World Evangelical Alliance

AGORA WEA MISSION COMMISSION WORLD FORUM

Agora is the Greek word for market place, forum, where people gathered for dialogue, discussions, sharing information or just for being together (Acts 17:17). The Mission Commission staff is launching a monthly newsletter, called Agora , directed primarily to the MC Associates but also sent to other mission leaders and available on the MC web page. Agora is an open forum for the MC Associates, MC Task Forces and Networks as a complement to the magazine Connections.
Brief texts and news for publication in Agora can be sent to our office in Brazil:bekstrom@worldevangelical.org

Agora is also available at our website. 

Read in this issue of Agora:

• Streams under an Oak... Musings
• MC Consultation in Thailand
• Connections website
• New Executive Director at IIbET, Spain
• Bulletins and Websites

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Streams under an Oak...Musings*

The year 2008 comes to an end and we look forward to the new year of 2009 with high expectations. For the Mission Commission the climax of this year was the consultation in Pattaya. The joy of meeting old and new friends, the sense of relevance in dedicating time for reflection on crucial missiological themes and the delight of seeing the enthusiasm in both existing and emerging networks and task forces are all indescribable and immeasurable feelings. As staff team and MC leadership we can only thank God for the privilege of working with such a diverse and powerful community of mission leaders. The MC is truly global and the richness of its constituency lays in the assembled experience, knowledge, initiative, resources and wisdom present and available in the national mission movements, both the older and newer.

One of these highly gifted and fruitful mission movements is the Singaporean. Guided by the MC Associate and researcher Valerie Lim, I had the opportunity to visit some of the mission organisations, theological seminaries, bible colleges and churches. The short but intensive stay gave a good picture of the potential of the Singaporean church for cross-cultural mission and the strategic role the City State plays in the Asian continent, and not least related to the Chinese context.

As we enter a new year, fresh opportunities and new challenges are ahead of us. As MC we anticipate a lot of work being done by the task forces and networks, following the objectives and plans discussed in Pattaya. The development and strengthening of national mission movements in the French speaking countries of Africa is certainly one of the main tasks for the MC staff during 2009. Other regions will also receive special attention such as the Caribbean and Asia. We look also forward to intensify the co-operation with EEMA in Europe and COMIBAM in Latin America.

We would like to thank all the MC Associates and MC Friends who have prayed for us and supported the MC during 2008. Without your participation and collaboration we would not be able to continue offering our services and maintaining good quality of our materials. May God bless you richly during the Christmas Season and in the new year of 2009.

Bertil Ekström

The Mission Commission Staff Team (from left to right): Bill Taylor (USA), Bertil Ekström (Brazil), Kees van der Wilden (Netherlands), David Ruiz (Guatemala) and Younoussa Djao (Ivory Coast)

WEA MISSION COMMISSION CONSULTATION “THAILAND 2008”

In the land of the Orchids the Mission Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance celebrated its 11th Global Consultation with the attendance of 250 mission and church leaders from over 50 nations.

The MC convenes a global consultation every two or three years for mutual encouragement, fellowship and building of relationships, growth in the understanding of the missional enterprise around the globe, dealing with global issues and challenges, and planning the joint work and strategies, in order to become better equipped for the work.

This time the MC consultation focused primarily the missiological issues of Contextualisation, Mission and Spirituality, and Mission in the Context of Suffering, Violence, Persecution and Martyrdom. The general reflection of all participants and the specific missiological teams generated the core content for a new series of three missiological books based on the work done by the Global Missiology Task Force. These books will be published during the next three years.

The MC related Networks, Task Forces and Interest Groups dedicated time to evaluate, envision and plan their activities for the coming three to five years, providing services, research and materials to the national mission movements and the mission community worldwide.

Four new initiatives were launched during the consultation: the Continuum – a network of younger reflective practitioners; the Mission & Art Task Force; the Pastors and Church in Mission Task Force; and the Global Dialogue as a MC contribution to the current North-South Dialogue between mission leaders.

The five days in Pattaya, Thailand, gave all the participants a unique opportunity to listen to God and to each other, helping us all to discern the relevant issues for mission today, as well as the priorities for the MC collectively for the period 2009 to 2012.

“Continuum” was the name given to the Younger Leaders Task Force that was formed during the Consultation in Pattaya. Some “not-so-young-people” were also invited to the conversations and the celebration of the launching of the new MC task force.