causes AIDS have urged church leaders from around the world to redefine healing at an ongoing Conference on World Mission and Evangelism. Gracia Violeta Ross from Bolivia only understood the meaning of her first name (Grace) after discovering she was HIV-positive, according to comments released Sunday, May 15, from the conference near Athens, which is organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Ross told participants she thought she was going to die soon, and asked God for forgiveness for a lifestyle she felt "separated" her from God’s will. "God healed me completely then, although I am still living with HIV," Ross said.
Ross, a 28-year old Bolivian who grew up in an evangelical family, stressed her healing and
a cure did not came together. "Actually my life became better after becoming HIV-positive," she said.
HIV PRIEST
She shared the floor with Johannes Petrus Heath, an Anglican priest from Namibia living with HIV, Erika Schuchardt, a professor at the University of Hanover, Anthony Allen, a psychiatrist from Jamaica, and Bernard Ugeux, a Roman Catholic theologian from France.
All five agreed that in both "highly modernized societies and those ravaged by poverty and
lack of basic health care, people yearning for healing of body and soul knock at the door
of churches that are not always open," according to a WCC release obtained by BosNewsLife
News Center.
They stressed that while healing doesn’t necessarily mean a physical cure, churches are called
to be "inclusive communities where people feel accepted and experience God’s love and compassion." That opinion was shared earlier by the coordinator of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN), Samuel Kabue, who was born blind.
DEFINE HEALING
Kabue argued that Christians need to define healing "in the widest possible sense". He condemned churches who link disability to illness and sin. For them, "when prayers for healing do not yield the desired result, the victim is the one blamed for having no faith."
Yet "Jesus chose to use healing to unite disabled people with the rest of the society," Kabue stressed. "Prior to His time, they were excluded, ignored and considered unclean." Jesus did indeed cure sick people, but Kabue, stressed that "was only a means to an end.
What was and still is most important in our reconciliation message is the acceptance, inclusion and restoration into the mainstream of the society."
MISSION "BAGGAGE"
Healing was an important theme during the mission conference, which began May 9 and was to end May 16. WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia also urged some 700 participants to acknowledge that "mission" carries a heavy historical baggage, "having played a part in fostering division and conflict – between peoples, and even between families" of churches. "So perhaps the time has come for confession, and repentance," he suggested.
The WCC general secretary affirmed that Christians are summoned to "conversion" both in
"thinking and attitudes". The shift of the demographic centre of Christianity from the
North to the South has "spiritual, moral, theological, (and) missiological" implications".
"Our vision must undergo a corresponding conversion," he said, according to a transcript.
According to Kobia, "forms of expressing our faith that grew out of European culture are no
longer normative". Today, mission spreads from unexpected directions, "borne by brothers
and sisters who have received gifts of the Spirit that were never monopolized by European
or North American intermediaries".
NEW MILLENIUM
The "first mission conference of the new millennium" comes as Christians face new challenges, including the spread of AIDS and what he called "the manipulation of religious identities for narrow nationalistic and economic" ends. "I encourage this mission conference, focusing on a theme of healing and reconciliation, to highlight peace and non-violence as gospel imperatives."
The WCC conference has been described as the most widely representative global gathering of Protestant, Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical and Orthodox Church leaders concerned with
21st century mission of the world’s estimated 2.5 billion Christians. The assembly received
a huge wooden Cross from Jerusalem, which was reportedly "blessed" by Orthodox Archbishop
Christodoulos.
The WCC claims to be "a fellowship of churches," now 347 in more than 120 countries in all continents "from virtually all Christian traditions." The Vatican is not a member, but works closely together with the organization. (With Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife and reports from Greece).
