wfn.org | [WCC News] Upcoming Events May 2004

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches 7 Upcoming events
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 23/04/2004 - ev-04-5

 May 2004

In this issue:

     Kobia to visit Ecumenical Patriarchate
     Global mission from a marginalized perspective
     WCC and the Roman Catholic Church
     European ecumenical gathering televised live at the Ecumenical Centre
     WCC commissions to discuss diakonia and justice
     Kobia celebrates ecumenical elder

 WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia to visit Ecumenical Patriarchate
 1-4 May 2004, Istanbul, Turkey

 Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
 Constantinople, considered "first among equals" of the Eastern Orthodox
 churches and one of the WCC founding members in 1948.	More information on
 this visit will be made available on the WCC calendar.

 www.wcc-coe.org > press corner > media calendar

 Global mission from a marginalized perspective
 1-6 May 2004, Accra, Ghana

 In an effort to bring a new understanding and approach to mission, the WCC
 Urban Rural Mission programme (URM) will gather clergy and lay
 participants from grassroots mission networks, indigenous and other
 marginalized groups for this global mission conference. Participants will
 share together in Bible study in the "Lectio Divina" style as well as
 different types of group dialogue, including story circles traditional to
 North American indigenous communities. The conference will begin with
 local community visits, enabling participants to strengthen their
 understanding of contemporary missiological challenges from the
 perspectives of people in struggle. Organizers hope to continue deepening
 a holistic vision of mission in preparation for the 2005 Conference on
 World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

 URM: http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/mission/urm.html 
 CWME: www.mission2005.org 

 WCC and the Roman Catholic Church
 6-13 May, Kolympari-Chania, Greece

 The Joint Working Group (JWG) between the WCC and the Roman Catholic
 Church will convene for its last plenary meeting prior to the 2006 WCC
 assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil.  JWG members will finalize ongoing
 studies on the nature and purpose of ecumenical dialogue, implications of
 common baptism, and participation of the Roman Catholic Church in national
 and regional ecumenical councils. The meeting will also prepare the eighth
 report of the Joint Working Group, assessing the past seven years of
 collaboration between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of
 Churches. Participants in the meeting will be invited to make an
 evaluation of the work done and look at future perspectives.

 About the JWG:
 http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/jwgh-e.html 

 European ecumenical gathering shown live at the Ecumenical Centre
 8 May 2004, Geneva, Switzerland, 09:45-17:30

 The first European ecumenical gathering of Christian movements and
 communities to be held in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday, 8 May, will be
 shown live on a large screen at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, from
 09:45 to 17:30. Convened by more than 120 movements from different
 Christian traditions under the theme "Together for Europe", the Stuttgart
 gathering is expected to bring together about 10,000 participants. The
 event will be televised live via satellite to some 150 European cities.
 The Ecumenical Centre in Geneva will be the viewing point for
 French-speaking Switzerland.

 More information on the encounter: www.europ2004.org 

 WCC commissions come together to discuss diakonia and justice
 9-15 May, Chavannes-de-Bogis, Switzerland

 The WCC Commissions of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA),
 Diakonia and Development (CCDD), and Justice, Peace and Creation (CCJPC)
 will come together for their first joint meeting to improve understanding
 of the churches' complementary roles in diakonia and justice work. WCC
 theologians and scholars from the three commissions will explore ways in
 which churches balance their efforts to change oppressive global
 structures with their mission to meet the immediate needs of victims of
 those structures.  Participants will also discuss the current shift  from
 a needs-based to a rights-based approach, debating the merits of each.
 Information on joint sessions and keynote speakers will be confirmed.

 For more information on the work of each commission:
 CCIA- http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/index-e.html 
 CCDD- http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/regional/index-e.html 
 CCJPC- http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/index-e.html 

 WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia celebrates ecumenical elder
 13-19 May 2004, New York, USA

 Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will be the keynote speaker at a celebration for the
 90th birthday of renowned ecumenist Margaret Flory in New York.  Flory was
 an ecumenist, leader of student religious work, and mission executive in
 the Presbyterian Church (USA) from 1944-1980 who set up and directed
 innovative mission programmes including Junior Year Abroad, Frontier
 Internships in Mission, and Bi-National Service. Her ecumenical influence
 has been felt far beyond her own country, denomination, gender or
 generation.

 Unless noted otherwise, events are by invitation only and not open to the
 press or general public. The information above may change without notice.

For more information contact:
	 Media Relations Office
 tel: (+41 22) 791 64 21 / (+41 22) 791 61 53
 e-mail:media@wcc-coe.org 
 http://www.wcc-coe.org 

 The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
 more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
 traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
 cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
 which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
 inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
 general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.