Post-Communist Churches Face 'Post-Christian' Challenges

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post Reporter Monday, June 04, 2007

Post-communist churches that survived decades of Soviet domination are now confronted with new challenges as their country adopts modern secular society, noted the head of an ecumenical church body.

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, visited two countries last week with the main agenda of speaking about the role of the churches and the ecumenical challenges in secularized, post-communist societies which have recently regained independence.

While in Estonia, Kobia noted that perseverance, which the church relied on to survive Soviet domination, is "no longer enough" when challenged by "a newly materialistic and in many ways a 'post-Christian' culture."

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"The collapse of a totalitarian state system did not save churches from other challenges, including secularism, religious relativism and consumerism," Kobia warned Latvian church leaders, according to WCC.

The general secretary noted that churches survived and even grew despite "strong attempts" during the Soviet era to replace the Gospel with atheist propaganda.

Yet churches now face two major obstacles from "deep and rapid changes" resulting from opening up to free market systems including "strong individualism and consumerism of market societies" and bi-ethic composition of society.

However, Kobia assured representatives of the Estonian Council of Churches that WCC churches have been working together for years to address problems resulting from economic globalization and invited the Estonian churches to "join the debate."

Moreover, he said many WCC member churches also face the challenges of reconciling and healing between different people groups within their country.

During his visit, Kobia met with the leadership of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC) – the only WCC member church in the country – and representatives of the Estonian Council of Churches.

In Latvia, Kobia met with the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, as well as heads of Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist and Pentecostal churches. He also met with top government officials, including Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis.

On his last day, the WCC general secretary attended events celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church where he was recognized by the EELC for his contribution to ecumenical work. Kobia also met with the Estonia's president, Toomas Hendrik, while in Tartu, where the events were being held.

The WCC general secretary's official visit to Latvia and Estonia began on May 29 and concluded on Saturday, June 2.

The World Council of Churches is an ecumenical fellowship of churches bringing together 347 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries.