[118.1] CHURCHES INVITED TO WITNESS FOR PEACE

The world’s churches have been invited to adopt non-violence and peace building as distinctive ‘identity markers’ of the Christian community, alive and active in the world.

Dr Fernando Enns, a German Mennonite member of the central committee of the World Council of Churches, spoke on this theme at a press briefing following his presentation today at the 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Athens, Greece.

Dr Enns played a significant role in securing the adoption of the Ecumenical Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) at the eighth assembly of the WCC in Harare, 1998. Its aim is to create a space for churches across the globe to collaborate in peace-building initiatives in a world of division and conflict.

“We do not believe any longer that we will overcome evil by evil, but by doing good”, said Dr Enns. “We truly believe that the Apostle Paul is right when he says in his letter to the Corinthians that we are ‘a new creation’ from God ‘who reconciled himself to us through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation’.” (Continued here).

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