12TH IAMS GENERAL ASSEMBLY - SOME INITIAL IMPRESSIONS BY A NEWBIE

As a “newbie” (first-timer) to IAMS, it was quite interesting to connect faces to familiar names I had previously come across mainly on book covers in my seminary library. I must say I was a bit nervous about meeting these “well-known” missiologists and scholars, more so since, as a librarian, the closest I've come to missiological scholarship is when I catalogue books on missions! I needn't have worried about feeling lost or out of place because there has been nothing but warm smiles and friendly conversation. And where language or cultural barriers made conversation difficult, those smiles conveyed a welcome and fellowship that words could not.

This was especially true when the IAMS participants were hosted by different congregations for Sunday worship. My group of 3 persons were guests of Sentz Imre Church, a Roman Catholic congregation. The fact that none of us in the group is Roman Catholic, and that we needed the help of intrepreters to converse, did not matter at all. The smiles and generous hospitality enabled us to experience, as one of our group observed, a demonstration of the oneness we share as members of the Body of Christ, although we were different in many ways.

The smiles that made an impact on me, and I daresay the others in my group, were the smiles that persevered despite years of suffering and hardship, in the older members of the congregation in particular. Meeting 92-year-old Fr. Placid Kovacs left the greatest impression. A Benedictine, and somewhat of a Hungarian hero, he had suffered ten years' imprisonment in a Siberian gulag and many years afterward unable to his minister openly under Communist rule. Yet he exudes such joy, life and joviality today that one could hardly guess he had been through so much pain. He spend most of his time these days listening to confessions and many come to him because of what he has endured (and perhaps also because he is hard of hearing, we are jokingly told).

Finally, it would be remiss if I didn't mention the patience and longsuffering of the IAMS volunteers and stewards, whose friendliness and smiles did not wane although having had to deal with travel-weary, and sometimes irritable, participants over the past two days. Thank you so much for your service and ready smiles.

Genuine smiles and heartfelt expressions of fellowship in Christ -- these have been my initial impressions of the 12th IAMS Assembly. And maybe I am being totally naive, but these also give me a glimmer of hope that reconciliation can happen despite the myriad of differences that exist ... which is what this 12th Assembly is about, isn't it? Or have I missed the point?