Curtis May leads
London reconciliation
conference

By Chris Reeve

LONDON—The Indian YMCA was the venue for a conference on reconciliation, Nov. 10.

The day began at 9 a.m. with worship led by Chris Reeve, pastor of the Shenfield congregation. The rest of the morning was led by Curtis May, director of the Office of Reconciliation Ministries (ORM). This office promotes healing and reconciliation between members who have been humiliated, hurt, abused or in other ways scarred by past experiences in the church and society at large.

In most cases these are instances of racial intolerance, but Mr. May’s ministry also engages in healing hurts arising from other forms of abuse, such as gender, class and status discrimination. Although based in the United States, ORM has been invited to establish its services in Canada, South Africa and now England and Ireland.

The morning session featured the video Reconciliation—A Move of God, which portrayed the work of ORM and included interviews with people who had come to express and receive forgiveness through its work. Included were interviews with prominent workers in the field of reconciliation, such as John Dawson.

After the video, a panel was convened of church members from a variety of ethnic backgrounds who spoke about their own experiences as victims of discrimination. Their willingness to share their feelings helped the rest of the members present to speak more candidly about how they felt about the subject, which led to a closer bonding of the assembled group.

One participant on the panel was Jacob Abraham, general secretary of the Indian YMCA, who has consistently shown considerable interest in the WCG, and particularly in its reconciliation work. He told how he had been the recipient of several expressions of discrimination and wanted to support a forum dedicated to opposing it and healing those who were its victims.

After lunch the regular worship service began. The first message was by Eisen Daley. Following were addresses by Mr. May and Olivier Carion, pastor of the North London church. Mr. Carion invited Mr. May to join him in an act of reconciliation, in which Mr. Carion apologized for the hurt that white members of the WCG have in the past shown to their black brothers.

Mr. May accepted and offered his own apology on behalf of the black members (and other people of color). All ethnic groups are capable of showing racial intolerance, he said. Other members of the congregation were then invited to offer prayers for healing and harmony before the service closed.

About 200 members attended the conference. Martin Ryan, an elder from London, said, "This is one of the best things that’s happened in our church for a long time."

Peter Web of the Shenfield church said: "Thank you for organizing this conference. It has been priceless, so valuable. We’re so unaware of the fact that we are prejudiced toward other groups—people who are just different—often in subtle ways. But if we dig deep, we’ll find it. It’s there!"

LONDON CONFERENCE—From left: John Halford, Margaret Bedford, Chris Reeve, Olivier Carion, Curtis May and Philip Nowland, director of Personal Evangelism Ministry.

RECONCILIATION LEADERS—From left; Olivier Carion, Jacob Abraham, general secretary of the London YMCA, Chris Reeve, David Sulem, Stephen Hallal and Brian Smith. [Photos by Dave Bannister]

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2002