Blog from the Living Letters visit to Pakistan

This blog is a space where the participants of this solidarity visit will share their personal encounters and experiences with churches and other institutions of Pakistan's society during the trip. The delegation consists of six persons, four representatives of WCC member churches and two World Council of Churches (WCC) staff persons from Geneva.

The members of the ecumenical delegation are:

Monisha Smith, 26 years old, is currently working in the public sector in the United States. Previously she has served as a social justice missionary in West Bromwich, England. Monisha's background is the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Aart Verburg, 54 years old, is an ordained pastor of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. He has earlier served in a small Dutch congregation as well as a university chaplain in Indonesia. He is now the principal of a missionary preparation and cross culture communication school.

Michael Barseghyan, 24 years old, graduated from the Gevorgyan Theological University. He currently works in the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Etchmiadzin) as a secretary. Michael is participating in this trip to learn more about challenges that Christians worldwide have to face today.

Charles Amjad-Ali is an ordained minister from Church of Pakistan and a scholar specialed in ecumenical theology and Islamic law. He is currently Professor at Luther Seminary in United States.

Also on the trip are Shanta Premawardhana, Director of the WCC's programme on Inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, and Henrik Hansson, intern with WCC Communications. Shanta is heading the delegation and Henrik will try to provide regular updates on the messages the group wants to tell the world. 

Keep you posted!

Henrik Hansson