World Missionary Conference Research Articles

The edinburgh 1910 Centenary: Planning and Doing

Introduction: imagining the centenary At the close of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference, its chairman John R. Mott pronounced that, end of the planning is the beginning of the doing. (1) Almost one hundred years later the memory of this inspirational event stimulates a fresh round of reflection and action. June 2005 saw a small but widely representative consultation meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland to reflect on the mission themes that call for attention at the beginning of the 21st Recalling the work that was completed by the eight commissions that reported to the 1910 conference, the consultation was able to identify themes that call for analysis by teams drawn from different parts of the world, and from different streams of Christian witness. (2) The consultation's work has been widely welcomed and its choice of themes strongly affirmed. Critical feedback has been considered, and the statement of the mission themes has been adjusted in light of further reflection (see Appendix A). This statement remains highly provisional; it is no more than a starting point. None of those involved in the drafting of the statement imagines that it will remain in the same form after sustained work has been done over a three-year period. It is anticipated that some of the themes will come to be understood in significantly different ways, while others may even be replaced. There is an openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the possibility that thinking might develop in directions not yet anticipated. Nonetheless, the statement of mission themes has been acclaimed as providing a coherent and promising starting point. The identification of the mission themes has provided a platform on which a range of Christian organizations, institutions and individuals have been gathering under the aegis of Towards 2010: mission in the 21st century. This platform is not a new organization but more of a network that brings together people and organizations with common aspirations. It aims to bring together representatives of many different strands of mission and church life for a well-focussed and well-organized process of preparation for the centenary. The memory of the 1910 conference brings people together in a creative way, and opens up new perspectives on mission today. The memory also challenges us to work on a bigger canvas, to engage in a wider conversation, to attempt a more comprehensive analysis, and to conceive new initiatives on a broader front. In this way, the memory of 1910 has stimulated imagination and created energy but, until now, has been very limited in terms of organizational capacity. The energy of the 2005 consultation was expended at a conceptual and missiological level. Comments received from many quarters have been very affirmative of the topics identified and the terms in which they are expressed. The document has undergone revision in response to helpful critical comments that have been offered but the substance of it has proved to be convincing. What the consultation did not do was to work out any practical plan for the organization and resourcing of the work envisaged. The idea, in broad terms, was to establish a new set of commissions, based on those which had reported to the 1910 conference but organized much more internationally, and with a much greater range of participation. The implementation of such a plan, however, would require significant financial and other resources. The 2005 consultation appointed a six-member sub-committee on organization and finance, and charged it with the challenging task of turning the dreams into reality. The sub-committee soon realised that, in terms of constructing a collaborative process, little could be achieved without bringing together the relevant stakeholders, viz. representatives of organizations with a vision for the centenary. Another consultation was needed but this time with the practical focus of constructing a viable collaborative process centred on the centenary. …

Thinking Edinburgh 2010 - Tracing the Impulse of the Spirit

International Review of MissionVolume 94, Issue 375 p. 585-601 Thinking Edinburgh 2010 – Tracing the Impulse of the Spirit Kenneth R. Ross, Kenneth R. Ross Kenneth R. Ross is Chair of the Scottish Towards 2010 CouncilSearch for more papers by this author Kenneth R. Ross, Kenneth R. Ross Kenneth R. Ross is Chair of the Scottish Towards 2010 CouncilSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.2005.tb00530.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume94, Issue375October 2005Pages 585-601 RelatedInformation

