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Интеллектуальная Система Тематического Исследования НАукометрических данных |
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From 9-16 May 2005, the twelfth world mission conference had been held in the Greek capital of Athens, where the apostle Paul preached the gospel. Preparations for the conference were well underway and in the hands of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) of the World Council of Churches (WCC). There were some 600 participants from the member churches of the WCC, and also from the Roman Catholic Church, as well as from evangelical and Pentecostal churches, and other missionary networks. The world mission conference in Athens was in many ways a remarkable event within the ecumenical mission tradition. Not only was it the first world mission conference of the 21st century, it was also the first time after more than fifty years that a conference in this tradition will take place in Europe. What is of particular significance is that such a conference had been taking place for the first time in an Orthodox context, and in this instance at the invitation of the Orthodox Church of Ellada. The fact that the conference was being prepared through ecumenical cooperation at both local and global level, that Protestant and Orthodox churches were working together, and that evangelical, Pentecostal and Catholic representatives participated as full members for the first time, shows that, when talking about the state of the ecumenical movement today, we should not only be talking about its problems but also about the signs of hope that exist for more intensive ecumenical and missionary cooperation.