1. Purpose and background

1.1. The aim of the Global Christian Forum is to promote dialogue and possible co-operation on unity and common witness among all the main traditions in the Christian church worldwide today. It is a comprehensive effort to create a space where Christians and churches from all sides can meet in a multilateral setting. In the words of its provisional statement, the purpose of the Forum is -

1.2. Each Forum meeting seeks to bring around the table the widest possible spectrum of Christian traditions, e.g. African Instituted, Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Disciples, Evangelical, Friends (Quakers), Holiness, Independent, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian, Old-Catholic, Orthodox (Eastern and Oriental), Pentecostal, Reformed, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventist, United and Uniting churches.

1.3. The idea of a « forum of Christian churches and organizations » was first suggested in the mid-1990’s by Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, then General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. It emerged in the context of a reflection process on the common understanding and vision of the WCC. There was a recognition that the ecumenical movement is broader than the WCC. The Roman Catholic Church, though not a WCC member has been deeply committed to ecumenism since Vatican II and since then has interrelated with the WCC in significant ways, e.g through the Joint Working Group. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches are not members of the WCC and not involved in the ecumenical movement. It was felt that a new initiative was called for that could foster relationships between those who up to this time have not been in touch with one another. The concept was taken up and given its present shape of a « global Christian forum » at a meeting with Evangelical and Pentecostal representatives at Fuller Theological Seminary in September 2000. The Global Christian Forum is an independent process under the responsibility of an autonomous Continuation Committee (see point 8 of this report), which is accountable to the various churches and organizations participating in the process.

2. The process of consultation 1998 – 2006

2.1 The very first step was a survey to test the forum idea, mainly with globally organized churches and groupings of churches[1] . This resulted in a consultation held in August 1998, which produced a proposal[2] and formed a small continuation committee representative of the organisations and churches that participated in that meeting.

2.2 At its first meeting, in August 1999, the continuation committee decided that the first priority was to find out if there was interest in the Forum idea in Evangelical and Pentecostal constituencies, which had not been adequately represented at the 1998 consultation. To this end, the committee invited a number of Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders from around the world for a conversation, which took place at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, USA, on 9 – 11 September 2000. The outcome of that meeting was encouraging. There was a shared sense that the time was ripe for a rapprochement of the « ecumenical » and « evangelical » parts of world christianity. The group produced a communique, in which it stated in its own words the possible purpose of what it called a future « Global Christian Forum ».

2.3 Reflecting on the next step in the process , the continuation committee agreed in the course of 2001 to convene a « forum gathering » that would be as representative as possible of all the main Christian traditions, with a relative majority (about 50%) of Evangelical, Pentecostal and Independent representation. The reason behind this configuration was that a major objective of the meeting should be to pursue the exploration of the Forum proposal with these constituencies. Another consideration was to aim at mid-ranking church and organisational leadership. The consultation took place in June 2002, again at Fuller Theological Seminary and brought together about 60 participants. The support for the Forum proposal was unanimous and enthusiastic.The participants drafted a Provisional Purpose Statement (see page 14) and a communique[3]. They emphasized the importance of the Forum as a process, and the need to make it known more widely and involve more people in it. The 2002 consultation discussed in some depth the basis for participation in the Forum and offered the wording :

This provisional basis, as well as the rest of the purpose statement, is open for discussion, but not submitted to changes at each stage of the process. Comments and suggestions are noted, with the intention to design a way whereby an improved formulation can be offered, possibly at the time of the global Forum event in 2007.

2.4. In 2003 the committee worked out an Action Plan for the period 2004 – 2007[4]. Following the advice of the June 2002 consultation to develop the process, it was decided to hold consultations in four major regions of the world (Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America) in 2004 – 2006, and to envisage a global « Forum event » in 2007, as a culmination of the process. The Action Plan also foresaw efforts to communicate the Forum (e.g. the production of a leaflet), networking (a mailing list, electronic news letter), and reporting to the churches and organisations involved in the Forum.

