The world ecumenical conference on mission, promoted by the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), the missionary arm of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, is due to be held in Athens from 9 to 16 May 2005. The Athens world missionary conference will be more ‘inclusive’ than previous events of this kind. It will be attended by some 500 delegates, designated by the various Christian Churches: Anglican Communion, Orthodox and Reformed Churches, the Roman Catholic Church (25 delegates) and churches of the huge pentecostal and evangelical archipelago. The theme chosen by the organizers is “Come, Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile. Called in Christ to be healing and reconciling communities”. The participants will discuss how to be “healing and reconciling communities in the contemporary world, profoundly marked by violence. They will seek to understand how to be ‘alternative communities’ in an age of globalization; how to respond appropriately to the pandemic of Aids whose effects are mainly being felt in Africa; and how to offer to the world a witness of peace on the basis of an experience of reconciliation between the churches…”. The last missionary Conference in this series was held in Salvador de Bahía (Brazil) in December 1996 and was dedicated to the theme of inculturation. This year the Catholic delegation has more than doubled: there will be 25 Catholic delegates, designated by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, which will itself be officially represented by its secretary, Monsignor Brian Farrell. “The theme of this year’s Conference explains Giovanni Giuranna, one of the members of the Catholic delegation combines ecumenism and mission, thus emphasizing that the division of Christians is a real scandal for the proclamation of the Gospel to the world”. The theme of the Conference lends itself to being developed in various directions. At Athens the delegates will also debate the role that the Churches can play in situations of conflict by supporting processes of forgiveness and the healing of memories. There will also be “exchanges of opinions on the accusations of proselytism that the Orthodox world makes against the Catholic and Protestant world in the countries of Eastern Europe”. Of particular interest this year adds Giuranna is the presence of the pentecostal and evangelical churches that present some aspects of ambiguity on the theme of mission”. For the first time the Conference will be video-transmitted on the web through its official site www.mission2005.org. The website of the missionary association La Vigna di Nabot (www.nabot.org) provides a news service in Italian, with briefings, interviews and analyses, which can be freely downloaded.
