Appendix 3

Document 1 (The Buenos Aires Document)

Faith Stance on the Global Crisis of Life

World Alliance of Reformed Churches South-South Member Churches’ Forum on Confessing/Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth (processus confessionis) 22 – 26 April 2003, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Introduction

Representatives of WARC member churches in Asia, Africa, Caribbean, the Pacific and Latin America met from 23 to 26 April 2003 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We gathered together to reflect and take a faith stance in response to the 23rd WARC General Council’s call for a Committed Process of Recognition, Education and Confession (processus confessionis) regarding economic injustice and ecological destruction, which was initiated in Debrecen 1997. Our gathering in Buenos Aires acknowledged the present moment in the world’s history as a kairos, challenging us to decisive action, because the whole of creation faces a crisis of life and immense suffering.

Experience

Through sharing our experiences, we discovered the dramatic convergence of the sufferings and crises of both people and nature in the countries of the South. We were unanimous in our recognition of the negative effects of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO in their domination and exclusion of the Southern nations and their common experience of the negative and destructive effects of deregulation and speculative investments.

We recognised that creation is in crisis. We understood that nation states and democratically elected governments are weakened. We realised that the colonisation of consciousness, reinforced by the media, makes people believe that there is no alternative. We also recognized the current trends of militarism as a total war strategy of security for the global market. We read the signs of the times from the unparalleled integration of economic globalization and global geopolitics.

Analysis

We are clearly living in a new stage of capitalism, which combines all forms of power and affects all dimensions of life. The capitalist system has switched its focus from production to finance. It is also new in its far-reaching and all-encompassing strategy of domination where the global financial market acts as empire and god. It is bolstered by military, political and ideological power, and its forces determine the survival of the countries and people at the periphery.

Through neo-liberal globalization, the economy, designed to sustain life and the well-being of all, has become a totalitarian faith system of wealth accumulation for the few, endangering life as a whole on the planet. It is the very essence of neo-liberalism to deregulate the capitalist market driven by an unbridled lust for money and absolute control, thus making the market an idol.

Having recognized all these negative effects of neo-liberal economic globalization, we are convinced that the neo-liberal model cannot be transformed or adjusted, because it has inherent contradictions and has failed again and again in lifting up the countries, nature and peoples of the South to life. Therefore, we are united in our rejection of the neo-liberal model. We share the critique of the global civil movements, including the global peace movement, in resisting and rejecting the neo-liberal model as destructive to all creation.

Connecting this analysis with our faith

Neo-liberal globalization, therefore, is in complete contradiction to the central tenets of the Christian faith. It is in contrast to God’s Economy:

• God’s economy is inclusive, neo-liberal economy is exclusive.

• God’s economy is a protective economy for the poor, neo-liberal economy is an exploitative economy of the poor.

• In God’s economy, wealth flows from the rich to the poor, in the neo-liberal economy, it flows from the poor to the rich.

• The economic index of God’s economy is the poor, the neo-liberal economic index is the rich.

• God’s economy is based on God’s love and grace, neo-liberal economy is based on greed and profit making.

• God’s economy is an economy of solidarity, neo-liberal economy is an economy based on limitless competition.

We, representatives of WARC member churches in the South believe that neo-liberal ideology compromises the integrity of the Gospel and that we should take a faith stance against it.

We take a faith stance because the very integrity of our faith is in question. Neo-liberal ideology uses a theological and ideological framework to justify its presumed messianic role by claiming: economic sovereignty, absolute power and authority beyond any regulation, the right to act above national and international law, the right to act beyond ethical and moral rules. It claims that God has blessed prosperity, and poverty and disease are the results of God’s disfavour due to disobedience and laziness.

Neo-liberal ideology claims absolute power, a power which is over and against the sovereignty of God and the claims of the Gospel. Therefore, it is critical, for the integrity of our faith, that we take a faith stance. Our Reformed communities have taken such faith stances in the past whenever the Sovereignty of God has been undermined and the Gospel has been at stake politically, socially and economically (Barmen Declaration 1934, Theological Declaration of Korean Christians 1973, WARC General Council, Ottawa 1982, Confession of Belhar, 1986).

Our Faith Stance

In line with this history, we, representatives of churches of the Reformed tradition in the South, take a faith stance against neo-liberal ideology and practise so that God may be glorified and the promise of abundant life may be fulfilled:

1. We reaffirm that God created the Garden of Life (political, social, economic and ecological as well as spiritual). (Gen. 2:8-9)

We repent from idolatry, believing that the empire will bring about the peace and security, and that the power of money will solve all problems. We repent that the doctrine of creation (Genesis 1) has been used to conquer, dominate, exploit, and destroy life, especially women and the earth, and that we have neglected to care for life which is under the threat of ultimate destruction.

