Metropolitan Geevarghese Coorilos (pictured second from right), who is a regular supporter of the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative and will participate in the next regional consultation in Ethiopia, took part last week in the launch of a new ecumenical textbook on mission. The launch was part of the Central Committee meeting of the World Council of Churches in Norway.
Ecumenical Missiology: Changing Landscapes and New Conceptions of Mission, which is designed for use in theological seminaries, claims to be the first to offer a comprehensive overview of church mission work since the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910.
The Orthodox lay theologian, Kyriaki Avtzi, who is responsible for the WCC programme on evangelism and edited chapters on issues such as proselytism, evangelism in multi-faith contexts and the intersection between gospel and culture said, “The question before us on these issues is how to highlight the good news of the Gospel for today? What does this imply?” She went on to suggest that discipleship is emerging as an important lens for conceiving evangelism in contemporary missiology saying, “We still are unpacking what discipleship means in evangelism where lay people are often dominant”.
Ecumenical Missiology: Changing Landscapes and New Conceptions of Mission is jointly published by Regnum Press and the WCC.
