Athens, 9 May (ENI)--Christians from all around the globe have

gathered in Athens for a World Council of Churches' conference

due to open on Monday, reaching across a nearly 1000-year breach between Eastern and Western traditions of their religion.

The 8-day WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism

focussing on Christians sharing their faith with others, will

bring to the Greek capital...

[ENI] The 12 world mission conferences from 1910 to 1996:

Reverend Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, which begins a conference in Athens today, and which will be one of the broadest gatherings of church representatives in the early 21st century, with some 700 participants from almost all regions and expressions of Christianity — Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant.

The issues of the world mission conferences – organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at regular intervals – guide the attention to the great missionary challenges of our times. This also applies to the next world mission conference, which will take place at Pentecost 2005 in the Greek capital of Athens. About 600 persons from member churches of the WCC, but also– for the first time...

Athens, 2 May (ENI)--Orthodox church leaders in Greece are attempting to allay fears about a world church conference, to begin in Athens on 9 May, amid concern the gathering might aggravate tensions in their denomination about relations with other churches.

Interview of WCC staff Carlos Ham, by Manuel Quintero, QUITO, Ecuador, April 28, 2005

At the invitation of the Orthodox Church in Greece, an international Mission and Evangelism conference convened by the World Council of Churches will take place in Athens, Greece from May 9 to May 16, 2005. There have been thirteen WCC mission conferences that have taken place since 1910, but this will be the first time it takes place in an Orthodox-majority country.