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Participants in a CWME meeting in Bossey, Switzerland. © WCC/Marc-Henri Heiniger

Participants in a CWME meeting in Bossey, Switzerland. © WCC/Marc-Henri Heiniger

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Authentic discipleship in mission and evangelism, hospitality, justice and inclusiveness emerged as significant topics in a recent meeting of members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME). These topics will influence the theme of the World Mission Conference which is planned to be held in 2018.

The planning of the next World Mission Conference lay at the heart of the five-day meeting which brought together newly elected members of the CWME for the first time. The meeting was held from 16 to 20 March at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

The first World Missionary Conference held in 1910 in Edinburgh is widely considered the symbolic starting point of the modern ecumenical movement. “Holding the World Mission Conference is the mandate and privilege of the CWME,” said Metropolitan Geevarghese Mor Coorilos, moderator of the CWME. “By preparing for this conference we hope to revive an old mission tradition,” he added.

Coorilos shared that the commissioners have shed light on what evangelism and authentic discipleship mean to the churches and communities in the changing landscapes of today’s world. He said these conversations were influenced by the WCC statement: Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes – a document which seeks a renewed understanding and practice of mission and evangelism.

Together towards life puts a special emphasis on evangelism, which will have an ever stronger effect in the future work of the commission, he added.

“The theme of hospitality has always emerged in our conversations. In relation to what is happening in the world with regard to religious fundamentalism, intolerance, lack of dialogue between religions, faiths, people, ideologies and cultures – it is important for us to understand hospitality from a missiological perspective,” said Coorilos.

These issues are pertinent as they make for one of the defining features of the Together towards life document, which stresses the concept of “doing mission from the margins,” he added.

Rev. Dr Janet Corlett, vice moderator of the CWME said the overarching theme that comes from the mission document also puts a special emphasis on the “spirit transforming discipleship and mission”.

“We must ask ourselves what is our calling as Christians in terms of handling the issues of our times. We cannot think theology in isolation, especially when we speak about migration and hospitality, environmental challenges, religious violence, economy and inequality,” said Corlett.

Corlett said the participation of youth in the work of the commission is of great importance. “When we engage with issues of the world, we must engage in a way that is relevant for young people,” she said.

At the meeting, the CWME members also discussed several ways through which the concept of a transformative spirituality, integral to the Together towards life document, can be well incorporated and integrated into the concept of “pilgrimage of justice and peace” - a call from the WCC 10th Assembly.

The participants also appointed executives and working groups who will take forward the planning of the World Mission Conference.

WCC statement on mission and evangelism

WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism