Dear ###USER_name###,
Not only trees in Edinburgh are sending us the signal. It is autumn in Scotland and just eight months to go until the world church will remember and celebrate the legacy of 1910: crunch mode for 2010 has started. Conference preparations in Edinburgh are running at full speed, more and more volunteers support us with their precious help, and the list of the 250 delegates takes form as does the conference programme.
But preparations for 2010 are not just keeping Edinburgh staff and volunteers busy. In Cape Town, Boston, Tokyo and many other places around the world Christians will come together to celebrate God's call to mission. Visit our event calender to find out more.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who might be interested. If you have any news or events you think would be appropriate for inclusion in our newsletter please let me know.
Kind regards
Jasmin Adam
Communications Officer
jadam@cofscotland.org.uk
Ambassadors of Hope
Dana L. Robert is one of the leading scholars of mission history and mission theology. She has been invited to open proceedings at the Edinburgh conference with a keynote speech on 3 June 2010 and thus to prepare delegates for an intensive 4-day programme.
Perusing the names of 1910 delegates Robert has just recently "discovered" another Asian woman at the conference, so far bringing the number to 20 delegates from the global south. The name Grace Stephens had jumped out at her. Originally from Madras Stephen was converted by Bishop Taylor, became a zenana worker, and then ended up running a Methodist women's enterprise.
Stories like these must be fascinating for Robert, who has been teaching theology at Boston University since 1984. Her interest in Christianity as a "sending" religion is not only reflected in her teaching and research. Robert regularly travels to southern Africa where she engages in mission outreach and research. A lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, she likes to experience worship in many different kinds of churches and contexts.
Christian diversity on the one hand, and unity on the other is quintessential to Edinburgh 2010. This is one of the reasons why Robert looks with hope towards next year's events: "As we celebrate the centennial of the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, 1910, we seek to deepen and strengthen its prophetic vision of worldwide, multi-cultural Christian unity--a unity marked by shared passion to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. The memory of Edinburgh 1910 reminds us that we are ambassadors of hope, confident in the power of God's love despite our limitations in a world of pain and injustice."
What's New?
New Team Member Appointed
Adele Ngomedje, a member of the Evangelical Church of Cameroon (EEC) is on the Events Committee of Edinburgh 2010. In this capacity, she will be working closely with the International Director assisting with various tasks including compiling the lists of delegates. She holds an MA in Interpreting and Translating (United Kingdom) and a degree in Bilingual Studies (Cameroon).
Adele brings to Edinburgh 2010 the experience acquired while working for the organisation of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism which took place in Athens in 2005. She has served as the student Vice-Chairperson of the World Student Christian Federation (2004-2008). She has also worked with the World Council of Churches in Geneva and various church organisations in Africa.
Adele is a resource person for “Mission Today”, an Intercultural Project carried out in Argentina, Cameroon and the Netherlands. She works as a professional linguist.
Christian Mission Among Other Faiths - Papers Online
Study theme 2 is investigating ways of witnessing to Christ while acknowledging the religious plurality of a world experiencing a resurgence of religious belief and an escalation of conflict. Participants of study group 2 recently met for two major consultations in Bangalore (July) and Hamburg (August). Papers presented at both conferences are available here.
A Valuable Meeting with Franciscan Friars
On Tuesday 8 September the Chair of the General Council, the Rev. Andrew Anderson, was invited to address a conference of Franciscan friars of the Order of Friars Minor at the Benedictine Monastery in Largs in the west of Scotland. The conference was made up of delegates from the USA, Canada, Malta, Ireland and Scotland, each of whom had missionary experience and responsibility for mission within their provinces.
They had expressed interest in Edinburgh 2010 and wanted to learn more. "It was a valuable meeting," Mr. Anderson said, "and shows how far Edinburgh 2010 is penetrating the missionary structures of the world church. The website had already proved very helpful to them. I found it encouraging to discover, as a Presbyterian, how much we have in common in facing the challenge of witnessing to Jesus Christ in our contemporary world."
