Rainbow Covenant Marks the Last WARC General Council Ceremony

By Pauline J. Chang

The closing worship service of the 24th World Alliance of Reformed Churches General Council was marked with rainbow colors and a sea of worshippers, in Accra, Ghana, August 12, 2004. Through the service, which was dubbed a ‘covenanting ceremony,’ the international reformed church leaders declared their unified commitment to “be part of God’s mission to confront the god of mammon” and to work for “a just world economy and the integrity of creation.”

The covenanting ceremony has been a central concept in the Reformed Christian theology; the theology declares a collective commitment to serve God and the rainbow signifies God’s promise to Noah that there will no longer be any floods in the Old Testament.

In addition to the colorful worship and string of rainbows, the Alliance members dedicated the new WARC president: Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church USA. Kirkpatrick will now be leading the 75-million member alliance, whose 200+ member churches stretch across some 100 countries.

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