The Coptic Church Centre at Stevenage in England was, as usual, the venue for the annual residential meeting of the LOI Board. The main item we discussed was next year’s consultation, scheduled for 5-8 June at Holy Cross Orthodox Seminary near Boston. The theme is ‘Discipleship’, following on from the upcoming CWME gathering in Tanzania. As a regional consultation, we are inviting mission practitioners, church leaders, and theologians from North America. If you are interested in attending, e-mail the facilitator at lausanneorthodox@gmail.com.
We also looked further ahead, and are investigating holding consultations in Cyprus (late 2019) and India (late 2020). Each will enable us to develop closer contacts with Orthodox and Evangelical leaders in a particular region.
LOI is not just about consultations, however. We heard about a recent Trauma Healing initiative in Egypt in which LOI had been involved, using material developed by the American Bible Society and facilitated by the Coptic Orthodox Church. We also agreed to begin sending small ‘listening teams’ to visit countries in which relations between Evangelicals and Orthodox are troubled, in order to hear the concerns of each tradition.
From the end of January, we hope to issue an electronic newsletter twice a year; please let the facilitator know if you would like to be placed on the mailing list.
Please pray for us!