Past Expert Consultations and events in relation to the IEPC

Kingston, Jamaica

Glory to God and Peace on Earth! This is the theme of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) that aims at witnessing to the Peace of God as a gift and responsibility of the oikumene. The IEPC seeks to assess and strengthen the church's position on peace, provide opportunities for networking and deepen our common commitment to processes of reconciliation and peace.

Saidnaya, Syria

The 2nd Consultation on Orthodox Peace Ethics will take plce at the St. Christophoros Patriarchal Monastery at the Antiochian Conventions Center in Saydnaya (near Damascus) Syria, 18-22 October 2010.

Cleveland (Ohio), United States of America

The objectives of this consultation are the following: i) To explore the new challenges and questions for a sustained ecumenical response to racism in the world today; ii) To discuss the need and possibility of an ecumenical anti-racism network/collective; and iii) To reflect theologically on the meaning and implications of Just Peace from the point of view of those victimized by two prominent violent cultures, namely racism and casteism.

Boston, United States of America

This consultation intends to explore how violence is fostered by media and entertainment games with specific reference to the degradation of persons and women in particular, how media and electronic games encourage violence and ways in which violence is celebrated and valued and the question of whether the portrayal of violence in media and entertainment games can be therapeutic or reinforces violence.

Balamand, Lebanon

The aim of this colloquium is to attempt an objective reading of a set of key-texts, biblical, patristic and liturgical pertaining to the issue of the People of God, trying to discover a way to translate these traditions in adequate terms addressing the believers today. It also aims at finding a way to reduce the confusion resulting from the use of the term "People of God" and parallel terms in different semantic fields. The main question of the colloquium’s problematic is: if a Biblical term used in Liturgy and Theology comes to have a different, ambiguous, meaning in culture, would that term need to be changed, substituted, avoided, or redefined?

Hwacheon, South Korea

Nuclear weapons with their related technologies, production, deployment and use, are incompatible with the life of living beings. Yet they were developed, deployed and used by the United States in1945 to kill the people and destroy the life of living beings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. It was truly a fatal moment in the history of the earth.

Geneva, Switzerland

This is a training workshop that is co-organised by the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), in collaboration with the Interreligious Council on Ethics Education for Children.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

The consultation is part of a WCC study project on Poverty, wealth and ecological debt. It continues a process which was started at the WCC 8th Assembly in Harare in 1998 and became known as Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth (AGAPE) since the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre. Today, the issue of socio-economic justice is no less pressing.

Kalymnos, Greece

The Inter-Orthodox consultation on Peace is a meeting of representatives from the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Church.

Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Switzerland

Tensions within communities, hatred and conflict are often related to the fact, that bad memories are kept in a retributive way. The path of healing memories is only possible by human beings deeply valuing the other and recognising the divinity and sacredness of sisters and brothers even if they are enemies. The path is also paved by narratives of history and societal memories which take into consideration the perspective of the others.

Bucharest, Romania

What is the core teaching of the Orthodox Church on peace and peaceful coexistence? Does the Orthodox Church endorse war? Is war holy? Is war a lesser evil or a lesser good? The purpose of this pan-Orthodox consultation is to explore the ethics for peace as they emerged in the history of the Eastern Church.

Nadi, Fiji

The Pacific Conference of Churches will convene the Pacific Church Leaders Meeting (PCL 09) from the 20-24 April 2009 in Suva, Fiji.

Bangalore, India

The International Consultation on Peace, Security and Development in South Asia took place in Bangalore, India, from 30 March to 2 April 2009. It gathered some sixty participants, mostly South Asian church and ecumenical leaders, together with representatives from member churches of the WCC, the CCA and the SACC, as well as ecumenical development and relief and humanitarian aid agencies from the region, Europe and North America.

Monastery of Bose, Italy

Men and women who, throughout the history of the church, have set examples of Christian life have left a rich heritage to the ecumenical community. An international symposium at the monastery of Bose, Italy will explore the meaningful content which the joint remembrance of these witnesses to the faith can give to ecumenical worship.