Christianity's first steps into its third millennium

Abstract This solicited article reflects on two major events marking the first steps of Christianity into its third millennium. The first is the CWME Conference held at Athens, May 9-16, 2005, the second is the ninth Assembly of the WCC at Porto Alegre, Brazil, February 14-23, 2006. The introduction begins with the symbol-laden opening ceremony of the Athens Conference where a huge cross shipped from Jerusalem was received, a cross, which also will be referred to in Porto Alegre. This provided a telling image about Christianity along its way from local to global significance. The article first reviews the Athens conference in light of innovations. These include the genuine embrace of a larger community than just the WCC membership and an appeal to the basic commonalities of Christian life beyond dogmatic constraints by turning to Bible-study and prayer. The same perspective also informs the second part of the article, which looks at the forthcoming Assembly and points to some significant changes such as giving up the majority vote in favor of a consensus model and embedding the discussion of hot topics within the larger framework of ecumenical conversations. While these changes reflect an maturity they are also bold and risky steps, which deserve to be regarded with appreciation and care. They are held to be expressions of a new spirit, bringing the church more truly in line with the kenotic love of God in Christ, something regarded us most telling about Christianity's self-perception upon entering its third millennium. Introduction The symbolism could hardly have been more powerful on the morning of Tuesday, 10 May 2005. The place is the tiny harbour of Aghios Andreas, thirty kilometres northeast of Athens, Greece. It is crowded with people from around the world, official statistics speak of more than 600 coming from 105 nations and representing not less than 300 different churches, denominations, Christian organizations and networks. The occasion is the opening ceremony of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, also counted as the thirteenth world mission conference. While a small choir of priests and seminarians chant Greek Orthodox hymns a mid-sized fishing boat appears, slowly approaching the pier where it delivers a huge cross pieced together by numerous bits of olive wood. Carefully the cross is unloaded and carried in a procession to the makeshift worship space--a tent put up on this site for use during the conference. It is placed at the tent's main entrance to remind all present of the desperate need for reconciliation. But how? What's so special about it? Well, this cross serves as a reminder of the pivotal reconciliation of humankind to God in Christ. Crafted by Palestinian artisans from the wood of trees chopped clown by order of the Israeli government to make room for the so-called security wall being erected to brutally divide Palestinian and Israeli peoples, this cross was sent as a greeting by Palestinian Christians to the conference and shipped from Jerusalem to Athens to alert participants to their persistent striving for reconciliation in the Middle East. Yet, the symbolism of the ceremony was not exhausted by this fact. The action also recalled the way along which the gospel once came from Jerusalem to Athens, then the center of Hellenistic philosophy. It was in Athens, that Paul preached a famous sermon on the Areopagos, which turned into something of a failure (Acts 17:16-34) foreshadowing the marginalization of the Christian faith by affluent and sophisticated societies. Beyond that it recalled the question posed by the North African church father Tertullian (~150-223/35 CE) at the beginning of the third century: indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church? What between heretics and Christians? ... Away with all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic composition! …

