Four Salvationist leaders, each from a different continent, attended the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) in Athens, Greece. The conference took the theme ‘Come, Holy Spirit, Heal and Reconcile! Called in Christ to be Reconciling and Healing Communities’. The 650 delegates from 105 countries represented a broad gathering of Christian churches and organisations including the World Council of Churches, the Roman Catholic Church and more Pentecostal and evangelical participants than at any of the previous similar conferences.
The Salvation Army participants were Commissioner Lalkiamlova (International Secretary for South Asia, International Headquarters), Commissioner M. Christine MacMillan (Territorial Commander, Canada and Bermuda), Commissioner Netty van der Harst (Territorial President of Women’s Ministries, The Netherlands and Czech Republic) and Major Jackson Muasa (Divisional Commander, Kugunda Division, East Africa Territory). Major Muasa said of his experience in Athens, ‘The interactions with brothers and sisters from other countries and denominations brought a togetherness which is a requirement of God, that people stay together as brothers and sisters saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and as people of one Maker.'
There have been only 12 international ecumenical mission conferences since 1910. The first World Missionary Conference met in Edinburgh, with subsequent conferences continuing under the sponsorship of the International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches Department for World Mission and Evangelism. The main aim of the conferences has been to provide a space for Christians and churches to exchange their experiences and think together about priorities in mission and the future of Christian witness. This year’s conference in Athens particularly focused on seeking to empower participants to continue to form healing communities in celebration and witness, reconciliation and forgiveness.
Commissioner Lalkiamlova spoke of the closing worship at Areopagus as one of the most memorable experiences of the conference. ‘The thing which moved me most was to see the city of Athens, which was full of idols at the time of St Paul, now full of churches and Christian signs. This stands for me as a witness of the significance of the Great Commission of Jesus: “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone”' (Mark 16:15 New Century Version).
One of the outcomes of the conference was the issuing of a letter to the Christian world in which the CWME calls on churches everywhere to become healing and reconciling communities of hope, open to all: ‘God calls us to be a community of hope. “Called in Christ to be reconciling and healing communities”, we have continued here in Athens the task of defining the kind of community God desires us to become, a community that bears witness to the gospel in word and deed; that is alive in worship and learning; that proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ to all.’