Cardenas, Matanzas, Cuba

The consultation organized by the Ecumenical Disabilities Advocates Network (EDAN) 20-22 October in Cuba, will offer opportunities to share experiences and to discuss issues such as the causes and effects of violence, domestic violence or the role of women with disabilities in the church.

Ciudad San Cristóbal, Guatemala

The consultation is part of a WCC study project on Poverty, wealth and ecological debt. It continues a process which was started at the WCC 8th Assembly in Harare in 1998 and became known as Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth (AGAPE) since the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre. Today, the issue of socio-economic justice is no less pressing.

Geneva, Switzerland

Christians and Christian peoples have been among the first to degrade and destroy the balance in God's creation. Today's ecological crisis is the catastrophic consequence of a willful and manipulative abuse of God's earth for the benefit of some of the world's peoples. Human "progress" is accompanied by destruction and death. Creation suffers in silence.

Blantyre, Malawi

When it comes to gender issues, the main challenge for Christian men remains to be the epistemological search for what it means to be imago Dei. How do men conceive themselves as God's image within their historical contexts especially of enslavement, colonialism and still existing racism? In the global south, the changing realities of urbanisation with more women taking up roles that ‘traditionally conceived as exclusively male (as bread winners) and the rise in men's unemployment pause another level of challenges to the understanding of masculinity. Most men feel that they are no longer relevant. All these contextual differences and challenges need to be worked on before partnership can be...

Bern, Switzerland

Around 65 theologians and church representatives from member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC), theological faculties and regional ecumenical organizations will gather in Bern, Switzerland, from 10 to 14 September 2008, in order to reflect on issues such as the "Promised Land", "the Church and Israel" and "Justice and Peace".

Diocese of Gothenburg, Sweden

Although both the Bible and the Qur'an affirm that men and women are of equal worth and have complementary and essential contributions to make within the life of the whole community, there is no doubt that women throughout history have been relegated to a subordinate category in their religious community and in society at large. The leading role in priesthood in Christianity or religious authority in the Islamic traditions has mainly been reserved for men. Policy-making and scholarship have only exceptionally been a platform for women.

Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo

The consultation focuses on the healing of women with disabilities in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, as well as how to face violence and trauma in the Great lakes sub region.

Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Switzerland

The concept of human rights is not alien to any culture. Human rights, human dignity and fundamental freedoms are applicable to every human being, everywhere. Building a culture of human rights to uphold human dignity is essential at every level of society today. It is in this context that the discussion on the universality of human rights continues to be relevant as it affirms the cardinal principle of right to freedom and equality in dignity and rights.

Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Switzerland

CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP IN A BROKEN WORLD

This seminar will try to bring together participants from various countries and regions of the globe, representing contexts in which violence has sadly become a daily reality.

Seoul, Korea

International Peace Symposium on "Peace and Human Security: Global Insecurity and Overcoming Violence" (March 31 - 4 April 2008) in Seoul (South Korea). The event is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the DOAM Deutsche Ostasienmission, Tomisaka Christian Center, Korean Peace Foundation, and the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). Participants reflected on the concept of "human security" and its relation to "Overvulnerability" and Invulnerability.

Evangelische Akademie Arnoldshain - Schmitten, Germany

Does the human family have the responsibility - or even the duty - to intervene when states are no longer capable or willing to protect some segments of their population? How can adequate information about gross human rights violations be secured? These and related concerns are on the agenda for discussion during this consultation, which is part of the European focus of the Decade and of the preparatory process leading to an Ecumenical Declaration on Just Peace to be presented to the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in May 2011.

Daar es Salam, Tanzania

When does the pursuit of economical wellbeing turn into greed? This is one of the questions to be discussed at a 5-9 November ecumenical consultation in Dar es Salaam. Joint church strategies and actions for addressing the interlinked problems of poverty, excessive wealth, and ecological degradation in Africa are intended results.

Dublin, Ireland

This international ecumenical consultation will assess best practices in dealing with large-scale crimes affecting entire nations or ethnic communities.

Volos, Greece

This event is sponsored by Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Boston Theological Institute, and World Council of Churches.