International Theological Dialogue

Between some Classical Pentecostal Representatives and

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches

 Joint Communiqué

Louisville, Kentucky, USA, May 24, 2006 - Representatives of some classical Pentecostal churches and delegates of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) met in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, May 17 to 24, 2006. The meeting was the fourth session of an international dialogue on “Experience in Christian Faith and Life” which began in 2002, following the first five-year phase of theological conversations on “Word and Spirit, Church and World” (1996-2000).

The theme of this year’s session was how Pentecostals and Reformed understand and experience communion (koinonia) in the local congregation, with other congregations, and between Christian churches at the national and international level.

Three papers were presented to facilitate the common exploration of this topic: “Communion, Text and Context: the Experience of the Armenian Evangelical Church in the Middle Eastern Reformed Framework” (Paul Haidostian), “Koinonia – Experiences in Christian Life” (Aureo Rodrigues de Oliveira), and “The Church as the Fellowship of Persons: An Emerging Pentecostal Ecclesiology of koinonia” (Veli-Matti Karkkainen). The discussions that followed focused mostly on the convergences relating to the ways in which Pentecostal and Reformed churches teach and practice Christian communion.

The Pentecostal representatives included Prof. Dr. David Daniels (Co-chair, USA), Prof. Dr. Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. (USA), Prof. Dr. Anthea Butler (Pentecostal staff, USA), Prof. Dr. Veli-Matti Karkkainen (Finland), Dr. Jean-Daniel Plüss (Switzerland), Rev. Dr. Harold Hunter (USA), and Rev. Dr. Joseph Suico (Philippines).

The Reformed commission included Rev. Dr. Joseph D. Small (Co-chair, USA), Rev. Dr. Yvette Noble-Bloomfield (Cayman Islands), Rev. Prof. Aureo Rodrigues de Oliveira (Brazil), Prof. Dr. Cornelis van der Kooi (The Netherlands) as official representative of the Reformed Ecumenical Council, Prof. Dr. Cephas Omenyo (Ghana), Rev. Dr. Peter Donald (Scotland), Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, (Lebanon), and Dr. Odair Pedroso Mateus (WARC staff, Brazil).

The next session of the Pentecostal-Reformed international dialogue will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, in May 2007. The topic will be justice in Christian faith and life.