"Highlights of the GA, of mine, there are plenty. Those many moments when I felt really connected with some of the lovely people, sharing, laughing and hugs, the special night out in town with friends, chats with The Wise Woman, drawing a mind map with the solidarity workshop group...

singing together in the plenary,being fascinated and uplifted by the keynote speech, praying for the new board members all together and feeling of being one, being very proud of a friend of mine, getting a very special and sudden gift, the moment when I was able to help someone, the moment I was trusted a lot, dancing together, holding hands in a circle and praying for peace and Georgia nearby the Olympic stadium...

I could go for ever :). In so hectic an environment there usually happens also something which does not make me feel good, so in here, too, but that makes those wonderful moments and times even more valuable and dear to me. Such a unique experience."

It was really interesting to visit Parliament with the women's pre-assembly and to meet Nancy Ruth. It's nice to see a strong woman leader. She's a brave woman and said things we ordinarily wouldn't. Her most important message for me

was to not do things alone. To make anything happen you need to cooperate.
If you try doing something alone you won't succeed.
Azusa Nakamura, Delegate, Japan

Rubem Alves has a special way of telling stories. His words were so deep and at the same time, so simple that everyone in the room could understand. Personally, I am proud that he is here and spoke to our group. He held our attention for

the whole time - he was so sincere.
I think the most important question he encouraged each of us to think about is "who am I?". We all need to discover our own identity and discover what it is we should do as Christians. Rubem also spoke about age and how at each age we have something different to do and something different to give. Our identity changes as we age too, taking on different shapes.
Collette Salem, Lebanon

The Men's Pre-Assembly was held just before the General assembly itself. The intention of the men's pre-Assembly was to reflect about what it means to be a man - from a genre and theological perspective and in the new junctures of the ecumenical movement and the whole society.

To face these challenges we need to take into consideration the different cultural, ethnic, political and theological perspectives of interreligious diversity and of WSCF's ecumenical context and build, from here, the new roles of masculinity.

Let's build new paradigms, new committed men!

I first encountered Rubem Alves' work through a Theology course I took in 1994 when I read his book "La Teologia como Juego" (Theology as a Game). I really fell in love with his work. Since then I have read a lot of his books and have been following the evolution in his ways of thinking. Today he has confirmed that he actually does that, he plays, and he does it with words, which is something quite difficult, yet he is great.

It has been a wonderful experience to be able to see him face-to-face and listen to one of his speeches. It would have been better to hear him in Portuguese, but that was not possible due to our present context.

Yet, I believe he threw us many good points and opened us the space to dream, which is something we really need as students.

From the Latin American perspective, It was great that other people from other contexts were able to know how we do theology and to see how important the daily life and context is for us when doing theology.

He told us of his dog and how he could make theology from it. He said that the dog knows what life really is due to the fact that it enjoys every moment and that's the way we Latin Americans are. Every moment is important for us and even when we can't live fully, we take life as a game. Such attitude helps us to overcome the difficulties we face as a people of this region.

It has been incredible and I'm very glad that other people had the chance to enjoy the way he plays with words.

Looking forward to the GA I think the Assembly’s work will be very exciting, especially in the Women's and Men's Pre-Assemblies and the commissions.

The programme will provide students with a fertile space to share ideas, venture into unfamiliar theological ground and discuss topical issues from different perspectives, in a spirit of mutual learning.

My hope and prayer is that students leave Montréal committed more than ever to continue working on cutting-edge issues in their local communities and so translating the momentum and inspiration from the Prophet Joel into concrete actions in the world.

Our idea with the GA exposure programme is to open the doors to Québec and let the students discover for themselves the issues that we are addressing here as radical Christians.

Biblical prophecy has nothing to do with predicting the future and everything to do with challenging oppressive structures. When we begin to challenge these structures, we also begin to have new visions of what a different world can look like. This is what Jesus' vision was all about: challenging empire and carving out an alternative for the people of Galilee. He called this the reign of God

I’m really looking forward to the worship, prayers and songs at the GA. These are profound spiritual experiences for many students who have come from different religious traditions and cultures.

The experience of collective worship can sometimes be more powerful than the speeches and presentations, especially in a context where majority of the delegates come from non-English native speaking countries. The different songs, dances and powerful tools to communicate with each other and celebrate our diversity in an era of growing mono-culture and homogenisation of culture