CWM Assembly will be held in Durban, South Africa, 12-19 June 2024

On the fruitful final day of the CWM Annual Members’ Meeting on 13 June 2023, AMM members agreed to the formation of the CWM 2024 Assembly Planning Group and Nominations Committee as proposed by the Board, and approved the proposed dates, venue and host churches for the 2024 Assembly. Hosted by UCCSA and UPCSA, member churches of CWM Africa, the Assembly will be held in Durban, South Africa, 12-19 June 2024, with the theme “Rise to Life: Together in Transformation.”

During the General Secretary’s presentation and proposal towards Assembly 2024, he said that the ongoing crises faced by the world such as military conflicts, climate crises, and social, political and economic inequalities challenge CWM’s mission of reconciliation through building life-flourishing communities in the member churches’ contexts. It is in the escalation of global crises on multiple fronts that the theme of “Rise to Life: Together in Transformation” and Bible passage Luke 4:18-19 were proposed and approved. After an eight-year hiatus in CWM’s quadrennial Assemblies due to the pandemic, the 2024 Assembly will serve as an inauguration of the Strategy Framework and the New Programmatic Structure (NPS), rejuvenating Churches’ missional programme and capacity after the pandemic and rebuilding community and partnership in mission.

In addition, it is expected to promote the contribution of the African mission thought and action, especially the global shift of world Christianity to Africa and the Black Theology of Liberation. Besides shaping mission theology and practice into the future, it will also address current issues, potential threats and promising opportunities African communities face. The CWM Jubilee 2027 will be on the Assembly agenda, envisioned to promote the Jubilee ethos of liberation from injustice and enslavement, paving a new way of the missional journey together in global, regional and local contexts.

The AMM officially concluded with a closing worship and Holy Communion service led by Rev. Pan Chung-Chie of PCT and preached by CWM General Secretary Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum. In his sermon, Dr Keum drew a parallel between the challenges faced by CWM, the Church, and their mission work, and Peter’s experience as described in John 21:5-13.

Dr Keum emphasized, “In our celebration of the First Breakfast as Holy Communion, there is the mission of Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. In other words, making miracles of love for the lives who are suffering, hungry, lonely and vulnerable.” He added, “As Christ is risen, we rise too with these people to raise our heads and to see the blue-sky to overcome injustice, oppression, and discrimination. Therefore, our decade motto of the CWM Assembly calls us to Rise to Life: Together in Transformation!”

The next AMM will be held in Durban, South Africa, from 12-13 June 2024.