Day 4: Global Ministries Gathering Concludes with Call to Turn Conversations on Belonging into Action

The final day of the Global Ministries Cross-Regional Gathering, “Identity and Belonging: Nationalisms and Resistance in the World Today,” brought participants together to reflect on the week’s conversations and consider how the relationships, insights, and challenges explored in Johannesburg, South Africa, can shape the church’s witness and work in the world.

Throughout the gathering, participants from different regions explored how nationalism, colonial histories, economic systems, and questions of identity influence who belongs and who is excluded. On the final day, those conversations turned toward a central question: What comes next?

Moving from Reflection to Action

Participants divided into five working groups to identify key affirmations from the gathering, areas requiring further attention, and commitments they could carry into their respective contexts. Their discussions affirmed that every human being is created in the image of God and that the desire to belong is shared across cultures and communities.

The groups emphasized that diversity is not the problem; exclusion is. They called for radical hospitality, justice, inclusive language, and intentional efforts to challenge narratives and structures of power that divide communities. Participants also stressed the importance of recognizing the historical and contextual factors that shape nationalism and belonging, while acknowledging the church’s responsibility to promote transformation.

“Belonging” emerged as a particularly important distinction. Participants challenged churches to move beyond simply including people and instead create communities that recognize human dignity and where everyone can experience a genuine sense of belonging.

The groups identified several areas requiring continued attention, including migration and displacement, economic inequality, colonialism and its continuing effects, intergenerational relationships, and opportunities for young people to exercise leadership. They also called for greater attention to the experiences and agency of people who face exclusion, ensuring that those most affected by decisions have a voice in shaping them.

Participants emphasized that the church’s witness must be more than words. It requires radical inclusion, accountability, and a willingness to examine the structures and assumptions that influence how communities relate to one another. Several groups highlighted the need to decolonize theology, rethink how resources are understood and shared, and strengthen relationships across generations and regions.

Whose Voices Are Missing?

When the groups reconvened for a full-group discussion, their feedback raised important questions about representation, privilege, and the responsibilities that come with gathering to discuss belonging.

Participants asked whether the gathering adequately represented the experiences of those most affected by exclusion and whether the people in the room reflected the full diversity of the communities they hoped to serve.

“Who is not at the table?” became a significant question, prompting reflection on how future conversations might create more space for marginalized communities to share their own experiences and perspectives.

Participants also challenged the assumption that the United States should be at the center of global conversations. The call for the U.S. to “listen more and talk less” was intended as an invitation to learn from other regions, recognize different experiences, and resist the idea that any one nation’s perspective should dominate.

One reflection noted that the typical global Christian is a 35-year-old woman in the Global South who faces significant challenges. Participants questioned how the experiences and perspectives of women like her are represented in conversations about the church’s mission and witness.

The discussion also acknowledged what the gathering lacked, including additional small-group conversations, clearer connections between spirituality and theology, and deeper engagement with Indigenous voices, LGBTQIA+ communities, youth, and the lived realities of migration and displacement. Participants called for continued attention to the root causes of exclusion, rather than addressing only its visible symptoms.

These questions were not intended to diminish the gathering’s accomplishments but to identify opportunities for deeper engagement and more intentional work in the future.

Continuing the Work Together

Participants expressed a strong desire for Global Ministries to help sustain the relationships and conversations begun during the gathering. They called for follow-up discussions and working groups, shared networks and resources, theological education, collaborative writing and research, and opportunities to bring the gathering’s insights to a broader audience, including partners not at the conference and congregations.

Other recommendations included developing a collective statement of commitment, strengthening youth leadership and intergenerational learning, expanding outreach to immigrants through radical hospitality, and using social media and other communication channels to challenge exclusion and share stories of resistance and belonging.

Participants also emphasized the importance of continued connection across regions, recognizing that churches and communities face different circumstances but can learn from one another. They noted that collaboration creates opportunities to celebrate each other’s strengths without competition and to build relationships grounded in mutual respect.

Global Ministries identified several hopes for the gathering: that regional partners would be mutually strengthened, participants would deepen their understanding of cross-regional issues and how to support one another, and the experience would engage both the head and the heart through relationships and community immersion. Participants also identified Intentional storytelling as essential to ensuring the gathering’s conversations continue beyond the event itself.

Participants welcomed the opportunity to connect with others who share similar concerns and face related struggles. They described gatherings like this one as renewing, offering encouragement and reminding people that they are not alone in the work.

The closing discussion ended with a shared recognition that the gathering was beginning a conversation that must continue. Each participant was challenged to identify a next step and carry the work into their own community.

Closing in Gratitude and Worship

Following dinner, participants gathered to express gratitude to those who helped make the event possible. Presenters received awards of appreciation for their contributions, while members of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) planning team received handmade stoles commissioned for Global Ministries’ 30th anniversary.

In a reciprocal expression of hospitality, the UCCSA presented each attendee with a beaded bracelet handmade by Xhosa and Zulu women in Southern Africa, offering participants a tangible reminder of the relationships formed during the gathering.

The evening concluded with worship led by Global Ministries mission co-workers in Africa: Chesla Nicholson serving in South Africa, Phyllis Byrd serving in Kenya, and Paul Chimhungwe serving in Botswana.

Through Scripture, music, prayer, and communion, participants brought the week’s conversations into a shared expression of faith. Communion included locally made steamed bread and Ethiopian honey wine, connecting the worship experience to the cultures and traditions represented in the gathering.

During the worship service, Global Ministries’ leaders each received a quilt created from fabrics participants brought to the gathering from around the world. Each piece of fabric represented a different place and story, woven together into a shared gift that reflected the diversity of the gathering and the connections formed across regions. The quilt offered a meaningful reminder that, while participants come from different cultures and contexts, they are part of a larger community bound together by faith, relationships, and a shared commitment to global mission.

Following worship, participants experienced an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony before saying their farewells.

As the gathering came to a close, the hospitality, shared worship, and exchange of gifts reflected the relationships that had developed across regions and cultures. The week had brought participants together to examine difficult questions about nationalism, identity, power, and belonging. It also challenged them to consider how their faith calls them to respond.

The work ahead will require continued dialogue, honest reflection, and a willingness to listen to voices often excluded. It will also require churches to move beyond welcoming people into their communities toward challenging the conditions that prevent people from experiencing belonging in the first place.

Participants departed Johannesburg with the hope of remaining connected and a shared understanding that the gathering was not an ending, but a beginning. The challenge now is to carry these conversations into congregations and communities, strengthen partnerships across regions, and put the church’s commitment to justice, dignity, and radical hospitality into practice.