2025 will mark the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the world’s first Ecumenical Council in the year 325 in Nicaea, now İznik in present-day Türkiye.

USPG's annual Rethinking Mission Conference will focus on Nicaea 1700. The conference will draw together a select group of participants, both clergy and laity, from across the global Christian spectrum, with an interest and involvement in ecumenical theology and practice, to reflect upon the many lessons churches can draw from the Council of Nicaea.

Globally, where the centre of gravity of world Christianity has assumed a more polycentric dimension and the Christian faith is increasingly being recognised as a decolonising force, the conference will explore how Nicaea 1700 can offer possibilities for the re-imagination of Christian faith, unity and witness for the healing of a divided humanity and a wounded planet. The conference will engage with a range of questions regarding the relevance of Nicaea for our times, including the following:

1) What does the legacy of the Council of Nicaea mean for Christians as they seek to live their apostolic faith today?

2) How can we re-affirm the Nicene creed in ways that can strengthen the prophetic witness of Christian churches?

3) As a council called by the emperor Constantine - who is considered to have understood the goal of unity within the churches as being concomitant with the unity of the empire, the Council of Nicaea reflects the close relationship between religion and empire. How can Nicaea 1700 offer us the opportunity to revisit this link and think of our faith as a means of undoing the empire(s) in our midst?

4) Can Nicaea 1700 inspire Christian churches to rethink the ecumenical quest for visible unity in terms of repair, reconciliation and renewal in times of war, climate catastrophe and genocidal greed?

In a spirit of critical and creative dialogue with Christian history and tradition, the conference will embody a spirit of ‘creative fidelity’– “where fidelity involves recognisable continuity with our scriptural faith tradition, and creativity involves an openness to the Spirit for the inspiration to interpret and ‘perform’ that tradition in ways that are life-giving”.

Book Launch

The day will conclude with the launch of the book Lived Mission in 21st Century Britain: Ecumenical and Postcolonial Perspectives, edited by Benjamin Aldous, Harvey Kwiyani, Peniel Rajkumar and Victoria Turner and published by SCM Press. (https://scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780334065531/lived-mission-in-21st-century-britain).

Towards Nicaea 1700: Re-affirming our Common Faith for Uncommon Times