October 7, 2011
By Alyson-Barnett Cowan

Leaders and representatives of a very broad spectrum of world Christianity are meeting in Manado, Indonesia October 4-7. The Global Christian Forum (GCF) brings together all the great streams of modern Christian faith: Anglican, Charismatic, Evangelical, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Protestant, Roman Catholic, mega churches and contemplative communities.

The overall theme of the meeting is ‘Life together in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit.' A central feature of Forum gatherings is the telling of personal stories of faith in small groups. There have also been addresses on a central topic: major trends and changes in world Christianity.

Members of the Anglican family met together to consider the impact of these changes within the Anglican Communion, together with the Archbishop of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht, whose church is in communion with the Anglican Communion. Participants in the Forum are selected by regions and by various Christian organizations, not by their global communions, so the Anglicans did not prepare as a group. Rather, they were glad to discover one another here.

They come from New Zealand, Polynesia, Sri Lanka, India, England, Canada, the US, Nigeria and South Africa.

The Rev'd David Holborn, representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, see http://www.anglicancommunion.org/_userfiles/File/abc_message.pdf, brought greetings to the gathering from the Archbishop.

Anglican Communion News Service, London