wfn.org | WCC AGENDA: January 2005

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

World Council of Churches - Agenda
Media contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org 
 
For immediate release: 20 December 2004

JANUARY 2005

> Orthodox pre-Assembly meeting
> Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
> Young Missiologists' Conference
> WCC at the World Social Forum

>>> Orthodox pre-assembly meeting
10-17 January 2005
Rhodes, Greece

The Orthodox pre-assembly meeting will gather over forty delegates of WCC
Orthodox member churches and other participants to reflect on the assembly
theme, assess the progress made through the Special Commission on Orthodox
Participation in the WCC and prepare for the WCC's ninth assembly in 2006.
The programme will include sessions on the assembly theme, Bible and
spirituality, and the consensus model of decision-making. 

More information about the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in
the WCC is available at
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/special-01-e.html

>>> Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
18-25 January 2005
Global 

Under the theme "Christ, the one Foundation of the Church" (1 Cor 3:1-23),
the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2005 focuses on Slovakia. Churches
there have experienced more than a decade of renewal and growth after
emerging from a political situation which had tended to impede their growth
and limit their witness in society. 
Members of the Theological Committee of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in
Slovakia prepared the texts for the week of prayer in collaboration with the
WCC's Faith and Order Commission and the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity (PCPCU). For the first time this year, the text is not only
jointly prepared but is also being jointly published in a common format. 
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is one of the oldest ecumenical
initiatives that, each year, involves Christian communities all over the
world. Traditionally, it is celebrated between 18-25 January. In the Southern
hemisphere, other dates are sometimes chosen, for example, around Pentecost. 

More information on the Week of prayer, including resources, are available at
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop-index.html

>>> Young missiologists to prepare for the WCC Conference on World Mission
and Evangelism
19-25 January
Rome, Italy

Around 30 young participants from various spiritual, denominational and
cultural backgrounds will gather at a "Young Missiologists' Consultation" to
work on the theme of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME)
"Come, Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile!". The participants will share their
reflections on how a renewed emphasis on the Holy Spirit can shape mission
theory and practice. The consultation is an important part of the
preparations for the conference as the young missiologists are expected to
raise important issues to be brought to the conference, and to collect
material to be published as part of the preparatory process. 
The CWME Conference will be held from 9-16 May 2005 in Athens (Greece).

More information about the CWME is available on our website at: 
www.mission2005.org

>>> Ecumenical participation in the World Social Forum
26-31 January
Porto Alegre, Brazil

"Affirming Life and Dignity: enhancing justice and rights in a globalized
world" is the overall theme for the WCC's presence at the World Social Forum
2005 in Porto Alegre (Brazil). The WCC's contribution includes seminars on
international ethics and peace, ecological debt, water, and the dignity of
children. Other events will be carried out by a global ecumenical coalition,
and will deal with "interfaith cooperation for peace and reconciliation" and
"dignity through justice and rights". 
The World Forum on Theology and Liberation, taking place just before the
World Social Forum, will develop visions of a "Theology for another possible
world", and is being organized by the local ecumenical organizations in
Brazil.
The annual World Social Forum is an open meeting place for civil society
groups and movements to debate alternative ways to build a world in
solidarity and justice. More than 100,000 participants from all over the
world are expected.

Information on WCC work on economic globalization, including participation in
prior World Social Forums, is available on our website at:
http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/economy.html 

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

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org 

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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.