WCC chief exhorts 'back-to-basics' faith at Mar Thoma Church's 175th anniversary

Calling for reformation and renewal in church by going "back to the basics" and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, on Saturday exhorted Christians to "fulfil our calling to be the disciples and witnesses of Jesus Christ in our time."

The head of the World Council of Churches was speaking at a valedictory meeting celebrating the 175th anniversary of reformation in the Mar Thoma Church.

Describing the reformation in the Mar Thoma Church as a return to the "purity of the life and practice of the early church", Rev. Tveit pointed to the preaching of the word of God that led to the reformation of thought and revival.

The Mar Thoma Church traces its roots and traditions to Apostle Thomas, who is believed to have brought Christianity to India in the year AD 52.

The Church experienced a massive revival in the year 1836 when Abraham Malpan initiated reforms by putting emphasis on studying the Scripture and returning to the apostolic traditions of the Church. Malpan discarded practices such as invocation of saints and prayers for the dead.

"It has been recorded that the reformation in the Malankara Church brought powerful currents of change in church and society, and it helped the church disown practices that needed to be corrected and break off the fetters of spiritual and moral bankruptcy," recalled Rev. Tveit.

"Church reformation according to Scripture is a continuous process, going back to what unites the churches, a process needed from the very first days of the church," he said. "The gospel of Jesus Christ is the powerful message that can make a difference in a church where we as failing and imperfect human beings serve Christ."

In his inaugural address, Tveit noted that reformation as a critical process may also lead to a potentially wider and deeper unity when it takes the church back to the origins.

"Reformation of the church can happen only when it leads to a deeper understanding and promotion of what unites us a church, even when we might be living in different, structurally independent, local churches," he said.

"True reformation requires true unity. In the church itself we need to address again and again the reality that we are not identified by our different heroes, leaders, ancestors, reformers, or by our privileges or our education, but by Jesus Christ. Only in that way can we come to an understanding of our calling."

Rev. Tveit also spoke on the cross which he said is the perspective that must not be missed out. "The cross is the reality check of all our talk about God – and about life. With the perspective of the cross our talk about God cannot be just lofty words. For God has through the cross bound himself to reality, to all aspects of reality: to both death and life, and even to the unjust, inhuman and incomprehensible suffering and death in this world."

The 175th anniversary function was held at the Dr. Alexander Mar Thoma Auditorium, Thiruvalla, Kerala. The meeting was attended by bishops, priests and lay leaders of all major denominations. Those graced the occasion include Joseph Marthoma Metropolitan, head of Mar thoma Church; Rev. Dr. Hnriette Hutabarat Lebang, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia; and Prof. PJ Kurien, Member of Parliament.