We reject any claim of economic, political and military power, which subverts God’s sovereignty over life. We reject the absolute ownership of property by private entity, personal or corporate, for it denies God’s sovereign ownership over all things.

We resist the power of death in the forms of global economic exclusion, imperial domination and military hegemony, which annihilates people and the earth.

We declare that God’s design for the economy is to sustain the life and well being of all creation. We worship God, not Mammon, which demands the limitless sacrifice of life for its existence. We declare that God’s sovereign reign means that all creatures are free partners in the whole realm of life.

2. We reaffirm that God has made an all-inclusive covenant with all creation (Genesis 9:8-12). This covenant has been sealed by the gift of God’s grace, a gift, which is not for sale in the market place (Isaiah 55:1). We reaffirm that God made a covenant of liberation from the imperial powers (Babylon and Rome). God’s covenant is over and against any contract, which is the “law” of domination and exploitation. It is an inclusive covenant in which the poor and marginalized are God’s primary partners.

We repent from believing that Christians have an exclusive relationship with God. We have excluded people because of their class, race, sex, ethnicity or religion. In our beliefs about salvation we have excluded people outside the Christian and also non-human community.

We reject any exclusive Christian claim over God’s blessing and protection, and thus, we reject any theological justification for neo-liberal ideology and the imperial power.

We resist the domination of the global economy, imperial power, military hegemony, and modern science and technology that destroys the wholeness of creation.

We declare that God is Creator and Sustainer of all living beings for their common living.

3. We reaffirm that the Body of Christ unites the whole cosmos, overcoming all divisions and conflicts. We reaffirm that the garden of life under a new heaven and a new earth is continually sustained and renewed through the Spirit (Colossians 1:16-18, Revelation 21:1-5).

We repent from not recognizing the unity of life in the whole universe in the Reign of Christ and the work of the Spirit. We repent that, in the name of Christ, we have condemned the faiths and spiritualities of other peoples as well as degrading other creatures. We repent that by confining the Spirit to the soul, we justified the ideology of individualism.

We reject any doctrine of limitless competition, which is the source of economic, political and social conflicts and violence. We reject corruption at all levels as an integral part of the system.

We resist any power that promotes the logic of the jungle, an ideology that legitimates the survival of the fittest and the victory of the strong over the weak.

We declare that the Body of Christ is unconditionally and universally an inclusive reality, and that the Spirit is an all pervasive energy in the universe that works for the constant renewal of life.

Our Covenant for Life

In response to a liberating God, who made a covenant for life with the whole of creation, we declare the following covenant for the life of the whole created community.

God of Life,

You are our God who liberates us from any system of oppression, exclusion and exploitation.

I. We shall not make Mammon our God, accumulating power and wealth.

II. We shall not make ourselves an idol, worshipping the effectiveness of our achievements.

III. We shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord God calling the implementation of the wealth accumulating market and imperial wars a Christian policy.

IV. We will observe the Sabbath day by not exploiting human labour and destroying Mother Earth.

V. We will provide for solidarity between the generations, not only by securing a decent living for the aged but also by not burdening the coming generations with ecological damage and debt.

VI. We shall not murder, excluding from the economy those who have no private property or who cannot sell their labour in the market.

VII. We shall not tolerate the commodification and sexual exploitation of women and children.

VIII. We shall not allow the manifold robberies of economic and financial actors.

IX. We shall not misuse the legal system for our personal profit but promote the economic, social and cultural rights of all people.

X. We shall not follow the greed of limitless accumulation by depriving our neighbours of their means of production and income so that all may live in dignity on God’s rich and beautiful earth.

