WCC PUBLICATIONS

Lead us not into Temptation is a forth coming document prepared by an ecumenical group composed of theologians, economists, financial experts, sociologists and ecologists. This WCC document highlights essential areas for consideration by churches as they engage themselves in responding to the policies of the World Bank, the IMF and the challenge of globalisation. As the wind of globalisation blows, some churches are strong enough to meet the challenge of the global forces while others are in a state of powerlessness and unable to make a fresh critical review of economic and social questions that confront us today. The aim of the document is, therefore, to serve as a point of reference on how churches can deal with the ongoing relationships being created between the World Bank and the churches. Copies of this document can be ordered from the JPC team.

Reaching Reconciliation: Churches in the transitions to democracy in Eastern and Central Europe In the early 1990’s the face of Europe, and indeed the world, changed. The transitions from authoritarianism to democratically-minded governments in Eastern and Central Europe liberated millions of people and hastened the end of the 20th century’s most long-standing conflict - the cold war. Yet, as with all wars, wounds can be slow to heal. Reconciliation, despite its central role in peaceful conflict transformation, is a long road tofollow. The churches in East Germany, Poland and Estonia have been significant societal actors before, during and after the demise of the formerly all-powerful actors of the communist parties. What was the churches’ role in the transitions? What have they done to heal the wounds of the past and where are they heading on the road to reconciliation? Here, in Reaching Reconciliation, Hans Baer, Joan Löfgren and Halina Grymala-Mosycynska approach these questions in their case studies on East Germany, Estonia and Poland, respectively. Edited by Lucia Ann McSpadden, this volume builds upon and in-depth analysis by the Life & Peace Institute of the churches in ‘new democracies’ in Africa, Asia, Europe and Central America. Of interest to theologians, policy-makers, activists, scholars and students of Eastern and Central Europe, Reaching Reconciliation is an important collection of history, analysis and understanding of the origins of societal conflict in these three countries and the pursuit of reconciliation by the churches. ISBN 91 87748 47-9, 280 pages, US$19.00, £11.50, EUR 16.00. Please send orders to: Life & Peace Institute, Communications Unit, PO Box 1520, SE-751 45 Uppsala, Sweden GET INSIDE OUT, THE CWM MAGAZINE, FOR ONE YEAR FOR FREE! Inside Out is the bi-monthly magazine of the Council for World Mission (CWM), a community of 31 Protestant churches worldwide whose origin goes back to the London Missionary Society in 1795.The magazine tackles issues at the forefront of mission such as: the rise of Christian sects and new religious movements the meaning of worship in a fast-changing society fighting drug and alcohol abuse. It also includes personal testimonies of faith, news from CWM churches and missionaries, prayers, Christian book reviews, facts on world Christianity, and much more. For a year’s free subscription, contact: Nina Orchard, Council for World Mission, Ipalo House, 32-34 Great Peter Street, London, SW1P 2DB, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7222 4214, fax: +44 (0)20 7222 3510, or Email You can read articles from Inside Out on CWM’s website. The website also contains loads of free resources, church info, CWM’s history, missionary vacancies, campaigns, a free news service, and more. It’s a goldmine of information on CWM and the world Church!

Responding to Conflict is offering the following courses and workshops: Working with Conflict 30 April - 6 July 2001 A highly practical, experience-based course for people working in areas of instability and conflict. Especially suitable for NGO staff, aid workers, those concerned with rights, relief, reconstruction and development. Includes conflict analysis, group dynamics, negotiation, mediation, trauma, confidence-building, conflict prevention and much else. Places limited. Some partial scholarships available. This is a ten week course. Strengthening Policy and Practice 23 - 27 July 2001 Practical Strategies for Agencies Working in Areas of Tension and Conflict Primarily for staff of agencies concerned with relief, development, rights and peace-building programmes. This workshop will provide practical models and methods to assist aid agency staff to analyse conflicts, and to integrate effective conflict-handling strategies into their programmes. Responding to Conflict has produced a handbook, Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action, and also offers, on request, local workshops and consultancies in English, French or Spanish. For more information, please contact: RTC, Selly Oak Colleges (E), 1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham B29 6LJ, UK. Tel: (+44)(0)121 415 5641 Fax: (+44)(0)121 415 4119 E-mail Website: Responding to Conflict provides opportunities for individuals and organisations to develop new ways of working on conflict Registered charity no. 1015906

WCC honours its first general secretary's 100th birthday Geneva (ENI). The World Council of Churches has honoured the 100th anniversary of the birth of its first general secretary, the late W A Visser't Hooft, one of the towering figures of 20th century church history. At a special ceremony held in Geneva on 28 September, before more than 100 guests, Dr Philip Potter, WCC general secretary from 1972 to 1984, remembered a man "overwhelmed by the majesty of the cause" of ecumenism and impatient to advance it. Catholic Church to investigate ways to stop child abuse. London (ENI) Two months after it was engulfed in controversy over a priest convicted of sex offences, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has announced an independent review of arrangements to prevent child abuse within the church. Church book will help Protestants to relate to Germany's 3m. Muslims - Berlin (ENI) As Germany's political leaders seek to combat increasing racism and violence against foreigners, the country's main Protestant body has published its first official statement on relations between Christians and Muslims. A 128-page handbook summing up the two years of study by the Evangelical Church in Germany's (EKD) special commission on relations with Islam was released at a press conference on 11 September in Berlin, Germany's capital. Brazilians will dance their way around the world to spread peace - Hanover (ENI) The language of dance can help the church to express its message, according to Lusmarina Campos Garcia, the Brazilian producer of a new contemporary dance performance commissioned by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to promote its Decade to Overcome Violence. The 40-minute performance - intended to challenge churches and civil society throughout the world to take action against violence - received its world premiere on Saturday 2 September at Expo 2000 - the world çça Contemporânea, with music from the Trio Aquarius. The dance tells the story of the WCC's "Peace to the City" campaign, a network of peace initiatives launched in 1997 and based in seven cities around the world. Using music, song, dance, light and colour, the production portrayed efforts to build a culture of peace world-wide. Peace conference in Lisbon ends with Catholic apology to Portugal's Jews - Lisbon (ENI) The leader of Portugal's Roman Catholics has issued a public apology to the local Jewish community for the suffering imposed on it by the Catholic Church, which in the 16th century supported an inquisition that expelled countless Jews or forced them to convert to Christianity. As an international religious gathering - Oceans of Peace: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue - closed in the capital, Lisbon, on 26 September, Dom José Policarpo, the Catholic Patriarch of Lisbon, expressed his church's regrets to the Portuguese Jewish community. Speaking in the centre of Lisbon, at the place where the inquisition once held its hearings, the patriarch apologised for his church's actions. After reading a short declaration of guilt and repentance, Dom José Policarpo embraced three Jewish rabbis and other representatives of the nation's Jewish community.