On 6th May, WCC gladly announced that the 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism would be held in Athens, Greece. The dates have been set for 9th-16th May.

The annual World Mission Conference is jointly organised by the International Missionary Council (IMC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC). There have been 13 such conferences to date. WCC said the 2005 conference is expected to host participants from the widest range of churches in the history of mission conferences.

The conference will begin with the call of "Come Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile". The theme reminds ministers that mission does not belong to anyone, but is the mission of God, who is present and active as the Holy Spirit in church and the world. It highlights that mission is to form healing and reconciliation between communities in celebration, witness, mutual love, forgiveness and respect.

"In our globalised and fragmented world, filled with much division and conflict, the gospel message of healing and reconciliation is vital," says Rev. Ruth Bottoms, a Baptist pastor from the UK who is moderator of both the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism and the conference's planning committee.

With 25% of the participants coming from evangelical, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic backgrounds, dialogue will focus on the growing mission involvement by those traditions. The conference will also look at the fact that the direction of mission today is now to a large extent from South to North.

Since the conference coincides with the mid-point of the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010), participants will be asked to reflect on some of the Decade's themes, specifically the use, abuse and misuse of power, and the understanding of religious identity and plurality.

Hosted by the Church of Greece, it will be the first time that an ecumenical mission conference is held in an Orthodox context. It will finish with a Sunday sending service at the Areopagos, where St Paul preached to the Athenians, calling people of different faiths to seek God (Acts 17:27).

WCC is also delighted to hold the conference in a unique cultural and historical city- Athens- providing a special setting in which participants will be called to focus on mission as healing and reconciliation and the role of the Holy Spirit.

Alongside with WCC’s formal announcement, the Conference website (www.mission2005.org) is now up and running in four languages, allowing people around the world to follow the conference closely and participate in discussions on conference themes.

Reference and preparatory materials in English, German, French and Spanish are now available on the website, and congregations and individuals are invited to contribute resources and share ideas.

The tradition of world mission conferences goes back to the 1910 world mission conference in Edinburgh, leading to the creation of the International Missionary Council, a body that merged with the WCC in 1961.

The last such conference was held in 1996 in Salvador da Bahma, Brazil and focused on gospel and cultures.