us different ways of belonging, different ways of trying to meet this basic human need. From a story in Jakarta we learned of the importance of a name, of calling the children by their names and the meanings of such names. This built confidence and pride in people whose entire lives were shaped by neglect and oppression.
• The challenge of evangelism in a Buddhist context.
All the sites we visited were in Bangkok, situated within the Buddhist context of that city.
This led us to ask questions such as (i) what in our service, such as health care, actually challenges the dominant worldview that “you are caring for me to get to heaven, to gain merit for yourself”? (ii) how do we talk about forgiveness and justice within a context where such terms mean something totally different? (iii) what or where is the prophetic role of Christians within this context?
• Inter-faith conversations.
One way to begin answering the questions above has to do with building inter-faith conversations and friendships. We noted that despite many differences, there are issues that people have in common that can serve as starting points for friendships. When different people are brought together over a common issue or challenge, brought in a safe space and shown indiscriminate love, they might open themselves up more freely to discuss and dialogue and maybe through these, they will learn about Jesus. One concrete example of this was an online course for teenage refugees, Christians and Muslims, who shared the desire to learn and to work on computers – it was their common need and the challenges they faced together that opened spaces for conversation and friendship.
4. Seminars
There were two seminars within this track of the ISUM summit.
A. Seminar I: Partnerships across faiths – an examination of the document “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious Context”.
This seminar functioned as a workshop to explore issues around the ethics of our witness. What are the modes appropriate for Christians in the ways we share our faith, especially when we are engaged in activities such as disaster relief, caring for orphans, working in hospitals, etc?
We began the seminar by sharing a bit of the context of the document so that participants could understand why these issues were so pertinent to thinking about matters of conversion and evangelism today. The final text of “Christian Witness” was
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made public in June 2011. It was the result of a 5+year process that included Christians from all around the globe and from many different traditions. Officially, the document was a collaboration between the World Evangelical Alliance, the Roman Catholic Church (Pontifical Council for Inter-faith Dialogue) and the World Council of Churches.
It arose out of the need to say something simple but powerful about the Christ-like character of our witness. Due to the growing number of anti-conversion laws and persecution in many parts of the world, Christian workers needed a tool, an official document that stated simply that as Christians we are not called to practice proselytism; we do not buy converts or enforce our views. Rather, it is the joy and the duty of every Christian to proclaim the good news of Jesus, but such a message must never be imposed.
The document begins and ends with mission, and sees prayer as central to all that we are and do as Christians. This is fundamental as we seek better and more wholesome ways to interact, to develop friendships and to look at the challenges of living in multi-faith cities.
The seminar at the ISUM summit focused on examining some of the main questions and paragraphs in the document and discussions arose about how to apply these to particular contexts. Since its first recommendation is to study and use the document for one’s own context, we offer the main parts of the text below.
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Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct1
Preamble
Mission belongs to the very being of the church. Proclaiming the word of God and witnessing to the world is essential for every Christian. At the same time, it is necessary to do so according to gospel principles, with full respect and love for all human beings.
Aware of the tensions between people and communities of different religious convictions and the varied interpretations of Christian witness, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and, at the invitation of the WCC, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), met during a period of 5 years to reflect and produce this document to serve as a set of recommendations for conduct on Christian witness around the world. This document does not intend to be a theological statement on mission but to address practical issues associated with