|PIC1|The former Prime Minister of Norway, Kjell Magne Bondevik, has told churches and international Christians groups to ensure that their statements responding to political issues are rooted in the Christian faith.

"What I often experienced was that we received statements from church bodies, domestic and international, and they were almost like statements from other organisations and NGOs," Bondevik told the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), currently meeting in Geneva, reports Ecumenical News International.

Bondevik, an ordained Lutheran priest, served as Norway's prime minister between 1997 and 2005. He is now moderator of the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

He praised draft WCC statements on climate change and democratic governance for beginning with biblical references that make clear at the outset the importance of such issues for Christians.

"When we make statements on international issues and more generally political issues, let us all try and root them in Christian ethical values," he told the central committee, the WCC's highest governing body. "That is how we can give added value."

The WCC central committee will meet in Geneva until 20 February.