The Global Christian Forum in Limuru, in November 2007, affirmed that ‘We have been invited into a common journey of faith with confidence in the guidance of Christ’s life-giving Spirit…’

In order to take forward this journey, some 50 Christian leaders, men and women, coming from over 30 nations and six continents, met in New Delhi from 8 to 11 November 2008. In sharing our faith journeys, worship, discussion, and throughout our time together, we experienced the joy of recognizing one another in Christ, and being called in Christ into new and closer relationships. We celebrated the sense of growing trust and fellowship among us, called together from a wide range of Churches and Christian Organisations, as we sought to be faithful stewards into the future of this gift entrusted to us. Working with the Limuru ‘Message’ and ‘Proposals for the Future’, and the three thorough external evaluations that have since been made of the Forum process, we reviewed the vision and purpose of the Forum, considered our long-term objectives, and in the light of these, outlined strategic goals for the next three years, and what would be required to achieve these. In particular, we felt that a Global Meeting should be held in 2011, rather than at a later point. We also reviewed the evolution of the Forum from the perspectives of our different regions. We offer this report to aid the Global Christian Forum Committee in its work.

We affirmed the unique calling of the Forum to bring together Christians of differing traditions: the Forum process continues to be a renewal movement based explicitly in relationship, seeking to discover the guidance of the Spirit for the sake of the whole Christian community, and for the world. Its distinctive practice of focusing on the sharing of faith stories of living relation with Jesus has proved a powerful way to build relationships of mutual trust and respect among the widest possible range of Christian groups. This distinctive focus allows the Global Christian Forum to be a catalyst external to existing structures, one able to continue to call such wide meetings together.

Recognising the need persists to continue broadening and deepening these relationships of trust and mutual respect, we affirmed that the Forum must continue its efforts. These should remain centred on this core vocation, and we should not be afraid to face more deeply the issues that impede our relationships, while remaining aware that increased mutual confidence may open up new possibilities for us. Though we should not become a problem-solving body ourselves, we rejoice at the gift that the Forum process can be for addressing difficult questions, and catalyzing relationships elsewhere within the body of Christ, and we pray that the inspiration we have experienced through encounters based on faith-sharing may become widely shared. We also warmly invite those who have not yet been part of our journey to join us, as brothers and sisters in Christ, around this open table of meeting.

We upheld the values that have been central to the life of the Forum over the past ten years, including mutual acceptance, respectful listening, and equal ownership of the process among all participants. This is expressed in the interdependence we share, even as the Forum maintains its autonomy within the wider search for Christian unity. We affirmed the continued centrality of these values, as reflected in the call of Scripture: ‘If there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort in love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition, or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than yourself. Let each of you look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 2:1-5)

At the strategic level, we identified five key objectives:

1. We will uphold the distinctive nature of the Forum, ensuring that we retain focus on its unique vision and vocation. This includes its autonomy and invitational capacity, all supported by a light and flexible structure.
2. Global, regional and national/local levels of activity should be pursued, and there should be a synergy between these. At the same time, we recognize that the global level has a special claim on the attention of this body, since there is no comparable actor at the global level.
3. Upgrading our communication and promotional capacity is a high priority, including at the global level. This has a significant bearing on our ability to be sustainable, and to pursue the activities to which we believe we are called.
4. We suggest establishing a ‘Friends of the Forum’ network among participants at Forum meetings, who can act in support of the secretary and committee, sharing the vision, values and methodology in visits and meetings, especially at regional and lower (sub-regional and national) levels, and assist in fund-raising.
5. We invite the Committee further to define and implement plans for our operational base, encompassing the secretariat and budget. We recognized the need to move to a slightly more formal support mechanism, though still light, through a strengthened secretariat, if we are to go forward sustainably. We affirmed the proposal for a full time secretary with full time administrative support – but noted that where this might be situated would depend on various factors, including the candidate, and that organizational details require further work.

