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Meditation 10 May - from Jerusalem churches

A message for the Mission and Evangelism Conference in Athens

We bring you greetings from all the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem and their various communities as you gather to consider the next stage in the work of Mission and Evangelism of the Christian Churches.

This Cross is a token of our love and prayers that God will richly bless all of you and guide your deliberations. It was made by Christian craftsmen in Bethlehen, whose very livelihoods are in danger because of the on-going situation in the Holy Land.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

Preparatory Paper N° 13: Religious plurality and Christian self-understanding

The present document is the result of a study process started in response to strong suggestions made during the 2002 meeting of the WCC Central Committee to the three staff teams on Faith & Order, Interreligious Relations, Mission & Evangelism and their respective commissions or advisory bodies. The question of the theological approach to religious plurality had been on the agenda of the WCC many times, reaching some consensus in 1989 and in 1990. In recent years, it was felt that a new approach to this difficult and controversial issue was needed.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 14 May - Cloud of witnesses - ka Siboto

I have been asked to share in this Conference, on the eve of Pentecost, some experiences and reflections of a participant in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) of the World Council of Churches.

I will do this with regards to:

Whether and how our current discourse on and quest for reconciliation in many societies around the world can be related to the situation in Palestine-Israel. As well as an interpretation of the ministry of the EAPPI in the light of concerns for reconciliation.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 14 May Reconciliation - Schreiter

There have been references and echoes of the theme of reconciliation in the theological discussion of mission throughout the previous century, but it is only in the last decade and a half that it has emerged as an important way of talking about Christian mission. David Bosch's 1992 magisterial work, Transforming Mission, makes no mention of it. Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder's recent book, Constants in Context published in 2004, on the other hand, has multiple references to reconciliation. What has happened?

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 14 May - Youth message

As the representatives of the youth of the Christian community all around the world we now deliver you a message and urge you to listen.

How old was Jesus when he first delivered His message? According to the WCC standards He would have been considered a youth. He would have been placed into a special category, offered a pre-conference and have a lovely misspelled T-Shirt.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 11 May Doc 2 - Reconciliation - Papathanasiou

Diseases such as AIDS today, or leprosy in earlier times, push those suffering from them to the margins of society - or keep them within society, provided there is some guarantee that everyone else will be safe. These diseases are of such nightmarish proportions that this social logic seems well-founded. So of course it sounds like sheer absurdity when we hear the witness of the monasticism of the Egyptian desert (ca. 5th c.). Abba Agathon, we are told, was aflame with such love that he wanted to find a leper and exchange his own body for that of the leper!

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 11 May Doc 3 - Personal testimony

I was born into a Christian home, the daughter and granddaughter of Pentecostal pastors. I was brought up and educated with love and devotion, being the youngest child with two older brothers.

From childhood I was given instruction on the Christian way and learned to love Jesus. When I came to an understanding of the plan of salvation, I was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 11 May Doc No 1 - Disability - Sam Kabue

This presentation is made within the overall theme of CWME, which is "Called in Christ to be reconciling and healing communities". The emphasis of the plenary is on "community. And the way community life may or may not have healing and reconciling quality and effect. I have attempted to explore this in the light of persons with disabilities in the contemporary church and society.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

Preparatory Paper N° 5: UEM Study on the Charismatic Movement and Healing

The United Evangelical Mission (UEM) is an international mission organisation, which came into being in June 1996. This is a communion of churches in three regions (Africa, Asia and Germany). It comprises of 33 churches and one institution - Anstalt Bethel in Bielefeld Germany. Among the 33 churches, 12 are from Africa, 15 from Asia and 6 from Germany. Historically these churches in Africa and Asia were former "mission fields" of Rheinish Mission, Bethel Mission and Zaire Mission - all former German mission societies. Together with the German churches linked with these mission societies, the Asian and African churches have established UEM to be an instrument for their common goal of learning from one another and sharing their faith together.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

Preparatory Paper N° 6: Documentation on EMS Consultations on Reconciliation

We request our churches in Korea, Japan and Germany to work locally for the remembrance of history and the transmission of insights gained thereby to the next generation.

We therefore request our congregations to work for a situation where the wrongdoing, which in some cases has only just come to light, is not repressed, and call upon them to seek solutions in cooperation with the responsible politicians and citizens' action groups.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

Preparatory Paper N° 7: Mission in the 21st Century

The Conference "Mission in the 21st Century. Mission as Evangelism in Tension with Mission as Development", was held from 25 March to 1 April 2004 and was organised by the United Theological College of Zambia (UTCZ).

The purpose of the Conference was to explore and examine the commonalities and tensions between mission as evangelism and mission as development as it has been, and is being, experienced in many of the once politically colonised and the presently economically colonised countries of the south.

The goals were to understand and appreciate the gift of mission as evangelism and the gift of mission as development from a variety of contexts; to identify, and begin to understand and grapple with the complexities of the issues that we face as a world church; to hear from each of the continents, and begin to understand their focus for mission as evangelism, as we discern the relevance of this understanding for our own work and to interact with a wide variety of people and understandings of mission as evangelism.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

Meditation 10 May - Opening prayer

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself,
and gave us the minsitry of reconciliation.” 2 Cor.5.18
We bring you greetings of Salam from the Mother-City of our faith, from Jerusalem. These greetings come from all who have been baptised in the name of Jesus, most of whom are Arab Palestinian Christians, who have kept the faith for close on 2000 years.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 10 May No 1 - Archbishop Christodoulos

On behalf of the Orthodox Church of Greece, and at the same time on behalf of all the people of Athens and of all Greece, it is with great joy and fraternal love that I welcome here in Athens all the participants of the XIII Conference on World Mission and Evangelism of WCC. In this Paschal period, almost ten days after the celebration of the Holy Easter and the Resurrection of Christ allow me to greet you all with the ancient and existential greeting which constitutes the core of our identity and witness as Christians: XPICTOC ANECTH, Christ is Risen!

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

PLEN 10 May No 2 - Rev Samuel Kobia

First, I wish to extend my profound thanks - and those of the World Council of Churches - to the Church of Greece, as well as the churches of Greece, for their invitation to hold the first mission conference of the new millennium in Athens where the apostle Paul proclaimed the gospel boldly, while still showing respect for the culture of Athens and the traditions held precious by the Greeks.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism