Plénière sur l'unité

This is a recording of the Mission Plenary at the WWC 10th Assembly 2013, Busan, Republic of Korea. The unity plenary will focus on our vision of unity and our journey towards that vision in the fellowship of the World Council of Churches. It is a plenary grounded in a prayerful, reflective environment, in which participants are invited to consider ideas about unity and the spiritual dimension of this journey.

The first part of the plenary title, "Unity in Christ", reminds us that unity is not our creation. It is God's gift in Christ through the Holy Spirit. That is why we all confess that the Church is one. It also reminds us that as we gather across our church divisions in order to address them, we already experience oneness in Christ in a real though limited way. This has been one of the most important theological insights of the ecumenical movement since its beginnings. The second part of the title, "the journey of the fellowship", refers to what we do together as divided churches in response to God's gift and calling, as we strive in the fellowship of the one ecumenical movement for full visible unity.

The plenary seeks to help participants not only to become more familiar with the vision of full visible unity and our journey to that vision, but also to contemplate some of the main hopes and challenges that the vision and pilgrimage experiences today; to explore the contemporary contextual relevance of the ecumenical movement, and to renew our shared commitment to the vision "that all may be One, so that the world may believe."

Moderator
Dame Mary Tanner has served as the World Council of Churches President from Europe since the Porto Alegre Assembly. A member of the Church of England, she formerly served as General Secretary of its Council for Christian Unity. She served on the World Council of Churches' Faith and Order Commission, including time as Moderator. She chaired the Advisory committee for the Community of Women and Men in the Church Study.

Speakers
H.E. Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviste is Professor for Missiology and Ecumenism at the Orthodox Theological Faculty of Târgoviste and Patriarchal Exarch for Church, for external and ecumenical relationships of the Patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. He serves on the Permanent Committee on Consensus and Collaboration as well as the governing bodies for the World Council of Churches.

Rev. Dr Neville Callam is the General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. He is a minister of the Jamaican Baptist Union, and a former lecturer at the Jamaica Theological Seminary and the United Theological College of the West Indies. He previously served on the Faith and Order Standing Commission of the World Council of Churches.

Bishop Mark MacDonald is the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada and the former Bishop of Alaska in The Episcopal Church. He is active in the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission examining the legacy of residential schools in Canada. Bishop MacDonald served as a member of the Unity Statement drafting group.

Ms Alice Fabian is a candidate for ordained ministry with the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa. She completed a Master of Theology degree in Biblical Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is currently a student at Oxford University reading for a Master of Theology degree in Applied Theology. Ms Fabian served as a member of the Unity Statement drafting group.

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