The International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT) just concluded its Stott-Bediako Forum on Transformation Revisited: Mission and Gospel Imagination. Here, we share some brief highlights from our reflections and responses to the main topics presented.
Shadia Qubti shares her experience and perspective as a Palestinian woman and theologian living abroad during the war:
“Like travelers caught between time zones, I’m simultaneously living in Pacific time and Gaza time, my body and mind never quite synchronized. I wake up to morning here while following night raids there, eat lunch while tracking dawn evacuations, try to sleep while monitoring real-time bombardments. This isn’t just about different time zones – it’s about living in multiple states of being: attempting normalcy in one reality while carrying intergenerational trauma triggered anew in another…”
As a Palestinian and participant of the Lausanne Fourth Congress, Tony Deik offers his perspective on the event.
On September 23, Ruth Padilla DeBorst offered a 15 minute plenary speech at the Lausanne 4 Congress in Incheon, South Korea. In spite of the push-back expressed by the conference organizers, we fully endorse Ruth’s talk and we publish it here with hope and prayer that the Church will stand up for justice and peace, both in Palestine-Israel and the world round, even in the face of power, wealth and indifference.
On the first anniversary of Hamas’ atrocious action against the Jewish civilian population and Israel’s retaliation—which has already resulted in nearly 42,000 reported deaths (about 18,000 of them children) and thousands more under the rubble, along with more than 2,000 dead in Lebanon—we, as followers of Jesus Christ in Latin America, join thousands of voices around the world in solidarity and in search of justice that leads to peace.
This letter was written by the Christian-Muslim Relations Team of Eastern Mennonite Missions in response to the 25 Gaps identified by the Lausanne Movement in preparation for the Fourth Lausanne Congress.
Varias partes interesadas de la comunidad de INFEMIT hemos revisado el SOGCR y nos ha impresionado su profundidad, amplitud y extensión. El informe a tan gran escala es un tesoro de estadísticas, variedad de temas y voces de todo el mundo. Aplaudimos a todas las personas que han participado en su elaboración.
Various stakeholders in the INFEMIT community have reviewed the SOGCR, and we were quite impressed with its depth, width, and breadth. The massive report is a treasure trove of statistics, range of issues, and global voices. We applaud all those involved in putting this report together. However, our review has also caused us to reaffirm certain values–two in particular–that we found wanting in the SOGCR.
As we prepare for our next Stott-Bediako Forum on Transformation Revisited: Mission and Gospel Imagination, we are holding conversations with members of the INFEMIT Community to explore some of the related themes. In this podcast, we talk with Las Newman about the history of evangelical Christian mission in the last half century and the emergence of Mission as Transformation. We explore some of the context in which this mission paradigm emerged and the challenges it faced – and continues to face – as it seeks to further an understanding and practice of mission that is truly holistic and focused on both individuals and the community.
We humbly receive and affirm your call for Western Christian leaders and theologians to repent of our biased disregard towards Palestinians and your unjust and devastating suffering as well as of all theological articulations that promote or justify it.