2.5. The first of the consultations in major regions was scheduled for Asia, and took place in May 2004 in Hong Kong. It was organised in co-operation with the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), the Federation of Asian Bishops’Conferences (FABC), and the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia (EFA). The meeting brought together 47 Asian participants, 27 of whom (i.e. more than 50%) came from Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, and 14 persons from other parts of the world (who had taken part in the Pasadena consultation in 2002). The objectives of making the Forum known in Asia, and facilitating a conversation between groups in the region which had not been meeting before were more than achieved. The group issued a statement affirming « the need to work together and continue the initiative at the regional, national and local level, and urging the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia, the Christian Conference of Asia and the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences to assist in forwarding this initiative ».

2.6 The regional consultation for Africa was held in August 2005, in Lusaka (Zambia). The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) as the regional ecumenical body, the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), and the Organisation of African Instituted Churches were involved, as well as several other continent-wide organisations. Catholics and Orthodox were also represented. Of the 59 participants from Africa, 32 were from Evangelical, Pentecostal and African Instituted churches ; 12 participants came from outside the continent. In Africa, the distinctions between liberal and conservative, mainline and evangelical etc. tend to be less pronounced than in some other regions, and there is considerable cross-denominational co-operation. For this reason the programme of this consultation focused more on common concerns than in previous Forum meetings. For instance, HIV/AIDS was one of the issues binding the participants together. Yet it was again the mutual discovery of Christians who usually do not sit together in meetings that marked the event profoundly. The group appointed an African continuation committee, and adopted a statement[5].

2.7. The Europe Consultation on the Global Christian Forum took place on 19 – 22 June 2006, in Warburg, Germany. It was attended by 51 participants from the various Christian traditions in Europe : Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Friends (Quakers), Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Old-Catholic, Orthodox (Eastern and Oriental), Pentecostal, Reformed, Salvation Army, and diaspora and migrant communities. The main regional organizations were represented (ecumenical as well as evangelical and pentecostal), and members of the Continuation Committee also took part. One of the particular features of this consultation was the sharing of examples in some countries of Europe where churches belonging to the ecumenical movement and evangelical and pentecostal churches are coming closer to each other, and the emphasis on the importance of the Forum concept in these local, national and sub-regional contexts. The spirit and achievements of this consultation are well reflected in the statement that was adopted by the participants[6].

2.8. A meeting with representatives of the three Asian regional bodies which were asked by the Hong Kong Consultation of May 2004 to take responsibility for follow-up on the GCF in Asia (see point 2.5 hereabove) took place on 21 – 23 September 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. This was the first time that the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA, ecumenical), the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC, Catholic) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia (EFA) met together. The CCA and the FABC have a history of meeting and working together since 1996 and have formed the Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU). After two days of sharing and listening to each other, the participants decided to recommend that 1) the CCA and the FABC invite the EFA to join this bi-partite process so as to make it tri-partite, and 2) the CCA and the FABC invite the EFA to send about 20 participants to the next AMCU assembly in June 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The participants also recommended that the first day of this assembly be a kind of « Forum style » event of trust building, sharing of faith stories etc[7].

2.9. The Africa Continuation Committee which was appointed at the Africa Consultation in 2005 (see 2.6) had its first meeting on 14 – 16 November 2006 in Nairobi. The committee discussed ways of spreading the information on the Global Christian Forum as widely as possible to churches and church-related organizations in Africa. It decided to encourage the participants at the 2005 consultation to organize national Forum meetings and to focus particularly on Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe as pilot countries for such an initiative. The committee had discussions with the General Secretaries of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, the All Africa Conference of Churches and the Organization of African Instituted Churches (all three based in Nairobi). Bishop Dandala, the General Secretary of the AACC called on the committee to help ensuring the presence of all the Christian traditions in Africa at the next assembly of the AACC in December 2008 in Maputo, Mozambique.

2.10. The Latin America consultation was the last of the four regional consultations. It took place in Santiago, Chile, on 26 – 29 June 2007. The meeting brought together 58 participants from the Anglican, Evangelical, Orthodox, Pentecostal and Protestant churches and the Catholic Church in Latin America, and from several national and regional church bodies. There was also participation from the Caribbean. Such a meeting of representatives of all the main Christian traditions had never happened before in the region. Participants enjoyed in particular the sharing of faith journeys and testimonies as an innovative and inspiring way of encountering one another in Christ and getting to know each other's traditions. For many it was an entirely new experience of building relationships and entering into a dialogue based on trust and mutual recognition. Two of the significant aspects were the fact that the meeting was held shortly after the Assembly of CELAM in Aparecida, Brazil, and the participation of the Orthodox diaspora. The consultation issued a Message to the Churches which says: « we see in the Forum the possibility of a renewed and broadend place in which to meet one another, appreciate our differences, unite our efforts and commit ourselves in mission.”[8]

4. The GLOBAL CHRISTIAN FORUM – NAIROBI 2007

At its meeting in June 2006 the Continuation Committee decided that the global « Forum event » should be held on 6 – 9 November 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya.

An international planning group composed of the members of the Continuation Committee and several representatives of churches and organizations involved in the Forum process met from 9 – 11 November 2006 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The group drew up a carefully thought through programme proposal for the global gathering. Under the theme « Our Journey with Jesus Christ, the Reconciler » the participants would be invited to join in an intensive encounter of one another in Christ, to reflect together on God's will for the church and God's mission in the world today and to advise on the future of the Global Christian Forum. The planning group also established a list of 'church families' and church-related organizations to be invited for the global gathering, taking into account one of the principles of the Forum process which is to provide ample representation for those churches and Christian traditions that have been little or not at all in conversation with others.

The Global Christian Forum – Nairobi 2007 took place as planned on 6 – 9 November 2007 at Jumuia Conference and Country Home in Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya. It was attended by 226 leaders and representatives of all the main Christian traditions in the world : Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, Holiness, Independent, Orthodox (Eastern and Oriental), Pentecostal and Protestant. All parts of the world were represented : Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America and the Pacific. It was the culmination of the nine-year long process that began in 1998. It was also the realization of the proposal made at the very first consultation on the Forum idea, in August 1998, that such a meeting « may take place as early as the year 2001 ». With hindsight it can be said that the gathering in Limuru would hardly have been possible, and certainly would not have had the same results without the regional consultations.

The gathering achieved far more than could have been expected. It issued a very strong affirmation of the Forum and an invitation to all “Brothers and Sisters in Christ throughout the world” to join the process (see the Message ). It also provided a clear direction and a comprehensive set of guidelines for the future of the Forum (see the Proposals for the Future of the Forum, pages 13 and 14). During a panel presentation, leaders and representatives of the Catholic Church, the Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, the Orthodox Churches, the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions and the World Council of Churches expressed in unequivocal terms the importance of the Global Christian Forum and the resolve of their Churches and organizations to be part of it. Another essential result of the gathering is that the Pentecostal World Fellowship could be listed with the Churches, Church families and inter-church organizations that signed the Message.

5. Future steps

On 21 – 22 February 2008 the Continuation Committee (now called GCF Committee) had its first meeting after the global Forum event of November 2007. It decided that an evaluation of the Forum process 1998 – 2007 will be done in 2008, and that a consultation will be convened in November 2008 to work out a 3 – year programme on the basis of the evaluation report and the recommendations of the Limuru Global Forum. Other activities in 2008 include the publication of the report of the Limuru Global Forum, a regional consultation in the Middle East and the formation of a new GCF committee.

6. Progress made

6.1. All the meetings held so far, as well as the many discussions that have been going on in various circles, point to a general perception that the Forum is timely. Time has come to heal the divisions of the 20th century between « ecumenical » and « evangelical / pentecostal ». The Forum responds to an expectation, and this is so on both sides. There is ample evidence that the Forum, as a global initiative, reflects many initiatives in local situations that are taken independently of the global Forum. Concrete examples are the USA (Christian Churches Together) and India (National Christian Forum), and many more could be quoted.

