WCC head notes shift from West to South in world Christianity

The head of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, has lamented the decline of Christianity in the West, while also praising rapid growth of the faith in developing countries – the Ecumeical News International (ENI) has reported.

"Churches are being sold in Europe and are being converted into bars. It is sad to hear that liquor is being served from pulpits where the word of God used to be preached," WCC general secretary Rev. Kobia noted during his recent visit to Kottayam in Kerala, India, to attend Asia's largest Christian gathering.

In African and Asian countries, "Christianity and churches are vibrant," said Dr. Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya, in his address to the believers on a February 19, 2007, meeting organized by the Kerala Council of Churches, a grouping of 13 Protestant and Orthodox churches.

"At a time when the Christian identity is eroding in several parts of the world, especially in the West, it is heartening that churches in developing countries are growing fast," he said.

In his speech, the WCC leader also urged the churches to take further steps towards unity. "It is better to pray together than separately," remarked Dr. Kobia, at the meeting attended by bishops wearing cassocks of different liturgical colours, and at which he was welcomed by the sound of traditional Hindu drummers.

Acknowledging that during the past 50 years, "relations between various churches and ecclesiastical bodies have changed radically from that of isolation to one of mutual respect and cooperation," Dr. Kobia asserted the "need for more dialogue for establishing a Christian identity."

On February 18, Dr. Kobia delivered the valedictory sermon at the 112th Maramon Convention, which is said to be Asia's biggest Christian gathering, held at Maramon in Kerala. Its theme was globalisation and Christian alternatives to a colonial model of world development.

Dr. Kobia was in India from February 12–20, 2007.