World mission conference discusses healing and reconciliation.

By Carol Spicher Waggy

"Come, Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile." This prayer of invitation was the theme for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Conference on World Mission and Evangelism held near Athens, Greece, in May. As the Church of the Brethren representative, I was excited to participate in this international gathering of Christians to discuss mission in relation to healing and reconciliation, and to worship with ecumenical brothers and sisters.

The conference was hosted by the Orthodox Church of Greece, and the influence of orthodoxy was evidenced in the many flowing black robes, the liturgy and songs, and, sadly, the inability for participants to share together in the bread and cup. In addition to the WCC member church representatives, there were invited delegates from Pentecostal churches and from the Roman Catholic Church.

I delighted in the rainbow of human diversity--skin color, languages, cultures. Every day was scheduled full of worship, plenary sessions, workshops, and "home group" meetings. I led my home group in the morning lectio divina exercise. The scripture was read slowly three different times by different people, and followed each time by silence. After the first reading we shared words or phrases from the text that stood out for us. After the second reading we shared how the text related to us personally. Following the third reading, we shared a prayer or reflection.

My home group included a Romanian Orthodox priest, a theologian from Norway, a Swedish theological professor, a retired nurse from the Lesotho Evangelical Church, a Greek Orthodox layman, a Syrian Orthodox female physician from India, a Disciples of Christ seminary dean from St. Louis, and a Romanian orthodox seminary student. The relationships in this group became very important to each of us. One shared, "I thought I would become homesick, but I did not because I came back to my home group every evening."

Unlike previous conferences on world mission and evangelism, this conference did not spend much of its time hammering out the wording of an official statement. We did try to agree on a message to the churches, but there was insufficient time to come to consensus on exact wording so the message was sent to a WCC commission for final wording on behalf of the delegates. Delegates were each able to make their suggestions in writing to the commission.

This year is the halfway point of the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV), and the youth delegates assisted with a short drama to introduce the DOV report. DOV is a commitment, a choice, and an invitation to all Christian churches to refuse violence as a way of life. We were encouraged to go beyond naming, analyzing, and unintentional promotion of violence, to overcoming it. The unhelpful confusion of violence and conflict, often by the media, was noted. As one who works in conflict resolution I had to agree. Whereas violence in all its forms is not good, conflict is a given and can be used profitably to move a group or relationship forward.

I am grateful to the Church of the Brethren for offering me this experience. I return with a renewed vision for the ecumenical church and for the need for healing, reconciliation, and peacemaking to be part of our work of carrying out God's mission in the world.

--Carol Spicher Waggy is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, and served on the steering committee for the Church of the Brethren mission conference, Mission Alive 2005.

Source: 06/08/2005 Newsline
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