Asia-Pacific Consultation begins

Today sees the start of a five-day Asia-Pacific Consultation inHong Kong, aiming to identify possibilities for closer co-operationand communication between partner churches in that region.

Both the President and Vice-President of the British MethodistConference, Will Morrey and Myrtle Poxon, will be inattendance.

Christine Elliott, World Church Office Asia Pacific Secretary,said: "This consultation should give us the opportunity to explorecommon and shared interests. We will be looking at ways for missionin Britain to be informed by developments of mission in other partsof the world."

She continued: "We have common issues such as the effects ofglobalisation, climate change, theological education, Islamicextremism, HIV/AIDS, and we need to learn from each other how thechurch and Christians can engage with society in thesematters."

The Consultation came out of a dialogue begun withrepresentatives from all 61 world church partners at the 2003Llandudno Conference.

A group of 5-6 people elected at the Hong Kong Consultation willcome to the UK for a period of around 10-days to share withMethodist Church in Britain the outcomes from the Consultation,beginning with the World Mission Conference in June 2005.

Two representatives will be present from each partnerchurch. The 22 Asia-Pacific region partner churches are:

 South Asia:

           India - CSI & CNI, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka,Myanmar

South East Asia - North Pacific:

           Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, (China), Korea,Japan

South Pacific:

           Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Australia,New Zealand