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Luke 24: 13-35 - "You'll Never Walk Alone", by Fernando Enns (Pilgrimage Bible study)

On 23 August 2018, a great ecumenical event took place in Amsterdam, the city where the World Council of Churches was founded 70 years ago. Many international ecumenical guests came to celebrate the birthday of that “privileged instrument” of the ecumenical movement. A symposium was held in the university, a great service was celebrated in the Nieuwe Kerk in the city center, and guests were welcomed by the mayor of Amsterdam and local church representatives. And many Amsterdamers came to join the festivities. Everything was livestreamed and broadcast.

WCC Programmes

Luke 24: 13-35 - “Outside of their comfort zone”, by Jennifer Martin (Pilgrimage Bible study)

The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is dedicated to the accompaniment of persons as they move along their journey, regardless of what their current circumstance might be. At times persons may be so overwhelmed by their past and present that they are incapable to grasp the help which is at hand. Pilgrims often need a patient, listening ear before they can draw the strength to carry on with their physical and spiritual pilgrimages.

WCC Programmes

Luke 24:13-35 "The Walk to Emmaus", by Susan Durber (Pilgrimage Bible study)

There are all sorts of pilgrimages for which one plans and prepares, looks forward to and anticipates with excitement. This story in Luke 24:13-35 is nothing like that. This is a story about a walk that comes from grief and trauma, from profound disappointment and sorrow. It is a story that starts with the slow steps of the depressed and cast down. But it ends with the excited running of the redeemed, and the joy of finding life transformed.

WCC Programmes

Matthew 10:1-42 "Jesus Sends Out the Twelve – On a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace", by Fernando Enns

Jesus sends out his disciples to the world of injustice and violence. The disciples, who are on a pilgrimage, are not saints but ordinary people, and they are not sent with empty hands but with power to force out evil spirits (Matt. 10:1). As Jesus warns the disciples,“I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves” (Matt. 10:16). The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is not an easy walk. It is a courageous and costly participation in God’s pilgrimage of justice and peace. Today, refugees bring justice and peace because God wants to meet us in them. In this way, the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace could be a channel of blessing because pilgrims themselves are the recipients.

WCC Programmes

The Church: Towards a Common Vision

What can we say together about the Church of the Triune God in order to grow in communion, to struggle together for justice and peace in the world, and to overcome together our past and present divisions? The Church: Towards a Common Vision a remarkable answer to this question. Produced by theologians from the widest range of Christian traditions and cultures, The Church addresses first the Church’s mission, unity, and its being in the Trinitarian life of God. It then addresses our growth in communion – in apostolic faith, sacramental life, and ministry – as churches called to live in and for the world.

Commission on Faith and Order

The Nature and Mission of the Church - Presentation by Rev. Prof. Viorel Ionita

The Porto Alegre statement «Called to be the One Church», with all the reactions from the churches to it, should be used to help Faith and Order Commission develop The Nature and Mission of the Church into a common statement, proposes the Very Rev. Prof. Dr Viorel Ionita in his contribution to the discussion on the future of the study "The Nature and Mission of the Church".

Commission on Faith and Order

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

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° 11: The Healing Mission of the Church

The present document has been prepared by a multicultural and interdenominational group of missiologists, medical doctors and health professionals. It builds upon the tradition of the WCC's Christian Medical Commission (CMC) and its most fruitful contribution to an understanding of the healing ministry of the church. This document does not repeat what remains well formulated in earlier texts of the World Council of Churches, such as the document "Healing and Wholeness. The churches' Role in Health", adopted in 1990 by the Central Committee.

Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

A Treasure in Earthen Vessels: An Instrument for an Ecumenical Reflection on Hermeneutics

This text (Faith and Order Paper No. 182) explores the complex but often creative field of hermeneutics - the interpretation of texts, symbols, and rites - and its role in the search for visible church unity. It invites us to reflect on how we approach and evaluate one another's language and symbols, as a contribution to mutual understanding among Christians and churches.

Commission on Faith and Order