Events & Opportunities
3 October 2009
Roots and Fruits: Retrieving Scotland's Missionary Story
Time: 10am-4pm, Venue: New College, Edinburgh (UK)
The Towards 2010 network invites you to the third of three Day Conferences on the Scottish context of Edinburgh 1910. Speakers include Rose Dowsett ("The Evangelisation of the World in this Generation"), Stephen Smyth ("The Gift of the Scottish Experience of Ecumenism") and Andrew Walls ("Scotland and Mission 1709-2009"). The conference fee of £10 includes the cost of a buffet lunch. If you wish to attend the Towards 2010 conference, please contact Rev. John Wylie asap at info@towards2010.org.uk.
14-28 October 2009
Second Youth Online Consultation on Facebook
Venue: Edinburgh 2010 Facebook Group, Discussion Board
What are the challenges Christian mission faces in a postmodern world? The first of three Online Consultations on facebook concluded yesterday, discussing these and many more questions. On October 14 our global discussion enters the next round. All members of our facebook group are invited to share their ideas about the following topics: Mission and power, Forms of missionary engagement, Theological education and formation. For more information download the event flyer.
Study Process Update
Study Theme 8: Mission and unity: mission and ecclesiology
The study process core group for theme 8 has now clarified its final composition: Its moderating co-convener is the Rev. Darrell Jackson (Baptist, UK) who works closely with two co-conveners, the Rev. Dr. Laszlo Gonda (reformed, Hungary) and Ms Kyriaki Avtzi (Orthodox, Greece). They are assisted by colleagues including Rev. Dr. Raymond Pfister (Pentecostal, France), the Rev. Dr. Marvia Lawes (Baptist, Panama), Rev. Dr. Jayared, and are seeking to confirm the participation of a Romanian Orthodox theologian.
The core Ggroup is currently developing a full programme for "virtual" participation in the study process and further details will be posted to the website following the core group’s meeting during the 1st-2nd October, 2009. A number of new papers addressing the study process theme and study questions are being prepared for posting to the theme 8 webpages.
We have gratefully received a copy of the study text prepared by a sub-group of the WCC’s Commission for World Mission and Evangelism and further revisions are being carried out on this text drafted by the CWME group of Dr. Laszlo Gonda, Dr. Jooseop Keum, and Dr. Ron Wallace, with comments from Dr. Raymond Pfister and Professor Dimitra Koukoura (Ecumenical Patriarchate, Greece). Submissions from other perspectives are currently being considered and the final study process text will be submitted for publication very soon.
Rev. Darrell Jackson
Moderating Co-Convener
New Mission Resources
An Accessible Overview of Christian Mission History
Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion
By Dana L. Robert
(2009), ISBN: 978-0-631-23620-7
Exploring how Christianity became a world religion, this brief history examines Christian missions and their relationship to the current globalization of Christianity. The book offers a thematic overview that takes into account political, cultural, social, and theological issues. Reviewers praise Robert's work as "remarkable" (David Hollinger) and "immensely valuable" (Brian Stanley). David Hempton (Harvard University) recommends "Christian Mission" as the best introduction to the subject.
The book contains several new maps that illustrate demographic shifts in world Christianity. For more information visit the publisher's website.
Pray with us
You are invited to join in prayer with all those who look with faith and hope towards the events of Edinburgh 2010.
Take time to listen to the Word of God.
Thomas said to Jesus "Lord we do not know where you are going,
so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered "I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you knew me you would know my Father as well.
I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counsellor to be
with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him …
John 14:5-7, 16-17
Take time to ponder that Word and to pray.
Let us pray in particular this month for those who share in the Study Process around the world, and for the men and women chosen as delegates to the 2010 Conference.
Lord Jesus Christ, teacher and guide, we trust in your promise. Hear our prayer for those who gather to search for your way. Ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit of Truth to fill their minds and hearts. Grant them the grace to welcome that gift with humble faith and to allow that truth to lead them together into your mission in the world. Hear our prayer, o Lord.
Amen
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