published by
the JPC team, was entitled, “The Earth
as Mother,” and
featured articles relating to the environment
and Indigenous peoples in various parts of the
globe.
The WCC
has also published study documents and books
on issues related to climate change and sustainable
development.
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| “To analyze and
reflect on justice, peace, and creation in their
interrelatedness, to promote
values and practices that make for a culture of
peace, and to work toward a culture of solidarity
with young people, women, Indigenous Peoples, and
racially and ethnically oppressed people.” |
350 WCC member churches worldwide
Regional ecumenical
organizations on all continents
National Councils
of Churches
Church-related development agencies
Environmental NGOs and social movement organizations |
| None Listed |
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| None Listed |
World Council of Churches
P.O. Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Ph: +41.22.791.6111
Fax: +41.22.791.0361
Email: infowcc@wcc-coe.org |
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This site is hosted courtesy of the
Harvard
University Center for the Environment
Copyright © 2004 Forum
on Religion and Ecology.
All rights reserved.
Last Updated:
12/14/05
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