April 20, 2007

The comprehensive programme of Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia's forthcoming (24 April to 4 May) visit to the UK and Ireland will afford the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary with many opportunities for new insights into the life and current work of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland's (CTBI) member churches.

His trip, while taking him from England to Wales to Scotland to Ireland and back to England again (see detailed itinerary below), will bring Kobia into contact with church leaders and workers engaged in such diverse fields as interfaith relations, work with refugees and asylum seekers, racial justice initiatives, and ecumenical theological education.

In the area of mission, the 2010 centennial celebration of the 1910 World Mission Conference in Edinburgh, widely considered as the symbolic starting point of the contemporary ecumenical movement, will be the focus of a visit to that city. Kobia is scheduled to speak on "Edinburgh 2010" at the opening session of a planning conference for this major event.

During his trip, the WCC general secretary will be addressing several gatherings on a variety of topics including "Global migration and new ecclesial realities," "Hope and the healing of memories," and "Called to be one," and will respond to a lecture on "Prisoner abuse: from Abu Ghraib to the passion of the Christ."

The WCC general secretary will be accompanied on his visit by WCC executive committee members Mr Graham McGeoch of the Church of Scotland and Archbishop Nifon of Targoviste of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Mr Colin Ride, Conference of European Churches central committee member (and Europe secretary of the Methodist Church of Britain), and WCC staff members Ms. Sydia Nduna (Migration and Social Justice) and Rev. Jacques Matthey (Unity, Mission, Evangelism and Spirituality).

The WCC has 12 member churches in the UK and Ireland. They are the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church in Wales, the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Presbyterian Church of Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Union of Welsh Independents, the United Free Church of Scotland, and the United Reformed Church. Three ecumenical "bodies in association" with CTBI – Churches Together in England (CTE), Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) and Cytûn: Churches Together in Wales – are WCC associate councils, as is CTBI itself.

DETAILED ITINERARY OF WCC VISIT TO THE UK & IRELAND

Tuesday 24 April: London

Meeting with Churches Together in England staff at CTE headquarters

Visit to Salvation Army territorial headquarters

Lunch with staff and guests at CTBI offices

Wednesday 25 April: Cardiff

Morning worship at Llandaff Cathedral

Meeting at the City Church (United Reformed Church); the church is involved in work with asylum seekers

Kobia to address meeting organized by Cytûn and its Commission for Racial Equality on the subject of global migration and new ecclesial realities

Friday 27 April: Glasgow

Kobia to lead meditation at Iona Community's offices in Glasgow

Friday 27 April: Edinburgh

Kobia to address opening session of "Towards 2010" planning meeting for the 2010 centennial conference in Edinburgh (New College, Edinburgh)

Saturday 28 April: Edinburgh

Participation in the "Towards 2010" conference

Reception with church leaders at the Scottish Storytelling Centre

Sunday 29 April: Edinburgh

Visit to Livingston, the oldest ecumenical parish in Scotland, in what is now a socially deprived area

Sunday 29 April: Dublin

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ireland, Dr Diarmuid Martin, is hosting the WCC delegation in Dublin

Monday 30 April: Dublin

Visit to Trinity College, University of Dublin, to see the Book of Kells, one of the most lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Middle Ages

Visit to the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE), and meeting with staff, students and Dublin church leaders and ecumenical officers

Kobia to deliver public lecture at the ISE on the topic of "Hope and the healing of memories" (to be confirmed)

Tuesday 1 May: Belfast

Meeting with staff and students of Edgehill Theological College; Kobia to speak during worship at Edgehill

Lunch with Belfast church leaders and ecumenical officers Guided tour of Belfast

Kobia to respond to lecture on "Prisoner abuse: from Abu Ghraib to the passion of the Christ" at the Irish School of Ecumenics

Wednesday 2 May: Birmingham

Kobia to address CTBI senior representatives' forum on the theme "Called to be one"

Encounter with Birmingham faith leaders' group at their regular meeting

Thursday 3 May: Birmingham

Visit to refugees and asylum seekers

Visit to community enterprise centre run by Sikhs

Meeting with Black-majority church leaders

World Council of Churches