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Churches send message of sympathy to Indonesia and Australia


In the wake of the bombing in Bali, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland has sent messages of support to the Communion of Churches in Indonesia and to the National Council of Churches in Australia. To the Revd Dr Ishak K.Lambe, General Secretary of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, CTBI General Secretary Dr David Goodbourn has written: "I am writing on behalf of the 32 churches from all major traditions in Britain and Ireland to express to the Indonesian Christian community, and to your fellow citizens, our sincere sympathy in the wake of the bombings which took place in Bali and Sulawesi at the weekend. While, according to media reports, the immediate victims of the Bali outrage were largely expatriate, we are conscious that its impact will be deeply felt within Indonesian society at social, economic and political levels. "The islands on which our own churches minister - Britain and Ireland - have not, for most of the past thirty years, been immune from terrorist attack. We are thus acutely aware of the kind of political dilemmas in which Governments can find themselves, forced to balance issues of "freedom", "security" and "justice". With so few church links between the CTBI churches and those within the PGI family, I cannot write with any intimacy about the Indonesian context. I am sure, however, that our churches can be asked to pray for your Government, the churches and the great majority of Indonesian Muslims who are people of good will, as your country seeks to come to terms with the root causes of these terrible events and respond appropriately.' And to the Revd John Henderson, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia, Dr Goodbourn has written: "I am writing on behalf of the 32 churches in membership with CTBI to express to the Australian churches, and to your fellow citizens, our sincere sympathy in the wake of the bombing which took place in Bali at the weekend. From initial media reports of the scale of Australian casualties we understand that this tragic event is likely to be deeply felt within Australian society, well beyond the circles of the families most immediately affected. "We will pray that, through the NCCA, the churches are able to contribute to the nation's coming to terms with this tragedy in whatever way is needed in the weeks and months to come. In the immediate aftermath of such an event no elaboration is needed, especially from afar. Be assured, however, that as "security" appears to be diminishing in inverse proportion to the pace of "globalisation", we will look for means of staying in effective relationship with NCCA as a sister ecumenical body, in the interests of strengthening our mutual understanding of the forces at play in the world today." source: CTBI

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