As the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Athens, Greece, closed on Monday 16th May, Christian leaders across all denominational lines have not stopped in their passionate calls for the churches to become "healing and reconciling communities of hope".
Gathered under the theme "Come, Holy Spirit, Heal and Reconcile! Called in Christ to be Reconciling and Healing Communities" in Athens, Greece from 9th-16th May, over 600 participants from 300 churches, confessions and Christian bodies across 105 countries joined the CWME.
It was said to be one of the broadest gatherings of Christian churches and organisations in the early 21st century involving Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Evangelical and Pentecostal delegates from six continents.
Simon Barrow, Secretary of Churches’ Commission on Mission (CCOM) of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) was at the gathering in Athens and has offered Christian Today an exclusive interview with regards to the CWME and the ecumenical movement here in the UK:
1. Representing the Churches' Commission on Mission of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) at the WCC's Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, what inspiration have you received from the conference?
It has been a major inspiration to be part of an event that truly mirrors the global calling of the Christian family. The contrast between Athens 2005 and Edinburgh 1910 speaks volumes. In Edinburgh at the beginning of the last century, the participants in the first International Missionary Conference (a founding event for the modern ecumenical movement) were mostly white, male, clerical, Anglican and Western. In Athens, at the thirteenth Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, there were 600 people from 300 churches and agencies across 105 nations and six continents.
In a world still deeply divided by nation, ideology, economy, race and gender, the rainbow people of God is a testimony to the alternative community made possible in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It shows the transforming power of the Gospel. Yet we have to acknowledge that, as Christians, we are still broken and divided, that our human capacity is limited, and that we need the Spirit to interpret between and across our different languages and cultures – so that what could be a ‘post-modern soup’ (as someone put it to me!) actually becomes the new economy of Pentecost.
2. How does the theme of the Conference "Come, Holy Spirit, Heal and Reconcile!" relate to the mission or the spiritual condition in the UK?
