Annual meeting of the Global Christian Forum International Committee

The International Committee of the Global Christian Forum (GCF) held its annual meeting from 4-5 November 2023 at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute near Geneva, Switzerland. The Catholic Church was represented by Reverend Andrzej Choromanski, staff member of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity for multilateral relations. The Committee, which is the highest governing body of the GCF, received and approved the report on the past year's activities, presented by the Secretary, Reverend Dr Casely Essamuah (Methodist Church, Ghana/USA), whose mandate was renewed for another five years. Time was also dedicated to plan for the IV Global Gathering of the GCF scheduled to be held in Accra, Ghana, from 15-20 April 2024 on the theme “That the World May Know” (John 17, 23).

The Global Christian Forum is not an organization with programmatic aims but conceives itself as an “open space”, a forum, where Christian leaders from a wide range of traditions meet regularly to deepen relationships, broaden conversations, foster mutual respect and promote Christian unity. Its distinctive feature is the practice of sharing personal and ecclesial faith stories during the meetings. Many Christian World Communions and world Christian organisations are represented in the GCF, including the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pentecostal World Fellowship, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the World Council of Churches, which are the founding members and are called the “four pillars” of the GCF.

The last Committee meeting, which was combined with a regional consultation of Asian church leaders, was held in Seoul, South Korea in  October 2022.