Leaders in the World Council of Churches (WCC) advise the faithful to use information based on science and evidence and to respect authorities’ advice if we are to overcome the novel coronavirus COVID-19 afflicting humanity and growing into new areas such as Africa. The advice applies especially to meetings of people of any form which endanger people in most countries now.
Two medical doctors at the World Council of Churches (WCC), Dr Mwai Makoka and Dr Manoj Kurian, provide answers to questions that the faithful might have in these trying times for humanity, offering cautionary advice about the dangers to life that meetings can create.
Dr Makoka, from Malawi, is programme executive for Health and Healing at the WCC and Dr Kurian from Malaysia is the coordinator of the WCC-Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance and they use their expert knowledge to advise the faithful in how to react to the deadly virus.
The advice they offer also comes from the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom who urge people and churches to give the highest priority to “doing whatever we can do to protect life”.
They “ask churches not to have public services tomorrow (22 March) as they can become hubs of transmission of the virus” and to follow strictly the rules and guidelines from authorities based on WHO guidelines.
Tveit and Abuom “commend to all of you the advice and practical recommendations offered by intergovernmental and governmental health authorities to help protect the vulnerable in our communities and others.”
The WCC doctors and leaders recommend the faithful to be mindful of the words the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, when he spoke to journalists this week.
“Don’t assume your community won’t be affected. Prepare as if it will be. Don’t assume you won’t be infected. Prepare as if you will be,” he said.
Tedros said physical distancing measures – like cancelling sporting events, concerts, and other large gatherings such as religious meetings – “can help to slow transmission of the virus”.
"Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic with faith communities: some guidance for churches" - questions and answers to medical doctors at the World Council of Churches (WCC), Dr Mwai Makoka and Dr Manoj Kurian
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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.
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