The World Council of Churches (WCC), together with a number of Christian world communions, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the Roman Catholic Church are expecting some 50 church leaders and experts on Christian-Muslim dialogue to attend a consultation from 18 to 20 October in Chavannes-de-Bogis, outside Geneva, Switzerland.
The aim of the consultation is to provide a space for churches and communions to share their initiatives and theological resources for engaging with Muslims, and to identify substantial issues for Christian theology in relation to Christian-Muslim dialogue.
Among the expected outcomes of the consultation is to consider ways to articulate a Christian theological understanding of dialogue with Islam and identify theological issues that are pertinent to Christian self-understanding in relation to Islam. To achieve this, the consultation will consider input from different Christians traditions and from the experience of churches in different parts of the world, including Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Catholicos Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Cilicia), will be the key-note speaker at the consultation. Already as moderator of the WCC Central Committee from 1991 to 2006, Aram I gave considerable leadership to the Council's work on interreligious dialogue and coooperation.