Report on the World Mission Conference Athens 2005

Rapid assessment of an event like a world mission conference is always difficult; but I suspect that Athens 2005 will resist easy evaluation for sometime to come. Viewed from one angle, it was a seminal gathering, marked by an unprecedented breadth of participation and a new emphasis on reconciliation as a framework for mission. Viewed from another, however, the Athens conference simply added nuance to previous themes, with little opportunity for shared reflection on the direction of mission in the 21st century. My own reflections are in two parts: First, I will offer three observations about the overall shape of the event. These will be followed by four observations regarding the potential contribution of Athens 2005 to the church's thinking about mission. 1. Surely the most striking thing about this conference was the diversity of its participants. This was, for example, the first such gathering to include a large number of representatives from Pentecostal and Evangelical churches, and their presence was by no means marginal. Asian Pentecostal theologian, Wonsuk Ma, set the tone in the opening plenary when he stressed the desire of his tradition to learn from the historic churches and to engage more fully in ministries of social justice thus challenging stereotypes about Pentecostals. This was also the first world mission conference to be held in a predominantly context. In his welcoming address, Archbishop Christodoulos, of the Church of Greece, spoke of a new era in World Council of Churches-Orthodox relations as a result of the work of the Special Commission on Participation in the WCC; and he thanked conference organizers for their attention to Orthodox sensitivities. All of this made for unusual encounters. I attended one synaxis in which representatives of Pentecostal and churches that have quarreled vigorously over Pentecostal mission practices that the regard as proselytism spoke of their great commonality, especially their shared focus on the work of the Holy Spirit. When asked to name a highlight of the conference, a friend told me of attending a healing service where a Coptic priest anointed a woman from a Pentecostal church in Latin America. In addition to these traditions, the Roman Catholic Church was also present with a sizeable, fully participating delegation. This meant that the major renewal movements of the past century--Pentecostalism, liberation theology, the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II, as well as the ecumenical movement--were officially present at the same meeting, and with an apparent desire to be more complementary than competitive. It is not surprising that marks of a renewed church figured prominently in the conference's Letter to the Churches. 2. The conference theme--Come, Holy Spirit, Heal and Reconcile! Called in Christ to be Reconciling and Healing Communities was clearly chosen in light of particular historical events, including the end of the cold war and the subsequent proliferation of ethnic conflicts, the end of apartheid and the work of truth and reconciliation commissions in South Africa and elsewhere, the genocide and subsequent attempt to rebuild social cohesion in Rwanda, and the AIDS pandemic with its obvious demand for ministries of healing. The previous world mission conference at Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, was held in 1996, which was after the end of apartheid and the genocide in Rwanda but too close to those events to allow for real reflection on them. This was not the case, however, in Athens. To take only one example, the attempt in Rwanda to heal memories and construct a viable future that involves both perpetrators and victims figured prominently in three of the nine synaxeis that I attended. No conference, of course, can do justice to all the signs of the times; but Athens paid less attention than I would have expected to certain trends and events, including the now-global experience of religious pluralism (to which I will return later) and the obscene and rapidly growing disparity between rich and poor that is a mark of economic globalization. …

Listening with African Ears

International Review of MissionVolume 94, Issue 374 p. 343-353 Listening with African Ears Reflections on the 2005 World Mission Conference in Athens J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, USA; Lecturer: Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, GhanaSearch for more papers by this author J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, USA; Lecturer: Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, GhanaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.2005.tb00509.x Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume94, Issue374July 2005Pages 343-353 RelatedInformation

Where We Dwell in Common

The great surge of Christian missionary activity during the course of the nineteenth century elicited a new concern for church unity. Was this missionary activity, after all, spreading division? In 1910 representatives of Protestant churches came together to respond to that question in Edinburgh at The World Missionary Conference. The conference in its turn channeled the concern to the sending churches. Although somewhat slowed down by World War I, the ecumenical movement grew and was punctuated by landmark events in The Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work (Stockholm, 1925) and The World Conference of Faith and Order (Lausanne, 1927). The report of this second conference included a description of what the churches assembled in their representatives shared in common and the many things that distinguished and sometimes divided them. When the World Council of Churches came into existence in August of 1948, the Faith and Order movement was integrated into it as a distinct agency whose concern was the doctrinal unity of the churches. Its signal achievement thus far has been the document entitled Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, frequently referred to as the Lima document, which sketches a proposal for a common understanding of these three aspects of the church across the churches. This document is the best example of what I will call “transdenominational ecclesiology,” and the fact that it has received so much attention from the churches indicates that it plays some important role in the whole church.

The Centenary of "Edinburgh 1910" and the Direction of Christian Mission in the 21st Century

Announcement The Centenary of “Edinburgh 1910” and the Direction of Christian Mission in the 21st Century Your contribution is invited Mission thinkers and practitioners around the world have detected in the centenary of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference an oppor- tunity for the communities of Christian mission to re-gather in order to focus on the missionary challenges of the 21st century. A consortium of Scottish-based church and academic institutions has begun work on coordinating an approach to the centenary which is fully international, widely representative and thoroughly forward-looking. The aim is to discern the shape of Christian mission in

