By Stephen Brown
Harare, 5 December (ENI)--A Nigerian church which permits polygamy among its members, including clergy, will not be able to join the World Council of Churches for the time being, despite a recommendation by the WCC's executive committee that the church be received into full WCC membership.

The Celestial Church of Christ, an "African Instituted" ( indigenous) church established in Nigeria after the Second World War, was included on a list of nine churches seeking membership of the WCC, which was presented at the start of the WCC's eighth assembly, which opened on 3 December in Harare, Zimbabwe. The WCC's executive committee had recommended that all nine churches be accepted as members.

But the assembly was told today by Gabriel Habib, the moderator of its Policy Reference Committee I which has been considering membership applications, that the committee had decided it was necessary "to discuss further" the issue of WCC membership with representatives of the Celestial Church of Christ. He did not specify the nature of the discussions.

Habib said that if it was not possible to resolve the issue during the assembly, it would be up to the new central committee, which is to be elected during the assembly, to take a final decision.

The assembly accepted the other eight churches into full membership, also on the recommendation of the committee. This raises to 339 the number of the WCC's full and associate member churches, up from 332 (one of the eight churches admitted to full membership had previously been an associate member church).

The Celestial Church of Christ was established in Nigeria by Reverend Oshoffa, a Methodist layman, who began preaching in 1947 after seeing a vision of an angel. The church does not oblige polygamous new members to divorce their wives, and clergy also can keep their wives, according to a paper presented to the WCC assembly. The church estimates its worldwide membership at five to six million members in 1800 parishes within Nigeria and 500 outside the country.

One of the eight churches accepted as a member does allow polgyamy, although it appears it may be accepted only for the church's lay members and not for clergy. In recent years some international church organisations, including the Anglican Communion, have tolerated polygamy, a traditional practice in some parts of the continent, within some of their member churches in Africa. In general these churches do not actively condone polygamy and do not allow church members to take second or third wives. But males who have more than one wife on joining the church are allowed to keep them.

The eight churches which were admitted to membership today were:
- The Christian Protestant Angkola Church, from Indonesia, which was received as an associate member church at the WCC's last assembly in Canberra, in 1991. It has over 27 000 members in 162 congregations served by 42 pastors, including 11 women. The church is also a member of the Lutheran World Federation.
- The Christian Church of Sumba, Indonesia, which grew out of the missionary work of what is now the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. It has 182 000 members in 78 congregations and 95 pastors, of whom 13 are women. The church is also a member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
- The Harrist Church, from the Cote d'Ivoire, an African Instituted church which has grown from the work of a Liberian evangelist, William Wade Harris, in the years 1913 to 1915. The church, which allows polygamous new converts, has a membership of over 100 000 in 702 parishes served by 1400 preachers and over 7000 "apostles". Each of the church's congregations is governed by 12 "apostles". No mention is made in the documents on the question of whether pastors can keep more than one wife.
- The Council of African Instituted Churches, from South Africa, a federation of 10 member associations, each of which groups a number of member churches. CAIC leaders estimate the council's total constituency at 3.5 million Christians.
- The Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria, which grew out of the missionary work of the Christian Reformed Church in North America through the Sudan United Mission. The church became autonomous in 1973. It now has 50 consistories served by 43 ordained pastors, with a total membership of about 450 000. It is also a member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
- The United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe, which grew out of the work of the American Board of Missions of what is now the United Church of Christ (USA). It became autonomous in 1973 and has more than 30 000 members in 30 congregations, served by 29 ordained pastors.
- The Anglican Church of Congo (Democratic Republic), which was part of the former Anglican province of Rwanda, Burundi and Bogo-Zaire, and as such a member of the WCC. When the province was reconstituted in 1993 in three new provinces, two of them - Rwanda and Burundi - applied for membership. As part of the Anglican Communion, it also belongs to the Anglican Consultative Council.
- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Congo (Democratic Republic), which originated in 1968 among young people in the south-eastern part of what was then Zaire who had been evangelised by Radio Voice of the Gospel. In 1996 the church had 82 parishes and 120 000 members, served by 39 pastors, five vicars, 15 evangelists and one bishop. It is also a member of the Lutheran World Federation.

The WCC assembly also received the Samoa Council of Churches and the Council of Protestant Churches of Equatorial Guinea as associate councils, and recognised five organisations as International Ecumenical Organisations in working relationship with the WCC - the Frontier Internship in Mission, the Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism, the World YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), the United Bible Societies, and the Associations of Christian Colleges and Universities: International Ecumenical Forum. [971 words]

Photographs of the assembly are available from Photo Oikoumene

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