The center of Christianity is shifting to the South. A new generation of Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders is emerging, especially in the South. Similarly, Pentecostal and Evangelical scholars, in North and South, are affirming themselves increasingly as interlocutors of the theologians of ‘mainline’ Christianity. In the Evangelical world at large, many leaders are seeking to be defined on issues such as poverty, socio-economic and racial justice, gender and human rights, that have traditionally been held up by the ecumenical movement.

6.2. In all the meetings, the participants have enthusiastically supported the Forum concept. They have underlined the importance of the Forum as a process, that should involve a steadily increasing and widening range of churches and Christian organisations, and their representatives.

6.3. In the course of the process, the importance of bringing in new people has become clearer. The term « new » is intended to refer to people from Christian traditions who have not been in conversation with each other before. This is indeed one of the objectives of the Forum, but it should not be perceived as a means to « lure » Evangelicals, Pentecostals and others, into the ecumenical movement in its present configuration. The Forum aims at creating a new space for encounter, a space where trust can grow.

6.4. The Forum has contributed to creating new relationships. A crucial element in all the meetings has been the exercise of sharing the faith journeys and the stories of the faith communites by the individual participants (with sixty people around the table this can take more than a full day !). It has proven to be a powerful means of discovering the faith convictions that are held in common by Christians coming from very different traditions. It has become the methodology of the Forum, together with the principle of allowing for a relative majority (about 50%) of Evangelical and Pentecostal participants in each meeting.

6.5. It has been possible so far to avoid any direction of the Forum process that could have led to the creation of a new organisation or institution, or any concept of ‘membership’, or the formation of a new fellowship of churches over against existing ones. The Forum continues to be based on participation, with no other structure than a committee and a small secretariat.

6.6. The global Forum event at Limuru, Kenya, in November 2007 has established the Forum as an open space where representatives of all the Christian traditions in the world can meet to foster mutual respect and address common challenges.

7. Difficulties encountered

7.1. The Forum has embarked on a much longer process than was initially thought. In the 1998 proposal it was expected that a high-level, global Forum meeting of 150 – 250 participants could be held within two years. As the process developed, it became clear that more time was required.

7.2. Until now, some major Pentecostal organisations and churches like the Assemblies of God in the USA and the World Assemblies of God have been slow to participate.

7.3. It has not always been possible to expect or obtain official representation of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches and organisations. Invitations have sometimes to be addressed to individuals, who at best are able to work out some degree of informal understanding with their constituency about their participation.

7.4. The discussions have generally not gone beyond some preliminary exchanges on the understanding of the church and its mission. In order to go deeper into dialogue, it will be necessary to develop a common agenda. It can be expected that when controversial issues come on the table, it will become more difficult to stay together.

7.5. The limitations of representation of the participating churches and organizations on the Continuation Committee have an adverse effect on their sense of ownership of the Forum and their commitment to it.

7.6. The Global Christian Forum is not well known in the churches. The negative side of its light operating structure is that mechanisms for effective communication and information are missing.

7.7. The Forum has no financial basis. For each activity, funds have to be raised, and the number of churches and organisations which contribute has remained limited.

8. The Forum in relation to world Christian bodies

8.1. Christian World Communions. From the start, the Christian World Communions (CWCs) have manifested a particular interest in the Forum concept, as it seeks to bring about the broad representation of Christian traditions that is also reflected in the CWCs as a group . There has been regular reporting to the Conference of Secretaries of CWCs, through members of the Conference who are also on the Continuation Committee, and on several occasions the Conference has expressed its support for the Forum. At all the global meetings on the Forum there has been representation of some or several CWCs, in particular the 2002 consultation. For the Africa and Europe consultations, the CWCs were asked to help with the nomination of participants from their church families in the region. They have provided financial support for their representatives and since 2006 are contributing also to the cost of the secretariat of the Forum.