COME HOLY SPIRIT, HEAL AND RECONCILE: CALLED IN CHRIST TO BE RECONCILING AND HEALING COMMUNITIES

“Come Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile!”, the pneumato-centric theme of the forthcoming world mission conference, is a prayer of mutuality. While we invite the Holy Spirit to come to ud (to heal and reconcile), we are simultaneoudly invited by the Spirit of God to co-journey with God on the mission route. In several ways, the conference theme is a re-affirmation of the missio Dei paradigm. A Spirit-centric theme also provides us with a mission agenda of integral liberation, as the Holy Spirit is portrayed as the divine force of liberation throughout the Bible. This is of crucial import in today's world that is governed and ruled by several forces of injustice and oppres-dion. The distinct focus on the Holy Spirit will certainly help us in developing a trinitarian framework for a mission of identity affirmation. In the trinitarian divine family, the identity and dignity of each perdon is recognised. The focud on the Holy Spirit who trandcendd both androcentrism and antbropocentrism, is relevant in addressing the ecological issues of our times from a mission perspective. The sub-title of the conference, “Called in Christ to be reconciling and healing com-munities”, is as important as the pneumato-centric main theme. This is because invoking the Spirit without any reference to the person of Jesus Christ can lead to either a militant form of pneumato-monism, or to syncretum. The dub-title affirns the fact that it is the Spirit of Christ who is being invoked here. Reconciliation, brought about by the Spirit of Chrst most decisively on the cross, is a trinitarian state of being, i.e. a state of reconciled diversity where everyone enjoys freedom, identity and equality. This, however, is a costly affair becuse it required the breaking down of the barriers and walls of separation. However, it needs to be reaffirmed, particularly in a context where there are attempts to de-link reconciliation from justice issues, because it implies that reconciliation entail) struggles for liberation and justice. The focus on healing is also significant because healing figures as a central theme in the soterblogy of almost all major confessions. The challenge of HIV/AIDS and the current ecological impasse raise several questions about the (in)adequacy of traditional understandings of healing. Thus, the conference theme invites us to address these contemporary mission concerns in a new and pertinent manncr.

The Scope of Public Theology

This article examines the changing scope and method of ecumenical public theology from the World Missionary Conference of 1910 until the present. Most changes were made in response to the changing ideological and political contexts. The collapse of liberalism and the social gospel was followed by a type of confessional ethics which arose directly out of the German Church Struggle. In opposition to this there emerged a realist ecumenical social ethics, much indebted to Reinhold Niebuhr, and of Ronald Preston. This type of public theology and its distinctive ‘middle axiom’ method are examined and contrasted with the more recent public theologies which were influenced by liberation theology and grassroots movements. It is suggested that the ending of the Cold War and the fundamental changes that have taken place since September 11 2001 present a radically new kind of challenge to public theology.

Missiology as Global Conversation

AbstractThe United College of the Ascension (UCA) is continuing the tradition of Selly Oak, Birmingham, UK, where UCA is situated and where mission education and training has been taking place in an ecumenical setting since 1912. The college, which is sponsored by the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (Anglican) and the Methodist Church of Great Britain, works in close cooperation with the University of Birmingham, and particularly its Centre for Missiology and World Christianity. The UCA Mission Programme (UCAMP) is an imaginative and flexible programme of mission preparation, reflection and exposure for people crossing boundaries in mission in different directions. Such people include the missionaries and mission partners of a number of different organizations, clergy on sabbatical, those called from overseas to ministry and mission in the UK, and scholarship holders and visiting fellows invited as a result of partnership links with churches worldwide. Utilizing the varied mission experiences participants represent, and the international nature of the college community, mission studied at UCA have evolved to become a global conversation of (contextual) theologies. UCAMP is structured around a core course of biblical and theological studies, the history of mission, cross‐cultural communications, social and global studies, and religious studies. UCAMP also includes personal and professional development, and the opportunity to tailor programmes to vocational and personal interest by drawing on the rich resources of UCA, Selly Oak and the multi‐cultural city of Birmingham. UCAMP provides an up‐to‐date model of mission education and training for the 21st century.

