WCC Scholars Gathering 2007
Holland, Michigan, USA
WCC Scholars gathered in 2006 at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky.
The fourth annual WCC Scholars Gathering will take place this year at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Western is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, and has generously offered to host this unique gathering of international ecumenical young scholars. Primary support for the gathering is provided by the WCC's Ecumenical Faith Formation programme.
The WCC Scholars Gatherings are annually convened by the US Conference for the World Council of Churches and hosted by a local seminary affiliated with one of its member churches. In each venue, US Conference staff and scholars alike have the opportunity to network with faculty and students on ecumenical formation as well as local congregations with whom they worship and share fellowship meals. Staff have discovered that for many of these WCC scholars studying in the United States, this gathering has provided the first exposure they have had to ecumenism and the WCC as a whole.
David Kataate from Uganda described the impact of last year's gathering and his engagement with brothers and sisters from different Christian traditions this way:
Just as the Magi heeded the warning to 'go back another way,' I tell you my brothers and sisters: when you go back to your studies from this retreat, go back another way. When you go back to your countries, go back another way. We are changed and we should bring change back with us. Go back another way. Go back another way. - David Kataate (Uganda)
