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The Sixth General Assembly:
Harare, Zimbabwe
Theme: Abundant Life in Jesus Christ
John 10:10
25-29 October 1992
Opening
Ceremonies
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe offered
the Assembly’s now traditional presidential introduction. He
shared that peace and prosperity among African nations can
only occur if creative gifts are shared, if people respect
each other and if justice and equality are realities. He spoke
very highly of the achievements of the church in Zimbabwe. His
final request to the delegation was that all Africa’s churches
serve as the continent’s social conscience.
The
opening speaker following President Mugabe was Dr. Philip
Potter, former General Secretary of the WCC. In his
presentation he cited several alarming statistics, including
the fact that there are between 8 and 11 million refugees in
Africa. With numbers like these how can we proclaim abundant
life? Dr. Potter recalled that Jesus also talked about
abundant life in a time of oppression; abundance is not just
about material possessions, rather it means including all
people and sharing with all people. He quoted General
Secretary Rev. José Chipenda’s definition of development: to
loose ourselves from oppressive forces. Dr. Potter worried
that development in Africa has been a weakening force thus
far, not a strengthening one. He closed by addressing the
spirit of the Assembly, gathered in discussion to fulfill the
West African proverb, “To speak is to love.”
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