THE HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WORLD MISSION CONFERENCES IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Missio Dei today-God's mission today. is the theme of this congress that we are holding to mark the 50th anniversary of the world mission conference in Willingen. I have been given the task of situating that conference in the overall context of the world mission conferences held during the 20th century, and outlining their significance. Obviously, given the limits of this paper, this will have to be done in fairly rough outline. I shall begin by presenting certain features of these world mission conferences. Then, after brief chronological account, I shall look at the issues dealt with at each of the conferences, and end with an attempt at summary. 1. Salient features of the world missionary conferences Assuredly, then, we are called to make new discoveries of the grace and power of God, for ourselves, for the Church, and for the world; and, in the strength of that firmer and bolder faith in Him, to face the new age and the new task with new consecration. (1) This is the closing sentence of the message to the Members of the Church in Christian Lands from the first world missionary conference in Edinburgh in 1910. I am tempted to put this paragraph up front as motto, so to speak, because-using the language of its time-it seems to me to present in concentrated form much of what the world mission conferences are essentially about. First, there is the certainty of the calling. All the mission conferences are marked by the participants' certainty of being called by God to engage in mission. It was left to the Willingen conference in 1952 to state that mission is always God's affair and that we therefore take part in God's mission. However, all the earlier conferences shared the conviction that the task of mission was ultimately laid upon them by God. Edinburgh's message, for instance, calls for a deeper sense of responsibility to Almighty God for the great trust which has committed to us in the evangelization of the (2) All the mission conferences were anxious to pass this certainty on to the whole of Christendom, for the God who calls us is great, and greater than ever yet perceived or suspected. We have to make new discoveries about God's grace and power for ourselves, for the church and for the world. Though they may use different words, all the world conferences hope for the awakening of faith and the revival of the church, which means, new dedication to mission. Mission is not just side interest for few highly motivated people; mission is part of the very nature of the church. is how all the world conferences see it. To quote Edinburgh again: That trust is not committed in any peculiar way to our missionaries, or to the societies, or to us as members of this Conference. It is committed to all and each within the Christian family; and it is as incumbent on every member of the Church, as are the elementary virtues of the Christian life-faith, hope and love. which makes man Christian makes him also sharer in this trust. (3) The aim of all the world conferences is to get the churches to understand this. is what they pray for. The conferences wanted to make new discoveries of God's grace and power for the world and in the world as well, in order to face the new age and recognize the new tasks that await them. When all is said and done, it is matter of keeping pace with God's mission. In the American preparatory material for Willingen we read, He is not only the Head of the Church but ahead of both the Church and the world ... The problem is to keep abreast of Jesus Christ. This is concern that is popularly expressed in the following way: Two documents lie behind the new effort to understand the missionary obligation. One is the New Testament; the other, your morning newspaper. (4) is why all the world conferences devote large space to Bible study and the analysis of world events. …

SERMON PREACHED ON 18 AUGUST 2002 AT THE WILLINGEN MISSION FESTIVAL

International Review of MissionVolume 92, Issue 367 p. 473-477 SERMON PREACHED ON 18 AUGUST 2002 AT THE WILLINGEN MISSION FESTIVAL Konrad Raiser, Konrad Raiser Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser is the general secretary of the World Council of Churches.Search for more papers by this author Konrad Raiser, Konrad Raiser Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser is the general secretary of the World Council of Churches.Search for more papers by this author First published: 25 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.2003.tb00422.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume92, Issue367October 2003Pages 473-477 RelatedInformation

