> Critical moment interreligious conference > WCC general secretary meets Pope Benedict XVI > Samuel Kobia visits Russian Orthodox Church > Joint Consultative Group of the WCC and Pentecostal churches > Indigenous Peoples on interreligious dialogue and globalization

Six ecumenical bodies, including the World Council of Churches (WCC), have appealed to the African Union and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) to bring the government of Togo and opposition parties to the negotiating table so that they may together seek a solution to the current crisis.

"An ecumenical movement that doesn't involve conversations between people who disagree would not be an ecumenical movement," says Michael Kinnamon in the following interview given at the 9-16 May 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

The Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) has issued a letter to the Christian world in which it calls on churches everywhere to become healing and reconciling communities of hope, open to all.

On Sunday, Christians from more than 100 nations, representing churches in every geographic region and most of the historic traditions of Christianity, closed their conference on world mission and evangelism in a "sending service" in central Athens, on the site of Saint Paul's sermon to the Athenians.

Following in the footsteps of Saint Paul, WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia proclaimed Christian unity in "a fellowship that exceeds our capacity to define it".

The "language of reconciliation is often unclear" and it has sometimes been "manipulated and distorted to serve other ends". But reconciliation reveals "the heart of the gospel," and thus is a paradigm for church mission.

Dialogue between Pentecostals and others active in the ecumenical movement is still in an early stage of development as the constellation of participants expands.

Women in brightly coloured saris eat breakfast with bearded men in flowing black robes. Lutherans compare ideas with Catholics. Orthodox exchange greetings of peace with Evangelicals. Participants in the Athens World Mission Conference have experienced the formation of a peaceful and accepting community.

Gracia Violeta Ross only understood the meaning of her first name (grace) after discovering she was HIV-positive.