Call for Papers – CEEAMS Conference, 13-18 February 2017, Osijek, Croatia

Love, Live, and Delight: Conversations in Central and Eastern Europe on present day documents and commitments on mission
13-18 February 2017, Osijek, Croatia

The 2017 CEEAMS Annual conference seeks to actively engage in worldwide conversations on four mission documents of the last years:

1. The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) discussed at the Third Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in 2010, and published by the Lausanne Movement in 2011;
2. Together Towards Life (TTL), accepted in 2013 at the 10th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, Korea;
3. the Evangelii Gaudium (EG), which concluded the year of Faith (2013) and was written in the first year of Pope Franciscus’ Pontificate.
4. The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today´s World (MOCT) – adopted in 2016 as an official document on mission at its Holy and Great Council. https://www.holycouncil.org/-/missionorthodox-church-todays-world

The conference seeks to identify key themes which are missiologically relevant for churches and Christian communities in Central and Eastern Europe, to critically analyse these documents and find ways of their translatability at academic level and in mission praxis, in and beyond in the region.
Conflicts, clashes, people worrying for their future, isolation, fear for the unknown, characterise the societies of Central and Eastern Europe; Christian communities and churches are challenged not to lose contact with each other and to open up to the societies to which they belong. Love, live and delight are calls for action prominently expressed in these four documents; they are active verbs more than ever relevant in the Europe of 2017, in which so much attention will be given to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Delighting in God, loving God and the fellow human being in order to be able to live together are the basic biblical values from which this conference seeks to find ways through which words of faith transform into lived faith.

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Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies – Call for Papers

Love, Live, and Delight: Conversations in Central and Eastern Europe on present day documents and commitments on mission

13-18 February 2017, Osijek, Croatia

The 2017 CEEAMS Annual conference seeks to actively engage in worldwide conversations on four mission documents of the last years:

1.      The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) discussed at the Third Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in 2010, and published by the Lausanne Movement in 2011;
2.      Together Towards Life (TTL), accepted in 2013 at the 10th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, Korea;
3.      the Evangelii Gaudium (EG), which concluded the year of Faith (2013) and was written in the first year of Pope Franciscus’ Pontificate.
4.      The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today´s World (MOCT) – adopted in 2016 as an official document on mission at its Holy and Great Council. https://www.holycouncil.org/-/mission-orthodox-church-todays-world

The conference seeks to identify key themes which are missiologically relevant for churches and Christian communities in Central and Eastern Europe, to critically analyse these documents and find ways of their translatability at academic level and in mission praxis, in and beyond in the region. Conflicts, clashes, people worrying for their future, isolation, fear for the unknown, characterise the societies of Central and Eastern Europe; Christian communities and churches are challenged not to lose contact with each other and to open up to the societies to which they belong. Love, live and delight are calls for action prominently expressed in these four documents; they are active verbs more than ever relevant in the Europe of 2017, in which so much attention will be given to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Delighting in God, loving God and the fellow human being in order to be able to live together are the basic biblical values from which this conference seeks to find ways through which words of faith transform into lived faith.

CEEAMS Annual Conference in Osijek, Croatia, 10-13 May 2016

Source: CEEAMS: Call for Papers: CEEAMS Annual Conference in Osijek, Croatia, 10-13 May 2016

The 2016 annual CEEAMS conference begins on Tuesday, May 10th in Osijek, Croatia. I wish I could be present. I pray for a successful meeting for all my friends who will be there.

CEEAMS – Green pastures? Human Mobility and Christian Communities in Central and Eastern Europe

The Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS) is pleased to invite you to the conference

Green pastures? Human Mobility and Christian Communities in Central and Eastern Europe

After the fall of the Communist system, migration experiences in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) intensified and diversified. During Communist times emigration existed in forms of political asylum-seeking or through creative ways to reach the so-called West. Also exchange studentships to befriended countries were some of the variations of migration. While the opening of the political borders after the “changes” in 1989/1990 did generate migration from CEE to mainly Western Europe and North America, migration to CEE through people
such as missionaries, international investors, tourists, small entrepreneurs, labor migration, students, professionals had a significant impact on community formation. Typical to these migrations was that it included people from all over the world, from west and north and east and south. Since most of the post-communist countries did not have well-developed migration policies, CEE became an intently diverse field where people of all sorts with a variety of aspirations arrived and left. The “Yugoslav Wars” challenged some of the Balkan countries to experiment with asylum-seeking and refugee services.

Another significant event regarding migration experiences in CEE was the enlargement of the European Union with new, former communist member states. This resulted in substantial labor migration from CEE to Western Europe, especially from Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, but now also from Hungary and other countries. The consequences of the ” Arab Spring”, especially the complex wars in Syria, intensified the refugee question. Next to the cross-border migrations, domestic migration further complicates the processes of transformations in CEE societies. Also the fragility of the internal political situation in a number of CEE countries – with growing right wing tendencies targeting the “foreigner” (read e.g. Roma people, Muslims, and Arab) in their rhetoric – add to these complexities.
Discussions about and responses with immediate action programs (like e.g. building fences etc.) to certain phenomena generated by migration, became part of the daily life at all levels of societies.

Christian communities, churches and other faith communities are part of the above described societies and migration experiences. In their daily service they encounter situations which demand grounded theological-missiological answers, because after all, migration experiences are about human lives and changes in human lives and societies. Missiologists, theologians, and reflective practitioners are challenged to theologically- missiologically reflect on questions about human mobility in this region and their relation to the larger worldwide processes, in order to adequately assist the work of churches, ministers, pastors, and above all church members to find contextually relevant answers. In order to address the issue of human mobility, one needs to dig deeper: it is not sufficient to create Christian discourses about migration by collecting proof verses from the Bible which talk about people on the move, and about the position of strangers. Digging deeper asks for self-reflection: what is going on in Christian communities in terms of migration? What do Christians in this part of the world believe about different aspects of migration and why do they do so? What are the most striking aspects of migration which need theological attention?

Upcoming: Annual CEEAMS conference in Budapest, Hungary

Dear Colleagues,

A number of you are preparing to attend the next CEEAMS annual conference. Some cannot attend due to other commitments. May I ask all of you to reflect on the future of CEEAMS, and what direction to take? For your information I have attached the minutes of the meeting in Balatonfüred.

Annual Conference of the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies

CEEAMS

(Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies)

invites you for its

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

24 -26 November 2010

Budapest, Kálvin tér 7.II