Rounding up the series of Council for World Mission (CWM) regional Member’s Mission Forums (MMF) was the Caribbean MMF in Kingston, Jamaica from 1-3 May.
The 16 participants included representatives from the region’s two member churches – United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (UCJCI) and the Guyana Congregational Union (GCU). The Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago (PCTT) was present as an observing entity.
A region risen to life
With the theme of “Rising to Life” which illustrated the call for radical discipleship by all who follow the God of Jesus, the MMF was a platform to galvanise the regional members to rise up and resist the forces that deny fullness of life to the entire creation.
It also provided an opportunity for faith leaders to showcase unique and shared issues, collectively dialogue, and investigate possibilities for advancing mission imperatives, in the face of and in response to numerous contextual and global realities.
Warning against being an overly-cautious church, CWM Deputy General Secretary for Programmes, Dr Sudipta Singh urged the forum attendees to lift up and extend their heads as would a turtle out of its shell to evaluate the landscape and recognise the death-dealing signs of the times.
“Keeping [your] head inside the shell may be the safer option but the church is called to engage beyond the confines of safety,” Singh reminded.
Underscoring Singh’s clarion call for a bolder church was Janet McConnell, CWM Mission Secretary for Social Justice and the Caribbean region who emphasised the importance of the MMF in emboldening regional members and shaping the region’s direction in mission.
“If the delegates of the MMF fail to advance the missiological imperatives which emerged during the MMF, then the MMF would have been in vain – a waste of God’s resources,” said McConnell.
Decolonising power
The legacies of colonisation have created and continue to exacerbate social, economic, and political disparities in the Caribbean, a hotbed of western exploitation.
In his keynote address expounding on empire and neocolonial practices, Rev. Dr Stephen Jennings spoke out against modern instances of exploitation, extraction, and exportation of human and other resources by powerful nations.
“As Christians, we must utilise our power of praying, preaching, and pastoring. We must be prophetic in voice and action,” Jennings exhorted.
Examining race, gender, power, and poverty in the Caribbean
The Head of the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Dr Orville Taylor gave a sociological reading of the Caribbean’s deeply layered landscape of race, gender, power, and poverty with roots in unfair and unjust practices related to human resources.
Taylor challenged the church to invest in formal education and Christian formation of young people, and to respond to issues of gender, violence, and poverty in a tangible manner. “Rising to life means that in our reflecting on our history and context we do not speak without action,” he proclaimed.
Discussions highlight AI and church role
During a panel session, regional youths gave their takes on engaging in mission in the face of an AI-driven future. Key messages were crystalised and coalesced into talking points that include undergirding AI with ethics, justice and theology; safeguarding the tenet of being “made in the image of God” through positive human relationships amidst an increasingly faceless world; and monitoring of, prevention, and a church-led response to negative AI-related implications.
In addition, the elders of the church also engaged in a discussion that touched on the crises and opportunities faced by the church. The elders committed to the church being an example and a force for moral power, and also acknowledged a church that needs to adopt innovative models of ministry to strengthen its leadership capacity.
Regional conviction renewed
The MMF closed with a renewed commitment to “show up, stand up, and speak up” in response to the call of God to be agents of justice and liberation.
The three-day forum also produced an intense soul-searching exercise that had member churches recognising regional social, political, economic, and other realities which deny the fullness of life.
Despite the challenges, member churches reaffirmed their collective conviction to allow for the movement of the Holy Spirit throughout the region so that the experience of rising to life through Jesus Christ can be ultimately realised.