Buenos Aires 26 April 2003

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Church Representative Church/Organisation

Revd Ebénézer M Woungly-Massaga African Protestant Church, Cameroon

Revd Dr Godffrey P Ngumi Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Kenya

Revd Adamu Manasseh Musa Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria

Revd Dr Elisée Musemakweli Presbyterian Church in Rwanda

Dr Willem J Botha Dutch Reformed Church, South Africa

Revd Jameson Buys Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

Revd Wailie C Khongwir Presbyterian Church of India

Revd Nicolaas J Gara Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa (GMIM), Indonesia

Revd Mindawati Perangin-Angin Karo Batak Protestant Church (GBKP), Indonesia

Prof Dr Samuel Lee Presbyterian Church of Korea

Revd Dr Carlos Camps Cruell Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba

Revd Dr Dale A Bisnauth Guyana Presbyterian Church

Ms Yvonne Dawkins United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands

Revd Norberto Spengler Evangelical Congregational Church, Argentina

Ms Priscila Y Primerano Reformed Churches in Argentina

Mr Nicolás P Rosenthal Evangelical Church of the River Plate, Argentina

Revd Miguel Palomino Presbyterian Church of Argentina

Revd Jonas Furtado do Nascimento Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil

Revd Milton Mejía Camargo Presbyterian Church of Colombia

Revd Santos Espinoza Fraternity of Evangelical Churches of Costa Rica

Ms Bertha Lilia Salinas Torres Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico

Ms Noemí N Geymonat Armand Ugon Waldensian Evangelical Church of the River Plate, Uruguay

Revd Epifanio Márquez Presbyterian Church of Venezuela

Revd Dr Taipisia Leilua Congregational Christian Church in Samoa

Mr Helis Barraza Díaz Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches

Revd Sergio Bertinat in Latin America

Revd Germán Zijlstra

Prof Dr René Krüger Speakers

Prof Dr Néstor Míguez

Prof Dr Claudio Lozano

Revd Elizabeth J Nash WARC Processus Confessionis Task Force members

Prof Dr Yong-Bock Kim

Prof Dr Bob Goudzwaard

Prof Dr Ulrich Duchrow

Revd Gretel Van Wieren

Revd Roberto Jordan WARC Executive Committee member

Revd Dr Seong-Won Park WARC Staff

Ms Giulia Ramagnano

For further information, please contact Revd Dr Seong-Won Park, Executive Secretary of the Department of Cooperation and Witness P.O. Box 2100, 150, route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 62 36, Fax: +41 22 791 65 05, Email: swp@warc.ch

Document 2 (The London Colney Document)

The time has come

Faith stance on Covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth

London Colney, UK, February 8-11 2004

The north-south member churches’ forum in London Colney continued the journey begun by the 23rd general council (Debrecen 1997), which invited member churches of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to enter into a process of “recognition, education, and confession” regarding economic injustice and ecological destruction. This forum gathered representatives of 26 member churches from the north and south and developed the following faith stance on the way to the 24th general council (Accra 2004).

Why take a faith stance?

There is a growing recognition that the way in which the capitalist market system works today causes the suffering and death of people and creation on a massive scale. Life is at stake; suffering and destruction abound. Hunger and starvation, diseases such as HIV/Aids, social insecurity, and ecological destruction often become opportunities for further profit. The same market forces that victimize the south are at work in the north. The economic and environmental problems are interconnected and aggravate each other in disastrous ways, constantly pushing us away from the God of life and from fullness of life for the whole creation.

Economically, the capitalist market does not serve the exchange of useful goods and services for all, nor is it held politically and socially accountable for the common good. Built on the absolute property rights of a minority of owners and regulated to benefit corporate profit, it has only one goal: to maximize the accumulation of wealth by a few. Financial capital dominates the economy, excludes the poor, fosters speculation, and traps people and nations permanently in debt. Capital goes less and less into the long-range sustainable production of goods and services. Instead, the drive of corporations and the market often causes unemployment, degradation of working conditions, forced migration, and increasing structural indebtedness. Macroeconomic policies such as structural adjustment programmes, privatization, devaluation of local currencies, and cutbacks in social services, imposed on countries by global economic institutions, widen the gap between rich and poor.

Ecologically, creation is in crisis. Nature is seen only as the raw material for consumption and wealth creation. There is no recognition of nature’s intrinsic value or that regular communion with creation is important for our spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing. The unlimited growth policy of industrial economies accelerates the plundering of the earth and the irreversible destruction of the environment. All over the world, the industrialization of agriculture is driving small farmers out of business. Many species and habitats are being destroyed, and creation as a whole is in peril.

We live in a time of empire – an empire that enforces the current trend of militarism as a global war strategy in order to secure markets and imposes destructive macroeconomic policies on entire countries to serve the ends of the market. The degree to which economic globalization and global geopolitics are integrated today has no historical parallel. Modern science and technology are used to serve global military power and the global market, rather than to serve life. Structural violence is intensified by racism, caste systems and gender inequalities.

Poverty robs women of the fullness of their humanity. The trafficking of women and children exploits, commodifies, and even enslaves.

