Europe can be Christian ‘mission field,’ Kobia says

July 28, 2004                                                                     

Photo by Manuel L�pez/World Council of Churches The Rev. Samuel Kobia, World Council of Churches

GENEVA (ENI) — Europe — which in the 19th century sent missionaries to spread Christianity around the world — is now becoming one of the new “mission fields” where people do not even know basic information about the faith, according to the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) chief executive. 

“I fear we are faced with the loss, in all cultures, of fundamental information about the Christian faith as a viable option for men and women today,” the Rev. Samuel Kobia told a gathering of theologians July 28 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “In many places today, we can no longer assume the religious, much less Christian, awareness which existed 20 years ago.”

Kobia, a Methodist theologian from Kenya, was making the opening address at a meeting of the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission, which promotes dialogue to help resolve differences between the churches and promote church unity. 

“Regions such as Europe, where we could count on at least a ‘cultural awareness’ of the faith, are now becoming mission fields full of persons who have never heard of the faith,” he said in his speech, which was released by the WCC headquarters in Geneva.

At the gathering in Malaysia, the first such meeting of the Faith and Order Commission in a Muslim-majority country, Kobia highlighted the challenges posed by religious pluralism. “This is not a new phenomenon,” he noted, “but through increased travel, communications and economic forces we are increasingly aware of the diversity of religious belief and practice.

“It becomes more and more crucial for persons and cultures with different faith convictions to find ways of understanding one another, and preventing their differences from leading to tension or conflict,” he added.

The WCC’s 342 member churches come from Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a WCC member but has official representatives on the Faith and Order Commission, which is meeting July 28-Aug. 6 in Kuala Lumpur.

*This article was distributed by Ecumenical News International.

News media contact: Linda Bloom^·(646)369-3759^·New York^· E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org

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