Bonner Querschnitte 26/2014 Ausgabe 312 (eng)

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Third anniversary of ecumenical landmark document in Berlin

World Evangelical Alliance as guest of all German churches

(Bonn, 21.08.2014) A landmark document addressing the conduct of Christian witness around the world was released 28 June 2011 by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) of the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) after five years of work. With an expressed awareness of inter-religious tensions and the difference in religious convictions, the document, „Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct“ is meant as a helpful tool for churches, mission agencies and Christian charities.

August 26-27, 2014, church leaders from all over the world join all German churches in Berlin to celebrate the third anniversary of the document as well as the adaption of it by Germany’s Christianity. The three signing bodies will be represented by Monsignor Dr Angel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the PCID, Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Dr Geoff Tunicliffe, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance. Also present will be the presiding bishops of the two largest churches in Germany, Reinhard Cardinal Marx, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference, and Dr Nikolaus Schneider, chair of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD). The World Evangelical Alliance will be represented by Dr Richard Howell, General Secretary of the Asian Evangelical Alliance, and three representatives of WEA’s Theological Commission, who all are co-authors of the document, Dr Thomas Schirrmacher, Dr Rosalee Velosso Ewell, and John Baxter-Brown.

The congress “MissionRespekt” (Mission/Respect) is sponsored by the National Council of Churches in Germany (ACK), which includes the Catholic Church, and the German Evangelical Alliance, together with most German churches as well as the three large associations of mission organisations from all three branches of Christianity – the first time ever in Germany, thus a historically unique process.

The International Ecumenical Congress “MissionRespekt. Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World” will also explore how such an understanding of mission and evangelism can be lived out in a responsible way in Germany and worldwide. Inspired by experiences from other contexts and by impulses from lectures and workshops the organisers wish to engage with present challenges for our praxis and to advance in defining concrete steps for an implementation of the document’s proposals in Germany.

  

Links and Downloads:

·        Link to the consultation (in German): Opens external link in new windowwww.missionrespekt.de

·        Some information in English: Opens external link in new windowhttp://www.missionrespekt.de/englishdocuments/index.html

·        Programme of consultation: Opens external link in new windowhttp://www.missionrespekt.de/fix/files/flyer-english.2.pdf

·        Initiates file downloadPhoto: Plenum, from left to right (© IIRF, Lutz Brée):

o       Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata (Sekretary, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID))

o       Jean-Louis Pierre Cardinal Tauran (President, PCID)

o       Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit (General Secretary, World Council of Churches)

o       Dr. Geoff Tunicliffe (General Secretary, World Evangelical Alliance (WEA))

o       Monsignor Andrew Vissanu Thanya-Anan (Under Secretary, PCID)

o       Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher (Chairman, Theological Commission and Speaker for Human Rights, WEA)

·        Code of Conduct (Initiates file downloadpdf)