The Conference of Secretaries of the CWCs decided in 2006 to hold its annual meeting in 2007 in conjunction with the GLOBAL CHRISTIAN FORUM – NAIROBI 2007 so that its members could participate in the event.

8.2. World Council of Churches. Although it is the body that initiated the Forum idea, the World Council of Churches perceives its role as one of the participating organizations along with others. Since 2003, the WCC is represented on the Continuation Committee. There has been regular reporting to the governing bodies of the WCC, including the assemblies in 1998 (Harare, Zimbabwe) and 2006 (Porto Alegre, Brazil). The WCC has provided support for the secretariat of the Forum since the beginning and continues to do so. In the consultations, the WCC is usually not represented as such. Its presence is assured through its member churches which participate in the meetings.

8.3. World Evangelical Alliance. The World Evangelical Alliance has been informally involved in the Forum process since 2000, and is officially represented on the Continuation Committee since 2005.

The International Council of the WEA decided in 2006 to hold its 2007 meeting in conjunction with the GLOBAL CHRISTIAN FORUM – NAIROBI 2007 so that its members could take part in it.

8.4. Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has participated from the beginning in the Forum process, through the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity which is also represented on the Continuation Committee. The Catholic Church has assumed the financial responsibility for its representatives in all the Forum meetings, including the committee.

8.5. World Vision International. There have been representatives of World Vision in the Forum consultations since 2000. World Vision has provided significant financial support for these meetings, which has been used in particular to subsidize participation from Evangelical and Pentecostal constituencies.

8.6. World Young Women’s Christian Association. The World YWCA has participated in the Forum process since 1998 and is represented on the Continuation Committee.

8.7. World Pentecostal Fellowship. The WFP is not yet participating officially in the Forum but some of its leaders were present at the Limuru Global Forum. They decided at the meeting to have the Pentecostal World Fellowship listed with the other organizations and churches as signatory of the Message.

9. Continuation Committee

The committee which was set up by the 1998 consultation was composed of seven persons :
Rev. Dr Hilarion Alfeyev (Moscow Patriarchate)
Dr Musimbi Kanyoro (World Young Women’s Christian Association)
Rev. Charity Majiza-McKinty (South African Council of Churches)
H.E. Metropolitan Mar Gregorios (Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch)
Mgr. Jean-Claude Périsset (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity)
Rev. Canon David W. Perry (Anglican Communion)
Dr Cecil M. Robeck (Pentecostal)

Mr. Hubert van Beek, at that time WCC staff, was asked to serve as secretary to the committee.

Prior to the first full meeting of the committee, in August 1999, Mgr. Périsset was replaced by Mgr. John Radano. After the meeting with Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders in September 2000, Dr. George Vandervelde, of the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto and involved with the World Evangelical Alliance was invited to join the committee. As of January 2001, the Rev. Canon David Hamid (Ecumenical Officer at the Anglican Communion Office) replaced Rev. Perry. The place of Rev. Majiza-McKinty, after her resignation from the SACC and the committee, remained open. Since 2002, Rev. Fr. Michael Gundyaev has replaced H.G. Bishop Hilarion of Viena as representative of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The consultation at Pasadena in June 2002 recommended strongly that the Evangelical and Pentecostal representation on the committee be strengthened. As a result, four persons were nominated from among the participants,:

Rev. Josua Fonseca, Baptist World Alliance (from Chile)
Rev. Dr Sang-Ehil Han, Theological Seminary of the Church of God (Cleveland), USA
Rev. Richard Howell, General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India
Ms. Kuzipa Nalwamba, of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students – Portoguese and English speaking Africa (from Zambia)
The latter three joined the committee immediately.

In 2003 the Anglican Communion Office appointed the Rev. Sarah Rowland Jones, one of the Anglican participants at the 2002 consultation and a member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations of the Anglican Communion, to replace Rev. Canon David Hamid.

