Dear participants,

In less than two months time, we will gather in Manado for the second global gathering of the Global Christian Forum. I would like to share with you some more information about the proposed program of the event.

All the speakers for the plenary sessions are now confirmed.

On the morning of the first day,(Tuesday) a group of members of the GCF Committee will present the history, purpose and present stage of the Forum process. In the evening there will be a session on the local context of the host country Indonesia, where H.E. Governor S.H. Sarundayang of North Sulawesi, Prof. Dr. Musdah Mulia of the Indonesian Conference for Religion and Peace, and Rev. Dr. A.A. Yewangoe, Moderator of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia will speak.

On the second day, (Wednesday) Dr. Dana Robert, Professor of World Christianity and History of Mission at Boston University School of Theology, USA, and Rev. Dr. Kim Sang-Bok David from Korea, President of the World Evangelical Alliance, will address the issue of major trends and changes in world Christianity. In the afternoon, Mr. Peter Crossing from Australia, Data Analyst of the World Christian Database, will present the Atlas of Global Christianity.

The morning of third day, (Thursday) the plenary on the theme Life Together in Jesus Christ, Empowered by the Holy Spirit, will aim at sharing the spiritual riches of the ancient church, by Rev. Dr. K.M. George of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, India, of the Pentecostal Movement, by Dr. Opoku Onyinah of The Church of Pentecost, Ghana, and of renewal movements, by Mrs. Michelle Moran, President of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services, from the UK.

In the afternoon of that same day, six or seven brief testimonies will be presented, examplifying how different Christian communities in the world seek to listen to what the Spirit is saying to them. These will include the Orthodox Church in Albania, the churches in China, reconciliation between Mennonites and Lutherans, the churches in the Middle East, the Taizé Community, new charismatic churches in Africa, and the struggle of the Dalits in India.

These six plenary sessions will provide the input for eleven or twelve meetings of discussion groups, in various settings. You will be invited to be part of a mixed group of about thirty participants, to meet twice with others from the same region as you, and twice with those of the same tradition as yours. All groups will have a moderator and a rapporteur, who will be asked ahead of time to accept their assignment. The findings of the groups will be shared with a small drafting committee, that will bring a short document for discussion and consensus approval on the last day.

Group discussions play a vital role in all Forum meetings. The gathering in Manado will begin with the sharing of our personal faith stories or itineraries of faith. This will be done in the mixed groups, the afternoon of the first day. You will be asked to tell about your encounter with Christ, in your own personal words, what it has meant in your life and what changes it has brought. In each group there will be one or two members of the GCF Committee, who will introduce this sharing and give their own example.

On the second day, the group discussions will focus on the trends and changes in world Christianity today and what these mean for Christian unity and common witness of the churches. On day three the groups will be asked to reflect on what the Spirit is saying to the churches today, and how different traditions can help each other to discern the voice of God’s Spirit and learn from each other.

On the final day of the gathering (Friday), in the morning there will be an opportunity in groups to discuss the document prepared by the drafting committee. It is not the intention, and will not be possible, to summarize fully in this document the wealth of the group discussions. Rather, the drafting committee will be asked to focus on some guiding themes and principles for the future of the Global Christian Forum process, e.g : what should be the main priorties, how should the process continue, in which direction should it move?

Full records of the group discussions will be included in the overall report of the gathering.

Worship and bible study is an important feature of our gathering. Days one and three will open with a time of worship and prayer, days two and four with a Bible study that will conclude with a moment of prayer.

At the end of each afternoon, before dinner, we will again gather in prayer, in the groups (days one and three) or all together (day two and the last day for the closing worship).

The Bible studies are being prepared by Rev. Valdir Steuernagel from Brazil, Director of World Vision – Christian Commitments, and will be centered on the metaphors of Jerusalem and Antioch, in chapters 11 and 15 of the Book of Acts. They will take place in small groups of fifteen, with pre-assigned leaders. 

We will have the privilege of having with us, all through the meeting, a brother of the Taizé Community. His name is Brother Ghislain. Together with a member of the GCF Committee and of the National Committee, Bro. Ghislain  will assist us with the moments of worship and prayer. We hope that with his help there will be a sense of continuity and cohesion in the spiritual life of the gathering, with space for silence and for spontaneous prayer and praise.

Overall, this is an ambitious and full program that we propose for a short but intensive period of four days. Because it is short, we have not included a time of relaxation or an excursion. We hope that many of you will be able to spare some time before or after the event, to benefit from being in Indonesia, even if it were only for part of a day. We trust that over meals and breaks you will enjoy many informal moments of meeting friends, old and new. We encourage especially all who come from outside Indonesia to get to know some of the forty or fifty Indonesian participants who will be with us.

The Planning Committee, the whole GCF Committee, the National Committee in Jakarta, the Local Committee in Manado, and the small staff team are all looking forward to meeting you in Manado and to our time together.

26th August 2011

Hubert van Beek
Secretary
Global Christian Forum

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