Join us Wednesday, February 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Wesley Theological Seminary Chapel to hear Rev. Dr. Larry Miller, recipient of this year’s Consortium Ecumenism Award address “Can We See Christ In One Another And One Another in Christ? The Role of Experience on the Way of Visible Unity.”

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The World Conference on Faith and Order in 2025 (Alexandria, Egypt) will mark the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea under the theme “Where Now for Visible Unity?” International ecclesial dialogues seeking ecumenical convergence as a step towards visible unity have generally focused on issues of a doctrinal nature, paying little attention to the role of “experience” and, more specifically, “experiences of unity” in and between churches.

Is this pattern beginning to change, thanks in particular to the globalization and the “pentecostalization” of the churches, as well as initiatives for ecclesial “reconciliation”?

In this Figel Event on Ecumenical Dialogue, Rev. Dr. Larry Miller, first full-time Secretary of the Global Christian Forum, and former General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference, will receive the Consortium’s Ecumenism Award for 2024. Dr. Miller will address how experience and reconciliation between the churches is reshaping our understanding of Christian unity.   He will draw upon responses to the Faith and Order Commission’s text “The Church: Towards a Common Vision,” conversations in the annual meeting of the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions, encounters in the life of the Global Christian Forum, and the results of the international Lutheran-Mennonite reconciliation process.

The event will take place February 21 in the chapel of Wesley Theological Seminary, 4500 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016. The order of event will include:

– Ecumenical Prayer Service by WTC Student Board
– Presentation of the Ecumenism Award
– Address by Dr. Miller with Q&A
– Reception following

About the speaker

Rev. Dr. Larry Miller

• Secretary, Global Christian Forum (2012-2018)
• General Secretary, Mennonite World Conference (1990-2011)
• Co-Secretary, Baptist World Alliance and Mennonite World Conference International Theological Conversations (1989-1992)
• Co-Secretary, International Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Mennonite World Conference (1998-2003)
• Co-Secretary, Lutheran World Federation and Mennonite World Conference International Study Commission (2005-2008)
• Co-Secretary, Catholic Church, Lutheran World Federation, and Mennonite World Conference Trilateral Conversations on Baptism (2012-2017)
• Member, Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions (1990-2018); Chair (2003-2004)
  

RSVP form for the event is available below.

To view videos and resources from past Figel Lectures, visit this page. To view past recipients of the Ecumenism Award, click here.

Photo by Albin Hill, courtesy of the World Council of Churches