MISSION TOWARDS RECONCILED AND INTER‐CONTEXTUAL COMMUNITIES

A brief historical note That the overarching theme of this consultation includes a concern for relationships in is not surprising. The very identities and purpose of the four sponsoring bodies are built around the search for and the promotion of wholesome relationships across churches in very different cultural, economic and socio-political contexts in various parts of the world. The very structures of CEVAA, CWM and UMI are intended to testify to the necessity and urgency of valuing difference and plurality, promoting the construction of each other's identities in interactive dialogue, and practising intercontextual sharing in the perspective of the reign of God. The 1970s, the years that nurtured and brought to birth CEVAA and CWM, are perhaps some of the most momentous years in ecumenical mission thinking and practice. The world mission conference in Bangkok brought out the reality of pluralism and difference in Christian communities around the world in far greater relief than ever before. Culture and was the theme of a major section. It stressed the need to affirm cultural and other differences, and to reject the easy homogenization of plurality. Some leaders saw challenging forms of Western cultural hegemony as a critical aspect of the church's mission from the South. It was their recognition of the continuing asymmetrical power relations between churches in the North and South that led some from Africa and Asia to call for a moratorium in mission. But it was a moratorium for the sake of mutuality so that authentic contextual and intercontextual relations in mission might emerge. Since Bangkok, every single CWME conference has dealt in some manner and d egree with the issue of identity and pluralism in mission, and the promotion of intercontextual dialogue across cultures. No wonder that, around this time, Philip Potter summed up his vision of the whole burden of the ecumenical movement as to cooperate with God in making the oikoumene an oikos, a home, a family of men and women, of young and old, of varied gifts, cultures, possibilities where openness, trust, love and justice reign. (1) Dialogue of was a persistent theme and a singular thread that runs through all of Potter's reflections on mission and ecumenism. Since the 1970s, the voices that call the churches to take seriously the heterogeneity and plurality that mark peoples around the world, and the continuing asymmetrical power relations among churches, have grown clearer and louder, particularly from those who have been marginalized. Most of the major conferences of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its assemblies have heard them. The world mission conferences in San Antonio, Texas, in 1989 and the one in Salvador, Bahia, in 1996 are no exception. In 1991, the Canberra assembly of the WCC defined the mission of the church, stating, The reconciliation brought about by the cross is the basis of the mission of the Church. A reconciled and renewed creation is the goal of the mission of the Church. The vision of God uniting all things in Christ is the driving force of its life and sharing. (2) The gospel and cultures study process of the WCC provided space for many to express the uniqueness of their identities, plurality and fluidity within a single cultural process, and the impossibility of any one cultural expression of the Christian story being the norm for everyone else. At the same time, sharing rich experiences of the gospel stories across diverse cultures led to the call for the active promotion of cross-contextual dialogue, challenge and mutual enrichment. Intercontextual relations are not simply a matter of effectively organizing mission across churches. It is not a strategy; rather, our ecumenical mission thinking over the past three decades and our world context today demand that we consider the promotion of intercontextual relations in itself as mission. …

