Regional Programs
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Open air worship on the Pacific, Vladivostok, June 2000 |
A specific mandate of DMD is to foster communion in and among the member churches. Programmatic engagement with the member churches and contacts with other ecumenical organizations and civil society are regularly maintained in the field of proclamation, service and advocacy through the four regional area desks: Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the four regional offices: Nairobi, Kenya (Africa), Bangkok, Thailand (Asia), Bratislava, Slovak Republic (Central Eastern Europe) and Chicago, United States of America (North America).
The desks initiate, coordinate and facilitate regional programs as follow-up to commitments made by the Ninth LWF Assembly in Hong Kong 1997 and the specific priorities identified by the member churches in each region.
The desks and regional offices also play a central role in promoting cooperation and information sharing within their region and between regions. Consultative services, conferences, consultations, workshops and seminars are the instruments they use to strengthen diverse missional activities, theological education and diaconic work within and between the member churches.
As a complement to the regional programs, the desks process project applications from individual member churches, ecumenical groups and non-governmental organizations in the area of church ministries and evangelism, communication and development/diaconic work.
