The World Council of Churches (WCC) will be hosting a Christian-Muslim Conference on the Christian Witness in the Middle East in Antelias, Armenia, from January 24-28.

Organized as a collaboration between the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches, the conference will deal with the current challenges for Christian communities in the Middle East are facing. The 'Arab Spring' has brought up an important crossroads in history of the region, but especially Christian communities now face unprecedented choices.

Also topic of the discussions during the meeting of about 50 Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders, figures of the civil society and intellectuals will be the finding of effective ways to coexist and collaborate as partners in building democratic societies.

According to the press service of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia the opening session will take place on Tuesday evening. The speakers at the session will be His Holiness Aram I, Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the WCC, Dr. Mohammad Sammak, General Secretary of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Committee, and Dr. Paul Rouhanna, General Secretary of the MECC.