Mission in Changing Ecclesial and Global Landscapes,
Bangkok, 28 September – 2 October 2015
The seminar will address challenges Christian churches and individual Christians are facing today with the aim to renew the commitment to mission within the context of the quest for Christian unity as part of the pilgrimage of justice and peace. The main objective of the seminar is to orient missionaries and staff belonging to different mission boards/organisations/ associations/ societies and different denominational churches to a better understanding of the contemproary context concerning the witness to Christ as participants in the Missio Dei in today’s ecclesial landscape. It will offer the participants an opportunity to learn and get acquainted with the work of the WCC and the ecumenical movement as a whole. The seminar contributes to the quest for a renewed understanding and practice of mission and evangelism in changing ecclesial global landscapes as stated in the WCC statement on Mission and Evangelism Together Towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes.
The seminar will be structured as follows:
a) Introduction to the Ecumenical Movement and the various programmatic works and activities of the WCC.
b) Introduction to the WCC mission statement – the theological foundations behind it; the transition or shift from the 1982 WCC Statement on Mission and Evangelism due to changing ecclesial and global landscapes.
There will be four main areas of focus:
1. Mission from the Margins
2. Mission and Evangelism in the secular context
3. Mission in the multi- religious context
4. Reviewing the understanding and practice of the mission of various mission boards, organisations, associations and societies.
c) Sharing among the participants the journeys, prospects, challenges and problems that Christians in different contexts and geographical locations are facing as they strive to live out the call and ministry to witness to God’s mission (Missio Dei) in their particular local contexts.
Reporting and synthesizing of the whole process – sharing what each participants would take back from the course and how they would facilitate implementation of what they had learnt during the course.
The primary audience of this seminar will be missionaries and staff belonging to different mission boards/organisations/ associations/ societies, and those who are involved in Christian mission and ministries in general at different levels with broad confessional, geographical, culture and gender representation.
This activity will be implemented in close cooperation with the staff of the team working on Mission and Evangelism, the Bossey faculty, and the Council for World Mission, i.e. Prof. Dr Marina Ngursangzeli Behera, Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum, and Rev. Dr Philipp Woods