Introduction
"First, I wish to extend my profound thanks – and those of the World Council of Churches – to the Church of Greece, as well as the churches of Greece, for their invitation to hold the first mission conference of the new millennium in Athens where the apostle Paul proclaimed the gospel boldly, while still showing respect for the culture of Athens and the traditions held precious by the Greeks.
I am also pleased to welcome all of you who have followed in the footsteps of Paul, coming to participate in this event. You come from many places and represent the rich diversity celebrated at Pentecost. Quite a number of you are well acquainted with World Council of Churches conferences and assemblies. I am delighted to see you here again amid the beautiful surroundings of Agios Andreas. On the other hand, this may be the first opportunity for others of you to join brothers and sisters from such a wide variety of backgrounds in a WCC event. I particularly want to welcome you! Your presence enriches our fellowship, and I am keen to learn how God is at work in your lives and communities.
On his second missionary voyage, the apostle Paul came to Athens from Thessalonica by way of Beroea, passing along the Aegean coastline where we gather today. The sails of the ship that bore him were filled with breezes like those we now feel, blowing over this same sea. May that knowledge inspire us as we continue the Christian journey, and may the ecumenical ship be propelled by winds of the Spirit.
Healing and Reconciliation in the Contemporary Context
Mission and evangelism have to do with calling and conversion. In our global context, I would like to suggest that we are being summoned to a threefold conversion in our thinking and attitudes.
First, we are being called to rethink our assumptions concerning the geography of mission. It is well known that the demographic centre of Christianity has been steadily shifting from the North to the South. In the middle of the first century, this centre was in or near Jerusalem; in the following centuries it shifted to Europe, where it long remained. But statisticians now locate Christianity’s centre of gravity near Timbuktu in the Sahara desert, and it continues to migrate southward. Africa has moved from the periphery of the church’s consciousness to its centre. Our vision must undergo a corresponding conversion, if we are to attend to what God is doing in the world today.
Second, we are called to recognise that this change in global dynamics is not merely geographical, but carries with it implications that are spiritual, moral, theological, missiological. Forms of expressing our faith that grew out of European culture are no longer normative; for example, Pentecostal and charismatic spirituality is now flourishing in both South and North. The life of Christian communities in the South is not necessarily defined by concepts that are the heritage of Europe’s eleventh-century Great Schism, nor of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Are we open to mission from directions we have not anticipated, borne by brothers and sisters who have received gifts of the Spirit that were never monopolised by European or North American intermediaries? We are all too aware that ministries from unexpected sources, though often providing healing, joy and comfort, may also create tensions and disunity among churches. It is my hope that this conference will encourage broad dialogue on Christian witness, joined by participants from diverse traditions.
