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The commission goes through programme reports and the report of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and will also reflect on its future. The meeting will highlight some possible orientations and guidelines as well as insights gained especially in the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Arusha, Tanzania in 2018, and through experiences of churches and mission organizations gained during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the Arusha Conference in 2018, all three of the commission’s working groups have produced a study document, and these papers, together with a slightly earlier Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network document, have been edited into a single volume. This publication, a fruit of the commission’s work from 2018-2021, will be launched online during the meeting.
WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca welcomed the commission, encouraging its vital work of guiding ecumenical endeavours in mission and evangelism.
“Mission and evangelism have always been driving forces in ecumenical advance, and I believe that this last decade has powered a bold new paradigm and fresh energy for mission itself and ecumenism generally,” he said. “In this pivotal meeting of the commission, I know that you will self-critically assess this whole decade of work and invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirit to see how the new work of your study groups can contribute further, pointing to the future.”
Rev. Dr Janet Corlett, vice-moderator of the commission, reflected on the commission’s work in light of the Arusha World Mission Conference theme “Moving in the Spirit” and challenged the commission to be open to the Spirit's direction and empowerment.
Rev. Dr Risto Jukko, director of the commission, underlined that the commission needs to think of its role and work in the changing context of the post-Covid world, in which the virtual dimension have come to stay and be present from now on in churches’ and mission organizations’ life and activities.
“Call to Discipleship: Mission in the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace” newly released by WCC