INTERCULTURAL HERMENEUTICS-CONTEXTUAL EXEGESIS

A MODEL FOR 21ST CENTURY EXEGESIS [*] 1. On the situation of from an ecumenical perspective The ecumenical movement began over a hundred years ago with the enthusiastic vision of evangelizing the whole world within a generation. The world mission conference in Edinburgh in 1910 brought together 1200 representatives of missionary societies and churches, but these included only 18 representatives of young churches in the Southern hemisphere. It was recognized that to reach this lofty goal, an important task would be translation of the Bible into local languages, especially in Asia and Africa. This was undertaken in response to a strong impetus from the national Bible societies which had been founded in the 19th century, and in continuation of the work which they had already done. In the decades around the turn of the century, Protestant missions distributed hundreds of thousands of Bibles in the Southern hemisphere. [1] As a result of these efforts, the world mission conferences which followed could record a steadily growing number of delegates from the colonial regions, with a sharp increase in their participation in the World Council of Churches after the end of the colonial era. For the churches, the period of decolonization was marked at first by the complete handing over of church leadership functions to indigenous theologians. These theologians, however, though trained in European theology, soon began thinking in terms of their own cultures and life contexts, and undertook to try to inculturate and contextualize the gospel. In addition, a large number of genuinely indigenous churches were founded, in some cases theologically very different from one another. Theologians from Africa, Asia and Latin America began to organize themselves into national, continental (e.g. the All-African Conference of Churches, AACC) and intercontinental conferences (e.g. the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, EATWOT), from wh ich they could confidently bring their own perspectives into the ecumenical debate. At the end of the 20th century, we are beginning to speak of a shift in the centre of gravity of Christianity [2] away from the increasingly rich nations of the Northern hemisphere, towards the populations of the economically dependent nations of the Southern hemisphere. Even though the majority of Christians today do live in Africa, Asia and Latin America -- and not in Europe and North America, as they did at the beginning of the 20th century -- this observation is not true only from a numerical viewpoint. The interpretation of the Bible in the countries of the South, and the accompanying developments in worship, teaching and the life of faith, point to an extensive re-orientation and re-focussing of Christianity. In spite of all confessional differences, a common denominator of churches and theology in the Southern hemisphere could be said to be their perspective as economically disadvantaged and impoverished peoples who live by their unshakeable experience of the presence of God. 2. Challenges After almost 200 years of efforts by national and international Bible societies, the Bible has been partially or fully translated into a great many existing languages. These translations represent interpretations which are the result of processes of understanding taking place within specific socio-linguistic contexts. In view of the diversity of contemporary inculturation processes, one may ask how Christians are to communicate among themselves. Even though ecumenical as a whole represents a living commentary on the one Bible, it can hardly be considered a uniform community of readers worldwide. Instead, the ecumenical community must be seen as made up of many communities of interpretation, each with its own specific cultural and contextual characteristics. One faith -- different faces. But can the members of the ecumenical Christian family look one another in the eye and see in the face of the other, which may be deep black, pale white or in-between, a sister or brother who is their equal? …

From Cremona to Edinburgh: Bishop Bonomelli and the World Missionary Conference of 1910

The Ecumenical ReviewVolume 52, Issue 3 p. 418-431 From Cremona to Edinburgh: Bishop Bonomelli and the World Missionary Conference of 1910 Joan Delaney M.M., Joan Delaney M.M. Joan Delaney was the Roman Catholic consultant on mission to the WCC from 1984 to 1990. She has been engaged in research on topics such as ecumenical formation and the recruitment and training of Catholic and Protestant missionaries. The author wishes to thank the following institutions and individuals — librarians, archivists and scholars — for advice, assistance and grant money: the Sterling Library, the Divinity School Library, the Day Missions Library, the Seeley G. Mudd Library, all at Yale University; staff of the Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Angelo Maffeis and Elisa Carrillo; and the Maryknoll Society.Search for more papers by this author Joan Delaney M.M., Joan Delaney M.M. Joan Delaney was the Roman Catholic consultant on mission to the WCC from 1984 to 1990. She has been engaged in research on topics such as ecumenical formation and the recruitment and training of Catholic and Protestant missionaries. The author wishes to thank the following institutions and individuals — librarians, archivists and scholars — for advice, assistance and grant money: the Sterling Library, the Divinity School Library, the Day Missions Library, the Seeley G. Mudd Library, all at Yale University; staff of the Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Angelo Maffeis and Elisa Carrillo; and the Maryknoll Society.Search for more papers by this author First published: 26 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6623.2000.tb00049.xCitations: 1 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume52, Issue3July 2000Pages 418-431 RelatedInformation

Salvador 1996 “Called to One Hope: The Gospel in Diverse Cultures”

This article reports on the World Council of Churches 'Commission on World Mission and Evangelism conference held 24 November–3 December 1996 in Salvador, Brazil. A brief history is outlined of developments leading up to this conference focusing on issues of gospel and culture. The conference format was divided into four sections: I authentic witness within each culture; II gospel and identity in community; III local congregations in pluralist societies; IV one gospel, diverse expressions. The central theme emerging from the conference was unity in diversity. The article concludes by noting some strengths, shortcomings, and polarities of opinions found at the Salvador conference.

