FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY, NEVILLE CALLAM
From Alliance to Communion
June 18, 2010 has become an important date in the life of the global family of Reformed churches. It was on
that day that delegates at the Uniting General Council of two Reformed church families meeting in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, USA, voted to affirm the creation of a new church family. The World Alliance of Reformed Churches
(WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) united to form the World Communion of Reformed
Churches (WCRC).
As early as 1891, Reformed churches came together as a global body, when at a gathering in London, they
formed the International Congregational Council as an association of Congregational and some Independent
and United churches. Fifty-five years later, REC was founded as the Reformed Ecumenical Synod. Still 24 years
later, WARC was created through the union of two bodies, the Alliance of the Reformed Churches throughout the
World Holding the Presbyterian System, made up of Presbyterian and Reformed churches, and the International
Congregational Council comprising the Congregational churches.
It was in 2005 that the REC Assembly decided to approach WARC for a much closer relationship. WARC
agreed to the idea, but proposed some more far-reaching options. In January 2006, a joint proposal by
the two organizations suggested that each disband and that the member churches unite together in a new
organization.
The integration of the two organizations has created a new entity with 230 Congregational, Presbyterian,
Reformed and United member churches in 108 countries in a fellowship of 80 million. The new organization
represents 85% of Christians in the Reformed family.
At its inaugural Council Meeting, WCRC chose its first leaders including Jerry Pillay of the Presbyterian
Church in Southern Africa as president and Yvette Noble Bloomfield of the United Church in Jamaica and the
Cayman Islands among its presidium.
Speaking about the coming together of the two world bodies into a single entity, WARC General Secretary,
Setri Nyomi, a Kenyan, remarked: “In a world which is characterized by fragmentation and self-centered
individualism, a Christian move towards convergence is a very powerful witness which exposes the scandal
of division.” Agreeing with this sentiment, Richard van Houten, former REC general secretary, said that he is
encouraged by the work of bringing together two important Reformed organizations.
WARC and REF are not the only global church groupings that considered changing their name to more
accurately reflect their self-understanding in terms of communion. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has
been on a similar journey. This is reflected in their publication in 1997 of the book From Federation to Communion:
The History of the World Federation. The book traces five decades of discussion within the LWF of the discussion
on whether the LWF is merely a “free association of Lutheran churches”, a cooperative agency, or whether,
based as it is on a common confession of the Gospel, it is “something more than a free association.” In other
words, does the LWF have an ecclesial nature? The LWF publication asked whether the name “Federation” has
become a misleading name for the organization and whether the need for a new name like the Lutheran World
Communion had become clear. It may be necessary to settle any unresolved issues in regard to the LWF’s
identity before a possible name change occurs among Lutherans.
One wonders what the signs of the movement to communion ecclesiology portend for us Baptists. Have we
been more careful to address the goals of the worldwide movement than to reflect rigorously on the nature of the
world Baptist movement itself? Certainly, the discussion will be much more difficult among us Baptists than it has
been among the Reformed and Lutherans. But this does not mean that we should recoil from it.
Distinguished Baptist historian, Professor John Briggs, has drawn my attention to an earlier BWA discussion
on the subject of our ecclesiological self-understanding. He did this in response to an editorial that appeared in
the BWA News (now known as BWA Connect) in May 2008 for a fresh discussion on the self-understanding of
the BWA as a church movement. Are we still at the stage that Briggs reflected when, in a paper he contributed to
the earlier discussion, he declared: “I am not sure how far a church model for wider Baptist fellowships beyond
the local association/national union is possible? ”
The attempts at addressing the subject to which Professor Briggs referred appear to have been inconclusive.
It seems to me that, if we are serious about the organization in which we are united, we should take the time and
expend the effort in a serious theological discussion of our identity as a global organization. I am convinced that,
if we want to keep in step with the Spirit, during this new quinquennium, this is a discussion our Commission on
Doctrine and Christian Unity needs to have.
It has been said that an abundance of concern for identity and self-understanding can lead to paralysis. Our
first calling is the proclamation of the Gospel. This is indeed true! Yet, in a movement so prone to fracture and a
tradition that is too familiar with disunity, it would make sense for us to consider the question being raised about
the nature of the BWA as an ecclesial entity.


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