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Study paper - "Converting Discipleship: Dissidence and Metanoia”

The study paper has been produced by the commission’s Working Group on Transforming Discipleship, which has been engaged since 2019 in a study process on the document “Arusha call to discipleship" in affirmation of the key place that discipleship holds across all levels of ecumenical work or denominational church work.

The paper "Converting Discipleship: Dissidence and Metanoia” aspires to move churches towards a transformation effected through discipleship. Addressing churches and communities locally, the document aims to inspire them to re-examine and finally re-shape their missional commitment.

Commission on World Mission and Evangelism

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

Jonah 1:4-5 and 4:1-8 "Jonah and his Selective Ecological Concern", by Liz Vuadi Vibila (Pilgrimage Bible study)

The several climatic events in the Book of Jonah present all environmental concerns: the sea calming down (1:15), making a plant grow (4:6), and the sending of a worm (4:7), and all play a particular role in God’s plan. They are used in the text as divine emissaries, human begin is the only one to oppose God’s will in these dramatic scenes. The ecological problem and the attributes associated with the creatures remain a fundamental issue from Jonah to our current daily reality. The worm, a lowly creature, is elevated as well as the ephemeral plant. Accordingly, Jonah has to learn that the plant is appointed by God. The ecological reading on the Book of Jonah invites us to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace in relation to the ecological justice.

WCC Programmes

Jonah 4:1-11 “Invitation to tolerance and compassion”, by Magali do Nascimento Cunha (Pilgrimage Bible study)

The story of Jonah is about the compassionate God whose mercy has no geographical, cultural, political, and economic frontier. The dialogue between God and Jonah (Jonah 4:1-11), which is considered the climax of the Book of Jonah, is an invitation to overcome intolerance and to cultivate compassion. The dialogue consists of two main parts: the anger of Jonah (v. 1-5) and the compassion of God (v. 6-11). In the dialogue, Jonah becomes angry, but God responds to him with two questions: “Is it good for you to be angry?” (v. 4) and “Is it good for you to be angry about the plant?” (v. 9) which indicate the limitless and universal mercy of God. In this way, the story of Jonah invites us to the pilgrimage of tolerance and compassion.

WCC Programmes

Micah 6:1-8 "What Does God Expect of You? A Pilgrimage of Reconciliation with God and with Our Neighbor", by Jin Yang Kim

The prophet Micah asks a crucial question in the midst of injustice and violence in 8th-century B.C.E. Judean society: “What does God expect of you?” This is also a question that we must ask ourselves today as we are invited to join in the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. The answer is clear: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). The first two commands stand at the centre of Israel’s faith-talk, concerning the love of neighbour (Lev. 19:18) and the love of God (Deut. 6:5). The third command is to walk humbly, which could be misleading. To walk humbly is the opposite of walking proudly or self-righteously, and actually invites us to the faith journey of self-giving, self-sacrifice, and self-emptying. So the question, “What does God expect of you?” leads us to the restoration of God’s image in us and is an invitation to become agents of transformation in the world.

WCC Programmes

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° 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