EVANGELICAL PRESENCE AT THE SALVADOR CONFERENCE – A PERSPECTIVE FROM LATIN AMERICA

Called to One Hope: Gospel in Diverse Cultures is a potentially divisive theme for evangelicals. What is the nature of the Christian hope and the essential content of the gospel, and do gospel and culture have equal weight on the scales of evangelization? Remembering the fallout after the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Canberra assembly (1991), we wondered what would be the contribution and reaction to the Salvador conference. Any discussion of the role of evangelicals at the eleventh Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), in Salvador, Brazil (November-December 1996), should begin with a terminological clarification. What do we mean by evangelicals? As Marlin VanElderen points out, The word `evangelical' has no precise agreed-upon definition. There are a large number of people within the WCC member churches and organizations who consider themselves evangelical. identification of Protestant and evangelical are virtually synonymous in some languages and traditions (including in Spanish and Portuguese). More than one-fourth of the WCC member churches have the word `evangelical' in their name. Discussion of WCC relations with evangelicals, however, generally refers to contacts with independent groups who emphasize the authority of the Bible, the need for an individual experience of conversion, the call to a personal life of growth in holiness and a passion for the evangelization of the world by calling individuals to faith in Jesus Christ.(1) Having said this, it must be recognized that the movement covers a wide spectrum of people and organizations for whom the above core definition may be the be all and end all of their Christian commitment and those for whom it is the point of departure for various levels of involvement in the world. evangelicals who attended the Salvador CWME would represent various shadings of the latter. Evangelical presence at the Salvador conference Evangelicals, in all of the senses defined above, have always been present and involved in WCC mission conferences. Salvador conference was no exception. A sustained effort was made to include evangelicals in the conference preparatory process and during the conference, at every level. Evangelical advisors contributed their perspectives at meetings of the Conference Planning Committee (CPC), where concerns were already well represented.(2) Along with evangelicals from local WCC member churches, the National Host Committee (NHC) in Brazil made it a point to include two and pentecostal representatives. conference participants included delegated observers from several agencies, mission societies and nonmember churches.(3) They joined evangelicals who were nominated by WCC member churches as official representatives. A number of evangelicals also came to Salvador as accredited visitors. historical context presence of evangelicals at the Salvador conference needs to be considered in its long-term historical context, as well as in its immediate setting, Latin America and Brazil. Mexico City (1963) was the first world missionary conference to be held after the International Missionary Council was integrated into the WCC (at New Delhi, 1961). It was also the first conference to be held in Latin America. It made hardly a ripple in the region. Protestants were a small minority in most of Latin America. Among the majority of churches and mission agencies in Latin America, anticommunism was the watchword and ecumenism was still a pejorative word. Three decades later, a sea change has taken place. Today, numerically strong and theologically more mature, churches in Latin America are facing the same issues that the WCC seeks to confront -- massive impoverishment, violence, injustice, unfettered capitalism. Yet the responses of historical churches and of evangelicals to these challenges are both similar and yet different. …

World Mission Conferences: What Impact Do They Have?

World Mission Conferences: What Impact Do They Have?

Another World Mission Conference: What Impact?

Another World Mission Conference: What Impact?

Ecumenism or Distinctiveness? Seventh-Day Adventist Attitudes to the World Missionary Conference of 1910

For the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose doctrines are rooted in eschatological and apocalyptic theology, ecumenism is problematic. While the Church sees itself as one heir of the historic tradition of Christianity and so welcomes recognition as part of the mainstream, it also claims to be the organization through which God proclaims a special message to the modern age. Put simply, sometimes Seventh-day Adventists are happy to be part of the universal Church and at other times they claim to be members of the only true Church. Obviously, the latter, exclusivist attitude is in contradiction to the ethos of the ecumenical movement.