In 2004, the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson joined the committee as the representative of the World Council of Churches, and in November 2005 the World Evangelical Alliance decided to be represented on the committee in the person of Rev. Richard Howell, who is a member of the International Council of the WEA..

In August 2005, Rev. Kuzipa Nalwamba resigned from the committee because of the end of her term with IFES-Africa. She was replaced in June 2006 by Rev. Judy Mbugua of the Association of Evangelicals of Africa.

In July 2006 the Baptist World Alliance nominated Dr Fausto Vasconcelos, director for Study and Research, to the committee. Dr Vasconcelos is from Brazil.

On 19th January 2007 Dr George Vandervelde died after a short illness.

In August 2008 Dr Musimbi Kanyoro finished her term as General Secretary of World YWCA and resigned from the committee. She was replaced by the Rev. Pirjo-Liisa Penttinen from the YWCA Finland.

The current composition of the committee is :

Rev. Dr Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, World Council of Churches, USA
Rev. Fr. Michael Gundiaev, Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, Russia
Rev. Dr Han Sang-Ehil, Church of God (Cleveland), USA
Rev. Richard Howell, World Evangelical Alliance, Evangelical Fellowship of India, India
Metropolitan Mar Gregorios, Syrian Orthodox Church, Patriarchate of Antioch, Syria
Rev. Judy W. Mbugua, Association of Evangelicals of Africa, Kenya
Rev. Pirjo-Liisa Penttinen, World Young Women's Christian Association, Finland
Mgr John A. Radano, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Catholic Church
Dr Cecil M. Robeck, Pentecostal, USA
Rev. Sarah Rowland Jones, Anglican Communion, South Africa
Dr Fausto Vasconcelos, Baptist World Alliance, Brazil
Mr. Hubert van Beek, Secretary.

The Africa consultation in August 2005 criticized the lack of representation of the global South on the Continuation Committee.

As of the Limuru Global Forum the name of the committee is Committee on the Global Christian Forum (GCF Committee). Following the recommendation of the Limuru Global Forum the GCF Committee will be renewed in 2008 so as to ensure broad and inclusive representation (see page 14, point 11 of the Proposals for the Future).

10. Secretariat

The Global Christian Forum has a small office near Geneva with one part-time staff who is also the secretary of the Continuation Committee.

11. Finance

11.1. As of 2000, with the first of the series of consultations, funds have been raised for the financing of the consultations.The following figures are indicative of the subsidized cost of the meetings :

Some of the main contributors have been :[11]

Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany Council for World Mission
Christian Aid UK/Ireland
Church of Norway
Church of Sweden
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
Protestant Church in the Netherlands / Kerk in Actie
Reformed Church in America
Salvation Army (International Headquarters)
United Methodist Church
World Vision International
World Council of Churches

11.2. In 2003, the Continuation Committee drew up a comprehensive budget including the cost of meetings, of the secretariat etc. for the period 2004 – 2007 (see Action Plan). Until now is has not been possible to raise funds for such an overall budget. The financial situation of the Forum is fragile and vulnerable.

11.3. Since October 2004, the WCC supports financially the office of the Forum on a consultancy basis.

11.4. Important contributions have been the production and financing of the information leaflet on the Global Christian Forum, entirely covered by the Evangelical Fellowship of India, and the printing and financing of the second and revised edition of the brochure by the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch. The Evangelical Fellowship of India has also designed and assumes the maintenance of the new website of the Forum.

Address: P.O.Box 306, CH–1290 Versoix, Switzerland. Tel +41 227554546; Fax +41 227550108;
E-mail: gcforum@freesurf.ch
Website: www.globalchristianforum.org

March 2008

Proposals for the Future of the Global Christian Forum

Limuru, 6 – 9 November 2007

The meeting affirmed the Guiding Purpose of the Global Christian Forum:

To create an open space wherein representatives from a broad range of Christian churches and interchurch organizations, which confess the triune God and Jesus Christ as perfect in His divinity and humanity, can gather to foster mutual respect, to explore and address together common challenges. [Note: for full Guiding Purpose Statement see below]

