The 13th Global Consultation of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission, held from 12 – 17 May in Izmir (Turkey) has just been concluded.
The consultation saw more than 50 nations represented by 210 leaders come together in the geographic proximity of the Seven Churches of Revelation to dialogue around the theme: Gospel – Church – Witness.
The Book of Revelation informed the biblical reflections of the consultation, and being in the geographic proximity of the Seven Churches provided a unique guiding narrative for the consultation programme.
"This was one of the unique consultations where we have made use of the significant history of the geography to form a big part of the consultation experience, to also inform discussions on the current realities of the Global Church," said Bertil Ekstrom, Executive Director of the WEA Mission Commission.
The consultation was also unique and a first of its kind in this context, in the sense that all the table discussion feedback and interactions were facilitated on the password protected WEA MC Website forum. All the conference attendees were registered to access the discussion forum online, where attendees could engage in ongoing dialogue with one another around the themes of the plenary presentations.
This online facilitation of the table discussion feedback made the consultation an environmentally friendly and secure paper-less experience. To engage with the discussions and their summaries, click here (http://mc.worldea.org/plenary-notes-discussions). Please note that you have to be registered on the website in order to have access to these discussions. Please contact Adriaan Adams at [email protected] to request the relevant access code if you are not yet registered. Please state if you are a MCA or not.
The discussion forum is an ongoing MCA communication platform, launched at the consultation, which can be used by MCA's to continue their dialogue in an online forum. Future discussion themes and updates will be communicated via a monthly newsletter.
In addition to plenary session presentations and evening programme celebrations, the MC Taskforces and Networks met in afternoon workshop sessions to dialogue and work on their respective partnerships and shared resources.
Included in the community reflection time during the consultation, attendees spent an afternoon in the excavated ancient city of Ephesus. Upon conclusion of the consultation, many of the attendees did a tour of the Seven Churches of Revelation, continuing to engage with the message of the Spirit to the churches.
One of the document outcomes of the conference was a Letter from Smyrna to the Global Church that can be accessed here. (http://mc.worldea.org/news/letter-from-smyrna-to-the-global-church-wea-mc-global-consultation-2014)
For more information on the WEA Mission Commission, visit: http://mc.worldea.org
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