We outlined these anticipated programmes:

1. We plan to hold a Global Meeting in 2011.
   
2. We expect to hold other meetings, encounters, consultations, conversations, etc, dependent on the particular circumstances of each place, to include -
   

   Africa Regional Meeting 2009
   Asia Regional Meeting (with AMCU) 2010
   Latin America Meeting for leaders
   European sub-regional meetings
   Possible Pacific Meeting
   Possible Caribbean Meeting
   Possible Middle East team visits
   National meetings
   
   In these, we remind ourselves of the need to ensure inclusion of immigrant churches, and of young people and the leaders of the future.

3. The gathering and sharing of case studies (for example, regions and countries which have been able to introduce the Forum, best practices, what has worked), is an important means of mutual encouragement and spreading the Forum process. To this end, we should help the secretariat maintain up to date information on what is happening in various places, in order for this to be shared. This might also include various models of dialoguing, and ecumenical advances in other bodies, as well as material from the many other conversations and dialogues that take place between Christian traditions.
   
4. It would be helpful to consider further how to apply the faith-sharing approach to more specific questions, not least so that we can help spread the Forum process to other bodies and structures – noting that we do not want ourselves to become focused on problem-solving or addressing themes that are not central to our vision. Guidelines that reflect our process and values might be useful.
5. We recommend that at the end of this three year period there should be further independent evaluation.

The operational requirements for delivering these include:

1. Overseeing a smooth transition to a full time secretary with full time administrative support.
2. Fund raising, assisted by the production of a detailed budget, including specific projections for the next three years, which should address:

• Secretariat
• Meetings (some, such as Africa, Asia and Global Meeting, requiring greater levels of support than others, in terms of secretariat and financing), visits, and other activities.
• Resources for fund raising

The participants in the New Delhi Consultation expressed their appreciation for the generous hospitality offered by the Evangelical Fellowship of India and the Church of North India, together with the National Council of Churches of India and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, which enabled us to share the richness of the gift of fellowship, which is increasingly shared among them, and which the Forum is called to foster. We continue to pray for our brothers and sisters, particularly all those affected by violence in recent weeks in Orissa and elsewhere, and wish peace and prosperity to all the people of India.

As we leave this place, we look forward to continuing this journey of faith, in the ‘hope that does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.’ (Rom 5:5)

Churches, Church Families and Organizations participating in the Consultation:

• Anglican Communion
• Apostolic Faith Mission South Africa (Pentecostal)
• Asian Evangelical Alliance
• Assemblies of God (Malawi, Netherlands, Philippines)
• Baptist World Alliance
• Catholic Church - Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Catholic Church – Archdiocese of New Delhi and Archdiocese of Jamaica
• Catholic Church - Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences
• Christian Aid UK / Ireland
• Christian Conference of Asia
• Church of God (Cleveland) (Zambia)
• Church of North India
• Church of Sweden
• Coptic Orthodox Church
• Ecumenical Patriarchate / Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
• Evangelical Association of the Caribbean
• Evangelical Church of India
• Evangelical Fellowship of Egypt
• Evangelical Fellowship of India
• FIET Theological Institute (Pentecostal, Argentina)
• Forum for Ibero-American Evangelical Dialogue
• Foursquare France Churches (Pentecostal)
• Indonesian Evangelical Fellowship
• International Council of Old-Catholic Bishops
• International Pentecostal Holiness Church / Pentecostal World Fellowship
• Ghana Pentecostal Council
• Kerkinactie (Protestant Church in The Netherlands)
• Latin American Council of Churches
• Lutheran World Federation
• National Council of Churches in India
• Organization of African Instituted Churches
• Pentecostal Fellowship of India
• Reformed Church in America
• Russian Orthodox Church
• Seventh-day Adventists Church
• Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East
• United Methodist Church
• Yoido Full Gospel Church (South Korea)
• World Young Women’s Christian Association
• World Council of Churches
• World Evangelical Alliance
• World Methodist Council
• World Vision International

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