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The events in 2025 include the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea – the first attempt to reach consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom – and the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference, through which Africa was partitioned between imperial powers.
“Our authors explore these issues from a range of contexts and perspectives, seeking to offer ways for each of these commemorations to stir fresh decolonial mission practices,” editor Rev. Dr Peter Cruchley writes in his introduction to the issue.
The Council of Nicaea gathered under the patronage of Roman Emperor Constantine I as it marked the transition from Christians being a persecuted minority to becoming a church recognized by the Roman State. It led to the adoption of the Nicene Creed still being said in churches today.
“Nicaea's association with a dominant Eurocentric, imperial mindset has historically influenced Christian mission and practice, sometimes implying that faith in Jesus can be imposed through power and empire,” writes Cruchley, The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 was convened by the German Chancellor Otto von Bismark for central and western European powers to discuss the portioning of Africa in their exploitation of Africans and African resources to quench the thirst of their economies, Cruchley notes.
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Image: WCC
“While the political and economic impact of the outcomes of the Berlin Conference have been discussed widely and some broad agreements exist, the impact of these outcomes on European Christian churches have not always been honestly engaged,” he continues.
An event in May 2025 organized by the WCC and ecumenical partners will engage with the outcomes of the 1884-85 Berlin conference and develop responses to the historic and continuing legacies of colonization.
The WCC event is “imagined as a platform to remember the past, reclaim the present, and, most importantly reimagine the future,” writes Cruchley. “How can churches, broadly speaking – Black churches and white churches – contribute to the affirmation of the humanity, dignity, and hopes of Africans and people of African Descent?”
Table of Contents: International Review of Mission: Mission in the Contexts of Empire
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More information about the WCC commemoration of the Nicaea anniversary
More information about the WCC event to engage with the 1884–85 Berlin Conference
Open Access articles published in this issue of IRM:
Joerg Rieger: On the Homoousia: The Liberative Potential of the Nicene Creed
Nicolás Panotto: Decolonizing the Triune God: Contributions from Latin American Liberation Theologies
Gerald O. West: Engaging with the Nicene Creed through Contextual Bible Study: Mark 10:17-22
Johannes J. Knoetze: The Nicene Creed, the Church, and Christian Mission: A Creative Tension
Cristian Sonea: The Spirituality of the Nicene Creed and Its Missionary Implications in the Parish Community
*International Review of Mission is published twice a year by Wiley on behalf of the World Council of Churches.
