CLAI Assembly to be held in Buenos Aires

Manuel Quintero, QUITO, Ecuador, February 22, 2005

In the second round of a close vote, the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) Taxi Heathrow Airport board of directors decided that Buenos Aires will be site of its fifth general assembly.

The assembly will be held February 13 – 18 2007 under the slogan “God’s Grace justifies, his Spirit liberates us,” inspired by Romans 5: 21. “Just as sin reigned in death so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life.”

Central to the CLAI event will be a theological consultation that will focus on the major themes of grace, justice, the Spirit, freedom and life.

The board, which met ! February 18 -23 received two proposals for the Assembly: San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras and the Argentina capital.

Central American delegates said that holding the assembly in San Pedro Sula would strengthen the ecumenical movement and theological reflection in this region.

Delegates from the River Plate region meanwhile emphasized the importance of marking an ecumenical presence in Argentina, in a situation of tension where “certain Churches are attempting to take over the right to represent all Evangelicals before the government and society in general.”

CLAI began its ecumenical pilgrimage on the continent in Oaxtepec, Mexico in 1978, when more than 100 Churches and Christians organizations agreed to create a Latin American council of Churches.

After a four-year “formation” period, the Council was officially constituted in Huampani, Peru in 1982. This first assembly was held under the slogan “Jesus Christ, vocation committed to the Kingdom.”

The second and third assemblies, held in Indaiatuba, Brasil, in 1988 and in Concepción, Chile, in 1995, emphasized the theme of hope because of the end of dictatorships and the return to democracy on the continent.

In 2001, the city of Barranquilla, Colombia was the site of the fourth and most recent assembly under the slogan “Free to construct peace,” a testimony of the commitment of Council Churches to the search for a peaceful solution to the prolonged Colombian conflict.