CPCE: ''We are one church. But we must also live as one church''

“We are already one church. But we must also live as one church.” With these words Thomas Wipf, President of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE), opened the ecumenical summit meeting between the CPCE and top representatives of the World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Lutheran World Federation in Europe and the Conference of European Churches, on 2 October. The conversation took place in the framework of the meeting of the CPCE Council in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva from 2-4 October.

Peter Bukowski, Moderator of the Reformed Alliance in Germany and a member of the CPCE Council, said that there are forces in Europe which are “pursuing a sustained theory of ecumenical fragmentation”. In his view any strengthening of collaboration was being “pushed back years”. It was essential for the confessional world alliances to maintain the plan for close collaboration.

Any duplication of work was “not a good testimony to ourselves”, said Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Kobia hopes that the next General Assemblies of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Lutheran World Federation will be the last to be held without confessional partners. It is his vision to celebrate a common General Assembly of all the ecumenical organizations in ten years’ time.

Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, supported the CPCE initiatives. One challenge was that those member churches of the confessional alliances with diminishing resources were running the risk of turning away from ecumenical involvement. This was supported by Colin Williams, General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches. One problem was that the churches were “getting used to” the situation of division.

General Secretary Michael Bünker emphasized the “structural interest of the CPCE in good collaboration” between the ecumenical organizations. The CPCE fed the voice of the Protestant Church into the Conference of European Churches and thus into dialogue at a European level. Without this cooperation the minority churches in particular had “no chance of being heard”.

The 13-member Council is the executive organ of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). It meets approximately every nine months. Currently the Council with its representative members is meeting in Geneva from 2-4 October. Geneva, 3 October 2009

At present 105 Protestant churches in Europe (including five South-American churches originating from Europe ) belong to the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). Lutheran, Reformed, United and Methodist along with pre-Reformation churches such as Hussites and Czech Brethren grant each other pulpit and table fellowship on the basis of the Leuenberg Agreement of 1973.
The Secretariat is housed in the Severin-Schreiber-Gasse 3, A-1180 Vienna, office@leuenberg.eu, tel. +43.1.4791523.900, fax .110 The CPCE press officer is Dipl.theol. Thomas Flügge (Bern), tel. +41.31.3702502, t.fluegge@leuenberg.eu.