In the midst of social, economic and ecological deterioration, plagues and diseases are spreading all over the world, affecting animals as well as people, and hitting the poorest countries in an alarming way. Millions of people die from Aids and too often are deprived of effective medical treatment by profit-oriented pharmaceutical corporations.

The media, increasingly controlled by corporate powers, colonize human consciousness, instilling the consumerist values of the market.

At the heart of today’s economic and environmental problems is what is referred to in many parts of the world as neoliberalism, neoliberal capitalism or the Washington Consensus.

This consensus has the core beliefs that

1. competition, consumerism and the unlimited accumulation of wealth are best for the whole world.

2. the capitalist market is built on the principle of private property without any social obligation, as well as contract as the only legal basis.

3. the practice of liberalizing and deregulating the market, privatization, openness to foreign investment and imports, the unrestricted movement of capital and lower taxes will achieve common wealth.

In fact, the rich and the rich nations use political institutions and military force to secure their own interests and do not follow the practice they require for others.

Neoliberal ideology claims to be without alternative and thus challenges the sovereignty of God, while also demanding an endless flow of sacrifices from the poor and from creation. Therefore the integrity of our faith is at stake.

Our faith is at stake because

• suffering and destruction is contrary to the will of God, who created life and conquered death through Jesus Christ

• neoliberal capitalism makes the false promise that it can save the world

• neoliberal capitalism claims sovereignty over life and demands an allegiance that amounts to idolatry.

The integrity of our faith is at stake

As people who belong to the God of life we have been given a new vision, the biblical vision of the fullness of life for people and the earth. We commit ourselves to this biblical vision, which is opposed to neoliberal capitalism in the following ways:

a) It is oriented to the fulfilment of basic needs and human flourishing, not to maximum productivity and consumption (Isaiah 65, 1 Timothy 6).

b) It has care and distribution as its driving force, not accumulation (Luke 12:16-21).

c) It promotes solidarity, serving living communities, and rejecting individualism (Acts 4-5).

d) It subjects financial markets to the service of the real economy, not the real economy to the rule of finance (Luke 19).

e) It corrects systematic indebtedness and the loss of land by jubilee measures and constrains the economy to respect the environment, instead of allowing the search for profits to destroy it (Leviticus 25).

f) It creates a space where justice and peace will kiss (Psalm 85:10), instead of subjecting every space – physical, mental, and spiritual – to the ends of the market.

We are challenged as churches to make a confession of faith because we have listened to the cries of suffering people and the groaning of creation. This confession of faith will reject the injustices of today’s global economy by reaffirming our faith in the triune God who opens up a new creation in Christ and calls us to respond faithfully to God’s covenant.

1. We affirm that God is sovereign over all creation (Genesis 2:8-9)

We repent of the belief that the market economy and the power of money will bring about peace, security and freedom from hunger and disease. We repent of the misuse of the doctrine of creation (Genesis 1) to conquer, exploit and destroy life – especially women and the earth – misinterpreting our role as stewards of creation. We repent of the belief that neoliberal capitalism is the solution to the world’s problems.

We reject any claim of economic, political and military power that subverts God’s sovereignty over life. We reject the cooption by large capital owners of the gifts of God, given to all people, as absolute property for private profit at the expense of t he common good, because this denies God’s sovereign ownership over all things. We reject the idea that humankind has an unrestricted right to dominate and conquer nature.

We declare that God’s design is to sustain all creation. We declare that God’s sovereign reign means that all creatures are endowed by God with dignity and are to live in companionship with one another.

2. We affirm that God has made a covenant with all creation (Genesis 9:8-12)

This covenant has been sealed by the gift of God’s grace, a gift that is not for sale in the market place (Isaiah 55:1). God’s covenant is over and against any contract that is the “law” of domination and exploitation. It is an inclusive covenant in which the poor and marginalized are in a preferential way God’s partners. All creation is blessed and included in this covenant.

We repent of our complicity with neoliberal capitalism, which excludes the poor and vulnerable from the fullness of life. We repent of our excluding people because of their class, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

We reject the misuse of the biblical idea of God’s covenant by any group or nation to exclude others on ideological or political grounds. We reject military, political, and economic domination. We reject the ideological and political misuse of Scripture and Christian faith to justify any form of domination.

We declare that God’s covenant invites all creation into a relationship of participation in common living. We declare that God gives us the freedom to build, preserve, and care for all creation (Genesis 2, 1 Corinthians 10:23-26).

