A quest for clarity: the World Council of Churches and human sexuality - Homosexuality: Some Elements for an Ecumenical Discussion

How has the World Council of Churches as a fellowship of churches dealt with issues related to human sexuality?

Exploring this question by analyzing documents, recommendations and decisions by its governing bodies -- assemblies and central committees -- shows that the Council has made very few official statements in this field. However, there have been repeated requests, coming from member churches, central committee meetings and various advisory groups, for studies in this area -- a quest for clarity. Some, though not all, of these studies were carried out by various WCC departments and through various methods, including conferences and consultations, questionnaires and case studies. The published results of these initiatives invariably underscore that they are by no means to be considered an official statement or an official "WCC stance".

As this article will show, the work undertaken in the context of the WCC on sexual ethics in general and in particular on family planning, family life education and the relations of women and men has not been negligible. The initiatives taken have made their impact on discussions at assemblies and at central committee meetings. In what follows I shall use the WCC's assemblies during the 30 years from New Delhi (1961) to Canberra (1991) as milestones for organizing a summary of the extant WCC material on the broad issue of human sexuality.

New Delhi

The questions facing the church in the diverse and contradictory situations

are in essence remarkably similar around the world. The churches have to

discover what positions and action to take in regard to: sex relations before

and after marriage; illegitimacy; in some cultures polygamy or concubinage

as a social system sanctioned by law and custom: in some Western cultures

short-term marriages, or liaisons, easy divorce: in all parts of the world

mixed marriages (inter-faith, inter-confessional and inter-racial) with the

diminishing of caste and class systems and of racial prejudice... The

pressing problems raised by the population explosion bring yet other entirely

new factors into family life. All this, and

much else, forces the churches to re-examine their teaching, preaching and

pastoral care and their witness and service to society.(1)

Behind this statement by the WCC's third assembly in New Delhi in 1961 lay many requests coming to the WCC for help in clarifying contemporary problems in the general area of human sexuality by means of an authoritative declaration. While acknowledging these requests, the assembly refrained from making a generalized statement, arguing that contemporary Christian ethical teaching in these areas needs to be drawn from the interaction between individual local situations, which differ widely in their cultural and religious settings, and the biblical and theological tradition. No WCC statement could be relevant unless matched by studies carried out in each area by the churches of that area.

This same dilemma would be stated over and over again by the succeeding Assemblies and during the periods between assemblies: the need for authoritative Statements and the difficulty in making any such statement for the whole Council.

In addition to biblical and theological studies, there was constant need to restate in the light of Christian experience the principles underlying the practice of monogamy, chastity and marital fidelity and the central place given to self-discipline in all Christian traditions. These elements in the Christian ethic needed to receive a positive emphasis as the means of receiving God's gifts of joy and fulfilment.

The integration of the International Missionary Council into the WCC at the New Delhi assembly extended the mandate of the WCC's Department on the Co-operation of Men and Women in Church and Society, as indicated by the addition of the word "Family" to its title. The assembly had a range of recommendations for the new department, including a survey of recent official church studies and statements on marriage and the family, a statement of the "principles underlying the idea of the Christian family" which would "show clearly the permanence and inherent sanctity of the family without making legalistic judgments or presenting the family as a sufficient end in itself", and study of "the range of exegetical positions taken by scholars in regard to biblical passages bearing on marriage and family life". At the same time the churches were urged to "study the social changes taking place in their own environments, with special regard to the effect on the family and the consequent modifications needed in their teaching, preaching, pastoral counselling and programme of practical service within the Christian community-.

The Department on Church and Society had already worked on some of these issues. Its 1956 statement on "common Christian responsibility towards areas of rapid social change" called for serious ecumenical study of the issue of population, in terms not only of birth control but also of "what needs to be said from a Christian perspective about the importance of the quality of family life". Church and Society noted that