Introduction

Páraic Réamonn

In the 1980s, the executive committee consulted widely with member churches regarding the future of the Alliance. The fruit of this consultation and reflection was a report on "The Alliance in the 90s" which was submitted to the 22nd general council (Seoul, 1989).¹ A similar report, "The Alliance beyond 1997", was discussed at the 23rd general council (Debrecen, 1997).² Between them, these two texts to a large extent determined the shape of the Alliance in the decade that is just ending.

On the threshold of a new century, as a new general secretary prepares to take up his post and we begin to gear ourselves up for the 24th general council, it is time to start a similar process of reflection. None of the articles in this issue offers a blueprint for the Alliance in the first decade of the new millennium, but between them they offer food for thought.

In his presidential message for the year 2000, CS Song exhorts us all, whether we belong to the churches of the North or the "younger churches" of the South, to dare to sing new songs. If, however, we are to grasp what fresh melodies God is weaving for us in the new century, we need some understanding of where we have come from. We live out of our past into the future, and Herbert Ehnes surveys our immediate past in his article on the Alliance since 1970.

Setri Nyomi reflects on millennium fever and the jubilee year: the real challenge is to make every year a year of the Lord's favour. Alan Falconer analyses the different models of dialogue in ecumenical use and applies the analysis to one particularly interesting dialogue in which the Alliance has been involved. Jet den Hollander writes on the new mission in unity project, which the Alliance is co-sponsoring together with the John Knox International Reformed Centre. And Jill Schaeffer enters a plea for interactive programming. It is, in a way, an application of the Lund principle that we don't do separately those things that are better done together. In terms of current political debate, it might also be seen as a plea for a shift from a producer-driven to a consumer- or client-driven Alliance - except that Jill is redefining who the producers are.

Notes