In addition the Limuru meeting offered the following proposals to guide the further work of the Global Christian Forum Committee:

The meeting

1) affirmed the value of the Forum as an open space for developing new relationships and continuing conversations, and identifying common concerns, recognising that any resulting joint actions will be outworked through the participating churches and organisations

2) affirmed the need for the Forum to sustain its intentional commitment to gathering the largest possible representation of the Christian Churches worldwide around the table

3) affirmed that the Forum continue to be based on committed participation, rather than being a membership organization

4) proposed that the Forum process should continue to broaden and deepen the circle of participation (in terms of the numbers of individuals concerned, the breadth and inclusivity of constituencies, and with particular attention to under-represented groups, including women, youth, indigenous peoples and the physically challenged)

5) proposed that, to this end, the Forum should continue with the lightest structure possible, for example through a small secretariat at least at the current level,

6) requested participating church bodies to assume financial responsibility, as able, for this structure, and for the Forum

7) supported the GCF Committee in its efforts to establish a broad and sustainable financial basis for the Forum

In addition, the meeting

8) requested the GCF Committee to ensure a thorough evaluation is made of the Forum process after Limuru

9) proposed the GCF Committee facilitate a representative consultation to review the evaluation of the Forum process, and then reflect further on the future of the Forum

10) proposed that, in the light of these, the GCF Committee may facilitate further the Forum process and inter-church engagement at regional, national and local levels, as well as at the global level, and will encourage developments that promote the goals of the Forum at the regional and local level and within various traditions

11) proposed that the GCF Committee engage in dialogue with the church families and bodies represented in Limuru over the appointment of a new committee, ensuring both some measure of continuity and broad and inclusive representation.

Guiding Purpose Statement

To create an open space wherein representatives from a broad range of Christian churches and interchurch organizations, which confess the triune God and Jesus Christ as perfect in His divinity and humanity, can gather to foster mutual respect, to explore and address together common challenges.

In the spirit of John 17:21 “ that all of them may be one … so that the world may believe that you have sent me” and because of our faith in a reconciling God (2 Cor.5: 18-21) a forum could pursue the following:


— Deepen our commitment to God’s Word and mission in the world;

—Enhance our understanding of contemporary expressions of Christian mission;

—Pursue principles and practices that enable us to deal freely, responsibly and peaceably with our Christian differences and distinctive qualities;

—Engage in theological reflection in areas of mutual concern;

—Strengthen the wholeness of the church by encouraging communication and cooperation; and

—Foster relationships that may lead to common witness.


Limuru, November 2007

Explanatory note: This document was developed through discussions between leaders of the Orthodox Churches, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Evangelical and Pentecostal movements, the World Council of Churches and the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions, and affirmed at the meeting of the Global Christian Forum, in Limuru from 6 to 9 November 2007.

The Guiding Purpose Statement above repeats the language of the Provisional Purpose Statement adopted in Pasadena in 2002.

[1] Called the Christian World Communions (CWCs). See point 8.1 page 8
[2] Available on request
[3] A narrative summary of the consultation and the communiqué are available on request.
[4] Available on request.
[5] Statement and report of the consultation available on request.
[6] Statement and report of the consultation available on request
[7] Summary report of the meeting available on request. At its meeting in January 2007 the Executive Committee of the EFA decided to accept the invitation to join the process and to participate in the next AMCU
[8] Message available on request.
[9] Message available on request.
[10] Anglican Communion, Baptist World Alliance, Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council, Ecumenical Patriarchate (Eastern Orthodox), Friends World Committee for Consultation, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, International Old-Catholic Bishops Conference, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference, Moravian Church – World Wide Unity Board, Moscow Patriarchate (Eastern Orthodox), Pentecostal World Fellowship, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Catholic Church), Reformed Ecumenical Council, Salvation Army, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Convention of Churches of Christ, World Evangelical Alliance, World Methodist Council.
[11] Full list of contributors available on request

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