Efforts to shape a new ecumenical vision, as well as confront the world's continuing crises, topped the agenda when the council's decision-making body met February 15-22 in Geneva, Switzerland. It was the committee's last gathering before the World Council of Churches' 9th Assembly, set for February 14-23, 2006, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Retooling the ecumenical vision for the new century is not only "a matter of structures" but also "a process of transformation," the Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist pastor from Kenya, told the 150-member central committee in his first report as the organization's top executive.

Such transformation, he added, "must be rooted in the conversion to the source of our lives and the life of all creation, the Triune God whom we confess together."

Shaping a new vision also means streamlining the council's activities to better deal with new patterns of church life and an ever-changing world context. The central committee did significant work on this "reconfiguration" process, according to the Rev. Larry Pickens, chief executive, United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Inter-religious Concerns.

Part of the process is affirming the role of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal movement "at the forefront of the ecumenical movement in the 21st century," he said. "We also learned of significant work that is taking place with respect to engaging Pentecostals in dialogue."

Committee members adopted the consensus approach as a decision-making model in an effort to strengthen participation and commitment of member churches.

The Rev. Bruce Robbins - a United Methodist pastor and committee member from Minneapolis who has been involved with the council for years - considers the shift to a consensus model "historic."

"I hope it will lead to new levels of listening and seeking to one another in the council," he told United Methodist News Service. "All of us in the council knew that it was important to change the ways in which we inter-related and that we needed to seek to be in fellowship in new ways."

With a theme of "healing and reconciliation" for the central committee meeting, delegates listened to concerns about conflicts and injustices in regions such as Africa and the Pacific.

"We have heard the voices of those who live in war-torn nations in Africa, seeking a peaceful end to the conflict in settings such as Burundi and Sudan," Pickens said. "The World Council of Churches has played a significant role in these trouble spots, addressing poverty in these and other countries."

Richard Grounds, a United Methodist and central committee member from Tulsa, Okla., called the committee's adoption of a formal statement on indigenous peoples a "significant move forward."

The "Statement on Human Rights and Languages of Indigenous Peoples" calls upon member churches to urge establishment of a U.N. International Year of Indigenous Languages; appeal to their governments to remove discriminatory laws against indigenous languages; consider practical ways to respond to the issue of language loss and continue support of other issues regarding indigenous rights and languages.

"This statement should serve both to raise awareness and as a rallying point for those churches and agencies wanting to support indigenous peoples on this urgent matter of keeping alive the richness of our cultural heritage through our languages," Grounds said.

"The urgency of this task cannot be overemphasized. According to the chair of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, half of the world's linguistic diversity will be lost in the next 20 years."

Grounds noted the lack of diversity of delegates to the council's 2006 assembly, but hopes the setback in representation is temporary. "The reduction in numbers of delegates over the financial stress of the WCC has had unfortunate consequences for the diversity of representation that so many have worked toward over many years," he said. "As compared to the last assembly in Harare, we have seen a significant decline in the percentages of delegates representing women, youth and indigenous peoples."

The WCC's last assembly was held in Zimbabwe's capital city in 1998.

Considering issues of international conflict, the central committee discussed using economic measures to pursue peace in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. In an informational statement on the issue, delegates reminded member churches that "with investment funds, they have an opportunity to use those funds responsibly in support of peaceful solutions."

The "process of phased, selective divestment from multinational corporations involved in the occupation" approved in 2004 by the Presbyterian Church (USA) was cited as an example. That divestment process also has raised considerable criticism, especially from American Jewish groups.

Responding to the crisis in Iraq, the central committee recommended a debate in appropriate international forums about "a timetable for the reduction and termination of the U.S.-led coalition's military presence in Iraq and for the removal of its military bases there."

The statement calls both governments and intergovernmental bodies "to greater accountability under the rule of international law both for the causes of peace in Iraq and for more effective management of such crises in the future," and it insists on a greater role for the United Nations in helping Iraqis gain control of their country.

In other action, central committee members:

• Called on churches to urge implementation of International Criminal Court by governments that already have ratified the Rome Statute on which the court is based, as well as ratification of the statute in countries, such as the United States, that have yet to approve it.

• Expressed prayers, condolences and concerns for the Dec. 26 tsunami victims and survivors, and called upon churches to provide long-term spiritual accompaniment and trauma counselling in those South Asian countries.

• Appealed to the U.S. government to let the U.S. National Council of Churches "fulfil its pastoral and humanitarian responsibilities" by visiting detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

• Made 17 recommendations in a memorandum on "uprooted people" and other new patterns of migration resulting from globalization and other factors.

With new members joining the fellowship, council membership has increased from 342 to 347 churches. The Methodist Church of Indonesia was among those welcomed into membership, and the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico was received as a new associate member.

In addition to Pickens, Robbins and Grounds, the United Methodist Church was represented at the meeting by Lois Dauway of New York. [Editor: Linda Bloom, a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York, for APD]