wfn.org | ACNS - Toward a Global Christian Forum

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3052 - USA - 8 July 2002

Towards a global Christian forum

COMMUNIQUE

A consultation towards a Global Christian Forum took place at Fuller
Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California from 15-20 June 2002. Among the
55 participants were representatives from various Orthodox (Eastern and
Oriental), Catholic, Anglican, Reformation Protestant, Pentecostal,
Evangelical, and African Instituted churches as well as interchurch
organizations.

The idea of a Forum, first suggested in the mid-1990s, grew out of a concern
that has been growing in different parts of the Church to bring more voices
into the search for the reconciliation and cooperation of Christians and
their churches. An initial meeting to test the concept was held at the
Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland, 26-29 August 1998. Another
meeting to seek the advice and participation of representatives of the
Evangelical and Pentecostal churches took place at Fuller Seminary, 9-11
September 2000.

The Forum is understood as a process of bringing Christians from around the
world to a common table in an informal atmosphere; it is not to be another
organization. Its stated purpose is to create an open space in which
representatives from a broad range of Christian churches and interchurch
organizations, which confess the triune God and Jesus Christ as perfect in
His divinity and humanity, can gather to foster mutual respect, to explore
and address together common challenges.

For this consultation at Fuller Theological Seminary two themes were
central: unity and mission. The participants spent two days introducing
themselves, sharing their own spiritual journeys as well as the experience
of their churches and organizations. The next two days were spent discussing
the concerns and challenges they face.

Among the concerns that surfaced and were frankly discussed were the
following: the problems of different approaches to the Scriptures; the place
of tradition; often unacknowledged, in the different churches; the need to
understand each other's use of Christian vocabulary; the movement of the
Spirit in today's world; proselytism and religious freedom; and the new
cooperation between churches who are in dialogue with each other or are
together suffering persecution. Panels and plenary discussions addressed two
issues; one session looked at evangelization from a variety of perspectives;
another focused on breakthroughs to interchurch relationships, as well as
barriers to reconciliation.

The participants were pleased by the open process of the consultation and
grateful for the opportunity to meet Christians from different church
traditions and parts of the world. Moved by the honest sharing of concerns,
the participants seek to continue this process of bringing diverse
Christians together so that they may discover each other as brothers and
sisters in the Lord. They hope to expand the participation in the Forum
process by planning future meetings both regionally and internationally.

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