On Monday 18 November 2024, at the 73rd General Assembly of the National Council of Churches of Korea (NCCK), at the Ewha Womans University, Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea and Exarch of Japan was elected President.
In his first speech, the Metropolitan, immediately after his election, addressed the audience with the following thoughts:
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,
It is customary when one assumes an executive position to make programmatic statements about how one will work.
However, we Christians should not follow the secular paths to find our way of working because we have been given the way of our ministry diakonia by Christ Himself: “But you must not do the same, but the superior among you must become like the inferior, and the leader like the servant” (Lk 22:26). Christ did not teach us the spirit of diakonia to our brethren only by His word, but also by His example by washing the feet of His disciples. When Christ finished this act of extreme humility then He said to His disciples: “I have given you an example, that you also may do as I have done” (Jn 13:15).
It is in this spirit of ministry in Christ that I take up the position of the President of NCCK and I wish to thank everyone in advance for your trust.
I promise to work with all my strength to promote unity among Christians on the one hand and to protect the environment on the other. Our struggle for unity must be based on Love and Truth. Our action as Christians on the climate crisis, from which we are suffering worldwide, must be based on the teaching of the Gospel, in other words, on theological rather than political criteria.
The first report from a Christian perspective on the ecological problem was made in 1954 by the WCC. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the first Christian Church in the world to establish in 1989 September 1 each year as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment. Therefore, from the many years of experience of the WCC and the Ecumenical Patriarchate on this huge problem, we can learn much about our action as NCCK to help address the climate crisis facing our planet.
Once again, I thank you for the honor and ask our Lord to enlighten all of us so that the works we will manage to accomplish in the new period beginning today will be for His glory and the spiritual progress of Korean society. Amen.
Click here for: Photos