Ecumenism in the Pacific
Ecumenical Relations and Mission of the Church
Objectives
- To enhance ecumenical dialogue so that areas of cooperation and
strategies to work together are identified to ensure innovative ways of
promoting ecumenism is developed.
- To enhance solidarity among the churches to become concerned about
what’s happening in all the churches in the Pacific Island countries.
- To provide the churches with the means to be able to discern and act in solidarity with other member churches.
- To make aware the need and appreciation for common ground between
the churches because of denominational differences so as to help sustain
the ecumenical movement in the Pacific.
- To provide the member churches of the PCC with a process and
methodology for reflection and action on issues they and their members
are facing in a fast changing environment.
Activities (to achieve the Objectives)
- Conduct national and regional seminars and workshops between
ecumenical pioneers and Pacific youth church leaders, focusing on four
main themes: History of the Ecumenical Movement in the Pacific; Theology
of Ecumenism; Spirituality of Ecumenism; Prophetic Witness of the
Ecumenical movement..
- Conduct a Conference on “Mission of the Church in the 21st Century”.
The conference will focus on the theology of mission in the Pacific
today, together with issues of development, capacity building and
networking.
- Conduct a workshop on the topic: A Theology of Hope. The workshop is
to produce a Study and Discussion Guide that will be a resource tool
for the churches to use when dealing with issues confronting them.
Programme Assessment
Performance
In 2009, the two main focus areas were mission and theology.
A working group workshop on Mission was conducted in Samoa in October
2009 to plan the 2010 Mission Conference that was held on Viwa Island,
Fiji from 10-18 April 2010. The workshop was co-hosted by the God’s
Pacific People’s Programme of the Pacific Theological College. The
workshop produced a draft document highlighting insights on mission and
the prophetic witness.
On the theology front, the Kalia (the name of a Tongan ocean-going
canoe) framework was developed and more research is being undertaken by
members of the working group.
Other activities conducted in 2009 were in collaboration with the Youth Empowerment and Globalisation and Trade programmes.
Relevance
Outcomes of the mission workshop were highly relevant to the needs of
the churches in their efforts to understand their role in mission in the
Pacific today. The major topics and themes of discussion for the 2010
Mission Conference were taken from the Samoa workshop participants, most
of whom are active mission field workers.
Discussions on the new Kalia framework addressing theological issues
in the Pacific involved mostly academics. However, the test for
relevancy will be known when it is implemented by individual churches to
see how useful it is to their communities.
Outcomes
That mission is not confined to spiritual work but incorporates social
issues like poverty, justice, governance and peace. Hence, the PCC needs
to be more influential and focus its work on justice, human rights,
good governance, leadership, capacity building and conflict resolution.
For ecumenism to flourish in the region, mission and theology need to work closely together.
There needs to be more dialogue between moral theology and pastoral
theology in relation to mission and issues encountered in the mission
fields.
Areas of ethics and pastoral theology and development need to be
addressed in the 2010 programme year through mission and theology
planned activities.
The ecumenical history in the Pacific to be a source of providing
meaningful and continuing dialogue to the women, youth and children of
the region for the present and the future.
Work Done Up to Date
- In-country seminar to produce statements on pertinent issues: Tonga 16–18 September 2009
- Planning consultation on Ecumenical Mission Stories: Fiji 13–16 October 2009
- Christian Community Life workshop: Vanuatu 9–13 November 2009
- Consultation on Conflict, Violence, Gender and the Church: Tonga 7–10 December 2009
- In-country workshop on the Theology of Hope: Framework, Methodology and Programme: Kiribati 17–21 March 2010
- Conference on Mission of the Church in the 21st Century: Fiji 10–18 April 2010
- Workshop on an encounter between Ecumenical Pioneers and Pacific Youth Leaders: Fiji 26–30 April 2010
Planned Activities
- Regional planning workshop on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry dialogue: Fiji 9–12 June 2010
- In-country training session on Theology of Hope: Framework and Methodology: Kiribati 5–10 July 2010
- Seminar on Christian Education: Fiji 21–23 July 2010
- Seminar on Family Life programme: Fiji 26–29 July 2010
- Working group meeting on Theology of Hope Group: Samoa 6–10 September 2010
- Regional consultation on Hermeneutics in the Theological of Hope framework: Fiji 27–30 September 2010
- In-country training session on Theology of Hope - Framework and Methodology: Maohi 11–14 October 2010
- In-country training session on Theology of Hope - Framework and Methodology: PNG 13–20 November 2010
- National workshop on an encounter between Ecumenical Pioneers and Fiji Youth Leaders: Fiji 30 November–3 December 2010