News
An international consultation will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women (1988-1998), 1-6 October in Kingston, Jamaica.
The consultation will reflect on the achievements and challenges in building a just community of women and men, assess current trends, and strengthen collaboration for the future.
“Twenty years ago, the ecumenical women’s decade officially concluded, with the call that its priorities – addressing the impact of violence, racism and xenophobia, and global economic crisis on women, as well as women’s full and creative participation in the life of the church – would continue,” states Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, deputy general secretary of the WCC. “Through this consultation we will together read the signs of the times, and map the future direction of our ecumenical work in these areas.”
The consultation is being held in the context of the 70th anniversary of the WCC, the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace and the 2030 sustainable development agenda.
The Thursdays in Black campaign will be highlighted during the commemoration event. Begun as part of the Decade in the late 1980s, Thursdays in Black, which seeks a world without rape and violence, “connects our ecumenical history with the action and solidarity that is still so desperately needed today,” says Phiri.
The global consultation will gather intergenerational women and men from WCC member churches and their theological institutions and ecumenical partners who are keen to shape together the vision for a just community of women and men that is inclusive of people from the margins of the church and societies and from churches which are on the margins.
To participate and support
Member churches and ecumenical partners interested in participating in the consultation and able to meet their own expenses should contact Isabel Apawo Phiri at isabel.phiri[at]wcc-coe.org and Ms Greta Nania Montoya Ortega at Greta.Nania_Montoya_Ortega[at]wcc-coe.org.
In addition, in the spirit of ecumenical solidarity, member churches and ecumenical partners are also asked to consider sponsoring up to 5 participants (global North and global South, women and men, young people age 20-35) who are not able to pay for their own participation.
Just Community of Women and Men