3. We affirm that in Christ all divisions and exclusions are overcome. There is unity of life in community, among nations and in the cosmos (Ephesians 2:11-21)

We repent of not recognizing the unity of life in the whole universe through the reign of Christ and the presence of the Spirit. We repent of degrading people of other faiths and spiritualities in the name of Christ. We repent of breaking the body of Christ through divisions and schisms.

We reject unlimited competition and the cynical social doctrine of the survival of the fittest.

We declare that the body of Christ is called to be, unconditionally and universally, an inclusive reality.

4. We affirm that the Holy Spirit gives us a vision for a new heaven and a new earth

The Holy Spirit continually renews and sustains the vision of the garden of life in a new heaven and a new earth (Colossians 1:16-18, Revelation 21:1-5). The Spirit moves us into fellowship with one another and towards hope for a new vision based on love, forgiveness and transformation in Jesus Christ.

We repent of not being sensitive to and trusting in the life-giving, transforming power of the Holy Spirit and therefore limiting our vision of justice, peace and hope for the world. We repent of justifying the ideology of individualism by confining the Spirit to the soul.

We reject the view of modernity that privileges the material over the spiritual. We reject the market’s drive to dominate all of life through materialism and consumerism.

We declare that the Holy Spirit is working in all creation, inspiring, renewing and transforming life.

Covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth

The Alliance fellowship has been led by the Holy Spirit to a time and place where a choice must be made; a stance must be taken. Churches can no longer remain lukewarm in responding to the suffering and destruction of people and the earth. Now is the time for churches to proclaim with passion that we will commit our time and energy, indeed, our very selves, to changing, renewing and restoring the economy and the earth.

We, as the church of Jesus Christ, oppose

• maximum productivity, consumption and accumulation to serve the ends of individuals and corporations at the expense of the poor and creation;

• the use of the military to promote the market mechanisms;

• the use of the Bible to oppress people and the earth, and to support the goals of the current economic ideology;

• the unjust applications of tariffs and subsidies;

• corporate activity that utilizes unjust labour policies in order to maximize profits;

• the consolidation of agriculture that drives small farmers out of business;

• structural adjustment programmes that create unemployment and exploit the environment;

• the destabilization of economies through unregulated currency speculation;

• unpayable levels of international debt;

• the idea that there is no alternative to neoliberal capitalism.

We, as the church of Jesus Christ, confess and repent

• of falling short in responding to the urgent cries of the poor and creation;

• of not speaking prophetically against the powers that oppress and enslave;

• of failing to lift up a biblical vision of the economy as opposed to the current market vision;

• of giving in, especially in countries in the north, to materialism and over-consumption.

• We, as the church of Jesus Christ, are called to

• support economic activity that promotes sustainable communities and ecosystems;

• work for the release of systematic indebtedness where it enslaves people and countries;

• support governments so that they may protect their people and markets, and develop infrastructure, healthcare, and education in locally appropriate ways;

• work for rigorous and internationally enforceable pollution controls;

• advocate the upholding of universal human rights;

• promote the protection of workers’ rights;

• strive for multilateral and unilateral disarmament and peace;

• make significant contributions to environmental protection and preservation;

• promote sustainable investment that gives consideration to the poor and the environment;

• adopt lifestyles that witness to God’s economy for life;

• create faith stances and continue with the process of recognition, education and confession regarding economic injustice and ecological destruction within our own churches.

We, as the church of Jesus Christ, and as a sign of hope,

reaffirm our commitment to work with

• national, regional and global ecumenical bodies and faith communities to covenant for justice in the economy and the earth;

• civil, peoples’ and citizens’ movements in the struggle for justice;

• groups who work for alternatives in order to build a sustainable economy and environment (eg the Fair Trade and Just Trade movement).

We pray

We praise you, O God, for your creation; for the diversity of humankind; for the provision you have made for the sustenance of life throughout the earth; for the interconnectedness of creation; for the privilege you have granted us to play a role as stewards in sustaining creation.

We confess, O God, that we have not always recognized our place in creation, as people created by you to be in companionship with one another and the earth. Help us to be instruments of renewal and restoration and not of destruction. We repent of our fears, inconsistencies and weaknesses in responding to your call.

We pray, O God, for the vulnerable who are negatively affected by ecological and economic injustice and ask that you give them the strength and resources to rise above their situations.

Grant your church, O God, in the midst of the forces of evil and death, the power to truly represent your voice and to work with you as partners in bringing about life in all its fullness. Amen.