wfn.org | Title: Upcoming Events: December 2003

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

World Council of Churches 7 Upcoming events 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 21/11/2003 - ev-03-12 

December 2003 

WCC delegation attends UN conference on climate change 
1-12 December 2003, Milan, Italy 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will send delegates from
Argentina, 
India, Canada, Kenya, Russia, the United States and Switzerland
to observe 
the Ninth Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate 
Change. Coinciding with this event, the WCC and the European
Christian 
Environmental Network (ECEN) in collaboration with the Council
of 
Christian Churches in Milan (CCCM) will host a programme
consisting of two 
workshops entitled "Responsible lifestyles and traffic" and
"Transport 
issues especially in the City of Milan". This programme aims to
sustain 
the churches' continued interest in the effects of global
warming. 

Seminar on alternative agriculture and trade: creation of a
global 
alternative agriculture forum 
8-9 December 2003, Geneva, Switzerland 

Proposals for the development of a Global Alternative
Agriculture Forum 
(GAAF) and a framework for its first meeting are among the
expected 
results of an upcoming seminar organized by the Ecumenical
Coalition on 
Alternatives to Economical Globalization (ECAG)*. Twenty
participants - 
from Africa, Asia, Latin American, the Caribbean, the Pacific,
the Middle 
East, North America and Europe - will share thoughts and
methodologies on 
alternative agriculture and equitable trade for small-scale
farmers 
throughout the world confronted with globalization. Participants
may have 
an opportunity to visit churches and Christian farmers in
Switzerland or 
France who are currently practising alternative agriculture and
trade. 

* Members of ECAG include the WCC, Lutheran World Federation,
World 
Alliance of Reformed Churches, World YWCA, World Alliance of
YMCAs, World 
Student Christian Federation, Pax Romana and Frontier Internship
in 
Mission. 

WCC holds seminar to prepare for WSIS 
9 December 2003, Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, Switzerland 

The WCC will host a seminar for church-related organizations to
prepare 
their participation in the World Summit on Information Society
(WSIS), to 
take place 10-13 December 2003. The seminar will be jointly
facilitated by 
WCC, the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC)
and the 
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). 

Interrogating and redefining power: a theological consultation 
10-13 December 2003, Bossey, Switzerland 

As part of the WCC Theology of Peace process, twenty
theologians, 
ethicists and social scientists from around the world will
gather to 
identify core theological, ecclesiological and ethical issues of
power. 
Participants will make connections between existential notions
and trends, 
and set a time frame for further work in this area. This
consultation will 
prepare for a larger gathering to take place in 2004. 

WCC launches three-year series of dialogues among five world
religions 
13-17 December 2003, St Petersburg (Florida), United States 

This first meeting in a three-year process entitled "From
Xenophobia to 
Philoxenia" will bring together thinkers, educators and
theologians from 
the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths.
Participants 
will develop specific approaches to engage local communities in
an 
inter-religious dialogue by exploring past and present religious

definitions, texts and traditions. The groups goal is to provide

guidelines for dialogue to local congregations by 2005. 

Central and Eastern Europe strategy consultation on HIV/AIDS 
15-20 December 2003, St Petersburg, Russia 

This consultation seeks to mobilize and support the efforts of 
church-related organizations in countering the rising HIV/AIDS
epidemic in 
Central and Eastern European countries. Participants from nearly
50 
church-related organizations and agencies will promote a
regional 
ecumenical strategy to strengthen work in this area. The WCC is
organizing 
this meeting with Norwegian Church Aid, the Christian
Inter-church 
Diaconal Council of St. Petersburg (CIDC) and the Russian
Orthodox Church 
Round Table Office in Moscow. 

Need more advance warning? Check the WCC Media Calendar at: 
www.wcc-coe.org > Press Corner > Media Calendar or directly at 
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/wcccalendar.nsf 

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 Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in
Germany.