WCC Commission - "Lily's Room"

Christian Today India (http://in.christiantoday.com)
WCC to meet in Greece for new Christian unity, 30 September 2009
by Gretta Curtis, Christian Post

Leaders of World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order will meet in Greece early next month to address the question of “Christian unity from a new perspective”.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, will open the meeting to be attended by 120 members of the commission in Kolympari, Crete, Greece, from October 7 -14, said WCC’s Tuesday press statement.
According to WCC, the plenary meeting is seen as Christianity's most representative theological forum; it will not only address issues that have traditionally divided Christian denominations, but also matters that have become divisive in more recent times even within churches, such as questions of moral discernment.
This new approach will be rooted in a reflection on how churches relate to their sources of theological authority, and developed through case studies illustrating how churches use these references to make moral decisions, the statement stated.
The statement said, WCC president from Europe Dr Mary Tanner will encourage participants to engage in what she affirms could be the beginning of a new phase in Faith and Order’s history.
The main theme of the meeting “Called to be the One Church” will be addressed by prominent Church leaders and theologians like Metropolitan Prof. Gennadios of Sassima, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; Rev. Dr Maake Masango, Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, South Africa; Rev. Dr Marianela de la Paz Cot, Episcopal Church in Cuba; Sister Ha Fong Maria Ko, Roman Catholic Church, China/Italy.
The discussion on the future of the study “The Nature and Mission of the Church” will be stimulated by contributions from: Rev. Dr Paul Collins, Church of England; Rev. Dr Hermen Shastri, Methodist Church in Malaysia; and Rev. Dr Viorel Ionita, Romanian Orthodox Church, the statement added.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is an international Christian ecumenical organisation representing about 560 million Christians in more than 120 countries.
WCC member churches include most of the Orthodox Churches; numerous Protestant churches, including the Anglican Communion, some Baptists, many Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed, a broad sampling of united and independent churches, and some Pentecostal churches; and some Old Catholic churches.