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Bishop Dr. P. C. Singh’s Presidential Message: Our Vision and Mission

OUR VISION AND MISSION

Dear Ecumenical Colleagues,

I thank God along with you for a century-long ministry of the National Council of Churches in India.  I welcome all of you to this new quadrennial period of renewed vision and commitment.

I am grateful to all of you for unanimously electing me to be the President of this national ecumenical movement which, in the past, had been led by great ecumenical leaders like Bishop Vedanayakam Azariah.  All the members of the Presidium will be working as a team.  I request the full support of my friends.

Let me take this opportunity to bring greetings from Church of North India of which I am the Deputy Moderator and also from the Diocese of Jabalpur where I serve as its Bishop.  We were privileged to host the quadrennial assembly of NCCI from 27 to 30 April, 2016 in Jabalpur.  Our diocese was greatly blessed by your presence and participation.

It is only appropriate to reflect on our vision and mission for the new quadrennial period and future years.  As all of us know, NCCI has initiated a Strategic Planning Process (SPP) which also involved a light assessment of NCCI’s life and work (Jan-Feb 2013)

The main objectives of the SPP were to:

  • Articulate a vision and mission of NCCI
  • Spell out the implication of such a vision for the mission of the NCCI
  • Draw out the implications of the mission statement for the structure of NCCI and its governance
  • Give directions and functional policies for the existence and relevance of NCCI

I have drawn major insights of this “Vision and Mission” paper from the findings and recommendations of the SPP.  To those I have added insights from my own experience a minister of the Church.

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Meditation on ‘Inclusiveness’

Introduction: “Gospel in a groaning world” was the theme of the previous quadrennial.  The present quadrennial has the theme “Towards Just and Inclusive Communities”.  During the assembly we deliberated on this theme in detail.  This morning I wish to share some thoughts on the theme of “inclusiveness”.

Inclusiveness in simple terms means comprehending everything, containing everything and including everything.  In human terms it means accepting and respecting others who are different from us, giving opportunities to those who are marginalized, and working towards a community without discrimination of gender, caste and creed.

What does this term mean in our Christian faith?  What are its implications in our community life?  These are some of the questions we need to deal with.

There are three main principles of Inclusiveness

Principle 1. God is the most important principle.  Col.1:17 says that God is the basis of all things.  We can call this principle also as unity in creation.  It is by the word of God (divine fiat) that all things were created.  Human beings were designed by God’s hand.  The source is the same.  Therefore, all creation will have to be finally restored to God.  That is God’s purpose.

Principle 2.  Life and its resources.  Life is a gift from God.  It is a common factor for all creation.  Life has many forms.  Think of the simple common things that we share as part of our life-sustaining system.  The air we breathe, the water we drink, the sunlight we enjoy are some of them.  All creatures share them.  All of them originate from God.  People belong to different religions and faiths.  Yet, we are all grounded in the same source – life.  So, life has priority over religions and faiths.  The life which comes to us as a gift from God binds us all together.

Principle 3. Jesus Christ, He is the most powerful symbol of inclusivity.  All things were created through him and all things which were created came into existence only through him (Jn.1)

 

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