After having been invited to and attending The Third Lausanne Congress on World
Evangelization in October 2010, His Grace Bishop Angaelos has been
involved in conversations with members of the Lausanne movement. As a result of
this meeting, The Coptic Orthodox Church Centre in the UK hosted an Orthodox
Evangelical Consultation on Thursday 12th January 2012. Representatives
of Orthodox and Evangelical traditions from The United States of America,
Bulgaria, India, Albania, Russia and the UK as well as representatives of the
Lausanne movement were in attendance.
The Lausanne movement is an Evangelical initiative with a focus
on mission, and the aim of the consultation was to establish Orthodox
participation in the movement. His Grace expressed the following:
“This step is unprecedented; this is a time to focus on
Christian unity and to collaborate and witness collectively where we can,
realising that what we have in common in many respects is far more than that
which divides us. There will be no compromise on Theology or Dogma, but
respecting that, there are still many ways in which we may be able to work
together. ”
The meeting was held in a friendly, collaborative
environment and participants were hopeful of further positive steps in the near
future.
