Geneva Congress Reports By the Rev. Stanley P. Allen Executive Secretary of the American Council of Christian Churches of California WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE?
national Council o f Christian Churches. His testimony concerning affairs in his land stirred the Congress deeply. They were there from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaya, Philippines, India, New Zealand, Lebanon, Trans-Jordan, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Nor way, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico—almost any nation you can name. While any one could attend as a visitor, and many did, the Congress was primarily a gathering o f representa tives o f churches, both denominations and local congre gations. For the International Council is a council o f churches. This fact was emphasized again and again, and the constitution was strengthened to make this fact even more evident than before. The council is not interested in being, or being thought to be, a miscellaneous organ ization o f general character, but is a council o f churches. Voting is restricted to the authorized delegates o f the member-churches. WHAT HAPPENED? The Congress lasted eight days. Each day brought a happy combination o f business and timely messages. What a thrill it was to listen to men o f God from various lands, o f various tongues, colors, cultures, and costumes, and o f varying persuasions on the matters that have histori cally marked off the denominations from each other, but united in their adherence to the fundamentals o f the faith and in their conviction that there must be neither fel lowship nor organizational connection with those who have departed from fundamental Bible Christianity! To hear Dr. David Hedegard, o f Sweden, speak on the in spiration o f the Scriptures, to listen to the Reverend John Larner Bird, o f London, president o f the Fellow ship o f Independent Evangelical Churches o f Great Britain, as he speaks on “ Men For This Hour,” or to give ear to Kiok Chiang Quek, o f Singapore, or Santiago Cruspero, o f Manila, did something wonderful to a be liever. |-¿l . It was a meeting with a message—a message clear and certain to all Christians and to all the world. Statements were adopted and issued concerning the recent develop ments in the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council o f Churches, communism (on which subject the World Council o f Churches made such a miserable pronounce-
I N the elegant Grand Theatre, o f Geneva, Switzer land, bedecked with the flags o f many nations, the second congress o f thé International Council of Christian Churches was held August 16-23. On a giant banner above the platform were the words o f the theme : REFORME DU XXe SIECLE (Twentieth Century Reformation). Located on the famous Place Nueve, across the square from the park which contains the historic Reformation Monument, and within easy eye shot o f the church in which John Calvin preached four centuries ago, the Grand Theatre was a far cry from the simple little church in Amsterdam where the International Council was brought into existence two years ago. That church was the one in which the Pilgrim Fathers worshiped during their sojourn in Holland just before coming to America in 1620, and it had much meaning to our group which gathered there. But Geneva, the “ City o f the Re formation,” made famous by Farrel, Calvin, Beza, and Knox (whose statues are the central figures o f the Reformation Monument), was a most appropriate place fo r this second general meeting o f the International Council, which is spearheading on a world level a re formation in this twentieth century. WHO WAS THERE? People from forty-three nations were present. They gathered from all quarters and from all directions. From Holland came a chartered bus, loaded with eager partic ipants, including a Nigerian who came by way of Amsterdam. Two or*three o f the younger Dutch brethren arrived by bicycle, and a couple o f students hitch-hiked! From the United States chartered planes transported more than two- hundred persons, including many from Latin America, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea, as well as from America. A Korean had been flown part of his journey by military transport plane on special order o f General MacArthur’s headquarters at the request of President Syngman Rhee of South Korea. The Korean, a layman, is, like President Rhee, an ardent, true-to-the-Bible Christian, and is a vice- president of the Eastern - Asia affiliate o f the Inter
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