News
The comprehensive programme of Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia's forthcoming (24 April to 4 May) visit to the UK and Ireland will afford the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary with many opportunities for new insights into the life and current work of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland's (CTBI) member churches.
His trip, while taking him from England to Wales to Scotland to Ireland and back to England again (see detailed itinerary below), will bring Kobia into contact with church leaders and workers engaged in such diverse fields as interfaith relations, work with refugees and asylum seekers, racial justice initiatives, and ecumenical theological education.
In the area of mission, the 2010 centennial celebration of the 1910 World Mission Conference in Edinburgh, widely considered as the symbolic starting point of the contemporary ecumenical movement, will be the focus of a visit to that city. Kobia is scheduled to speak on "Edinburgh 2010" at the opening session of a planning conference for this major event.
During his trip, the WCC general secretary will be addressing several gatherings on a variety of topics including "Global migration and new ecclesial realities," "Hope and the healing of memories," and "Called to be one," and will respond to a lecture on "Prisoner abuse: from Abu Ghraib to the passion of the Christ".
The WCC general secretary will be accompanied on his visit by WCC executive committee members Mr Graham McGeoch of the Church of Scotland and Archbishop Nifon of Targoviste of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Mr Colin Ride, Conference of European Churches central committee member (and Europe secretary of the Methodist Church of Britain), and WCC staff members Ms. Sydia Nduna (Migration and Social Justice) and Rev. Jacques Matthey (Unity, Mission, Evangelism and Spirituality).
The WCC has 12 member churches in the UK and Ireland. They are the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church in Wales, the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Presbyterian Church of Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Union of Welsh Independents, the United Free Church of Scotland, and the United Reformed Church. Three ecumenical partner organizations with CTBI - Churches Together in England (CTE), Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) and Cytûn: Churches Together in Wales - are WCC associate councils, as is CTBI itself.
Media contacts in
The UK: Bob Fyffe (Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, general secretary); +44-(0)794-066-0099 bob.fyffe (at) ctbi.org.uk
Republic of Ireland
Gillian Kingston (Irish Council of Churches, president); +353-(0)87-235-0287 gmkingston (at) eircom.net
DETAILED ITINERARY OF WCC VISIT TO THE UK & IRELAND
Tuesday 24 April: London
Meeting with Churches Together in England staff at CTE headquarters
Visit to Salvation Army territorial headquarters
Lunch with staff and guests at CTBI offices
Wednesday 25 April: Cardiff
Morning worship at Llandaff Cathedral
Meeting at the City Church (United Reformed Church); the church is involved in work with asylum seekers
Kobia to address meeting organized by Cytûn and its Commission for Racial Equality on the subject of global migration and new ecclesial realities
Thursday 26 April: Cardiff
Friday 27 April: Glasgow
Kobia to lead meditation at Iona Community's offices in Glasgow
Friday 27 April: Edinburgh
Kobia to address opening session of "Towards 2010" planning meeting for the 2010 centennial conference in Edinburgh (New College, Edinburgh)
Saturday 28 April: Edinburgh
Participation in the "Towards 2010" conference
Reception with church leaders at the Scottish Storytelling Centre
Sunday 29 April: Edinburgh
Visit to Livingston, the oldest ecumenical parish in Scotland, in what is now a socially deprived area
Sunday 29 April: Dublin
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ireland, Dr Diarmuid Martin, is hosting the WCC delegation in Dublin
Monday 30 April: Dublin
Visit to Trinity College, University of Dublin, to see the Book of Kells, one of the most lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Middle Ages
Visit to the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE), and meeting with staff, students and Dublin church leaders and ecumenical officers
Kobia to deliver public lecture at the ISE on the topic of "Hope and the healing of memories" (to be confirmed)
Tuesday 1 May: Belfast
Meeting with staff and students of Edgehill Theological College; Kobia to speak during worship at Edgehill
Lunch with Belfast church leaders and ecumenical officers
Guided tour of Belfast
Kobia to respond to lecture on "Prisoner abuse: from Abu Ghraib to the passion of the Christ" at the Irish School of Ecumenics
Wednesday 2 May: Birmingham
Kobia to address CTBI senior representatives' forum on the theme "Called to be one" (to be confirmed)
Encounter with Birmingham faith leaders' group at their regular meeting
Thursday 3 May: Birmingham
Visit to refugees and asylum seekers
Visit to community enterprise centre run by Sikhs
Meeting with Black-majority church leaders