Eighty mission leaders, theologians, and church representatives from around the world have gathered in Rwanda for the Global Mission Consultation, jointly organised by the Council for World Mission (CWM), the Community of Churches in Mission (Cevaa), and the United Evangelical Mission (UEM). Meeting from 26 November to 1 December 2025 under the theme “Let your light shine” (Matthew 5:16): Witnessing to radical hope in catastrophic times, the consultation provides a space for collective discernment, lament, hope, and imagination in a deeply fractured world.
Confronting catastrophic times
Participants are engaging the convergence of global crises—climate catastrophe, economic inequality, racial injustice, forced migration, settler colonialism, and geopolitical conflict—as realities demanding a reimagined theology and practice of mission. The gathering seeks to redefine mission not as conquest or charity, but as God’s healing movement toward justice, reconciliation, and new creation.
Creative mission in liminal times
At the inaugural worship, Rev. Dr Hana Kim of Myungsung Presbyterian Church (Korea) delivered a sermon titled “Creative missional thinking in the midst of upheaval times” (Genesis 31:6–13).
Reflecting on the concept of liminality—a threshold or in-between state—Kim described this as a time ripe with creative potential:
“The story of Israel’s journey through the wilderness—from the Exodus out of Egypt to their entry into Canaan—is, in essence, a story about the threshold,” he said. “However, this threshold period need not be meaningless or frustrating. It can become a blessed time—more creative and more fruitful—when we encounter God in uncertainty.”
Kim likened today’s missionary landscape to this liminal moment, urging churches to see it as a positive and hopeful transition:
“My earnest hope is that this Global Mission Consultation will become a precious new beginning for the mission of our age—standing at this threshold—to move forward and fulfil the will of God.”
Missional resistance and radical hope
In his keynote address, Rev. Dr Roderick Hewitt, president of the International University of the Caribbean, spoke on “Missional resistance within a global wilderness of uncertainty.”
As CWM approaches its 50th anniversary in 2027, Hewitt urged the organisation to critically review its Partner in Mission (PIM) model in light of global crises.
“The Jubilee celebration should serve as a period of deep reflection,” he said. “The theme of this consultation calls for radical hope in catastrophic times. This implies that the PIM model must be fused with radical hope to counter the forces that deny life. A decolonial rupture is required in the model.”
Faith, hope, and love in a catastrophic world
CWM General Secretary Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum offered a theological reflection titled “Faith, hope and love: discerning Missio Dei in a catastrophic world.”
He emphasised that the church’s mission is to resist the “death-dealing forces” of necropolitics and embody transformative hope.
“The world is deeply wounded,” Keum said. “We believe the gospel has the power to transform the world—personality, value, class, system, and society. The gospel of the Kingdom of God challenges the world that nurtures hopelessness.”
Calling for bold theological imagination, Keum described Missio Dei as “a call to rise to life”:
“It is a transformative response to the life-denying forces that pervade our world. Rooted in the mission of God, this vision seeks to dismantle oppressive structures and cultivate life-affirming communities.”
He concluded by urging CWM, Cevaa, and UEM to continue empowering communities and confronting systemic injustice through collaborative and prophetic mission.
Charting the future of mission
Over the course of the week, participants will explore themes such as Reviving the Witness, Mission from the Margins, Transformative Ecumenism in Mission, and Reimagining the Future of Mission.
