Q: We know that it's your first visit to China. What impressed you most during this visit?
A : I have been looking forward very much to this visit. China is a country that fascinates the world. I have been following the development of China, and I am very much impressed by the way China as a country is changing. As far as the church is concerned, the biggest impression is the rapid growth of the church in China. The second impression is that the church is very dynamic. It is involved in more things than I previously thought. I did not know that the church in China is so involved in social development activities and projects. I have the impression that the church has very wide connections with the society.
Q: We know that you have shown great support and recognition for the Three-Self principle of the church in China. Does this visit bring you new understandings of the Three-Self principle?
A : Yes, indeed. The Three-Self principle is, it seems to me, the concept that has made the church in China as dynamic as it is. But, again, here in China I have learned a great more about it. I went to see Bishop Ting. Although it was not a very long visit, we gained a much better understanding of what the Three-Self movement means to the church in China. It has brought what I have called really the development of the study of the church and that is very important. So that has helped the church to grow its own roots in the Chinese soil. For the church, there is meaning in its own people to be firmly rooted in the soil of the country. And it is the Three-Self principle that has helped the church in China to do this.
Q: During your visit in China, you have been to several local churches and have preached and held discussion meetings with the pastors. How do you feel about this experience?
A : For me, to have the opportunity last Sunday to worship in the church here in Beijing helped me to have a good idea of the situation of the worship in China . And I would say it was a moving experience to join the school children who learn the basis of the Christian faith. The Sunday school teacher was truly effective in her approach to teaching the children. You have young people. I think this was the truly impressive thing compared to the church in Europe where I live now. When you go in, you hardly find any young people.
So you have here in China a spectrum of people, from children to young adults to old men and women. This signifies that the church has a strong future here. To have so many people who are keen about the church ¨C particularly the young people ¨C shows that the church has a future. I am very happy to see this happening in China.
Q: How do you view the "theological reconstruction" by the church in China? Could you give some advice?
A : I think theological reconstruction is absolutely necessary in a situation like China, because when you begin to struggle with self-understanding as a church, you need to have a theology that is meaningful to the people. So the theological reconstruction will help the Chinese theologians articulate the context in which their theology is done. A theology that has a lasting meaning for the church in various societies has to be contextual. And Chinese contextual Christian theology can only be obtained through theological reconstruction. Secondly, you have a church that has now advanced to a post¨Cdenominational period, so the church cannot simply borrow theology from Europe or from USA. It has to grow its own theology here.. Particularly in post-denominational Christianity, you need to find ways of relating to the society, because the church is relating to the society. Again: the church in China cannot be involved meaningfully in the society through ideology. You have to have indigenous contextualized theology and not a theology that simply borrows from outside. All these factors make it absolutely necessary and very important to have theological reconstruction. I hope the theological seminaries in China and particularly the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary (a national theological school) will help not only the students who come there to have an understanding of theological reconstruction but might also help the older generation who need to re-learn because some of them have learned a kind of foreign theology. They also need to have refreshing courses which are as important to the old people as it is to the young generation of theologians.
Q: Bishop Ting has said that ˇ°God is loveˇ±, how do you think about this?
A : I haven't read this book. This is the book which I really looking forward to reading because I respect Bishop Ting's ideas generally and therefore I want to read the book for myself and understand what it is. But generally speaking, I fully agree with Bishop Tingˇ®s thesis that what the church needs is to understand and show love for the Chinese society. The Chinese people need this, as, I would say, people everywhere do. It's too vague to talk of God being love and God loving the world and Christ dying for the world. So I think of trying to internalized the love of God, in order to be able to keep that love to the world and society. A book like one of the Bishop Ting's is important not only to Chinese but to all of us.
Q: In the current world, people are facing a series of common problems such as environmental protection, wars and terrorism. What role, in your opinion, does WCC play in achieving world peace and development?
A : There are two dangers that humankind is facing in the 21st century, two things that have the biggest impact on the life of this earth: one is violence, and violence is threatening people at all levels in the society. Domestic violence means it is difficult for even children to live and grow in a friendly environment. Domestic violence, as we know, targets women in many places, including Africa. This makes it difficult for mothers to bring up their children in a loving way.
Violence in communities and in the cities makes human relationships very difficult. Violence gives birth to violence. And therefore at the micro level we have this kind of violence. At the macro level, it has lead to nuclear war (and God forbid a nuclear war!). If terrorism is spreading to all parts of the world, then we have the real danger of more innocent people being killed. And what could happen in this world if there is more access to nuclear weapons? There are those who are prepared to kill themselves and everybody that threatens them. And this is one concern of the World Council of Churches. Therefore we established the Decade to Overcome Violence (from 2001 to 2010). This is one way the World Council of Churches is expressing the issue of violence in the world today
So violence is one problem that threatens life in a massive way. The second one is the damaging acts of human beings toward creation. Human activities have an influence on climate change, causing destruction of the environment. Our lives are all tied together with the rest of the creation. And our quality of life depends very much on the environment that we live in. For this reason WCC initiated its climate change program more than 20 years ago. We feel sure that people can get together and agree that the damage we are causing the environment is affecting the quality and quantity of life on this earth.
We must walk together in every local community and in the entire world. That's why we have been very supportive of the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol was signed in Kyoto some 7 years ago. It needs to be reviewed again now. We human beings must commit ourselves together and not just leave it to each nation to decide what they want to do. I think we must enforce the agreements that nations make. As far as the churches are concerned, we have no choice but to work with those who are prepared to expressed the issues of climate change. Because when God created the world God says everything in it was good. Also, God commanded His people to take good care of the creation.
And I think it's the responsibility of every Christian church and all of us Christians around the world to put even more efforts into making sure that the world is not destroyed through violence, war and neglecting the environment.
