Dr. Kirsteen Kim is Associate Senior Lecturer in Theology at Leeds Trinity and All Saints and works half-time for Edinburgh 2010, coordinating the study process. British by birth, Kirsteen has worked for the Presbyterian Church of Korea, Union Biblical Seminary in India, the Cambridge Theological Federation and Selly Oak College in the UK. She specialises in World Christianity and its implications for theology and mission.

Mission Project WARC/LWF

In November pastors and lay leaders from three continents met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to share stories of how they interpret mission in their context today. The meeting was part of a two-year study on "Mission Today" developed jointly by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Results of the study are to be presented at the Edinburgh conference next year in June. A video with impressions of the meeting was produced and is available on youtube.

Theme 2: Christian Mission among other Faiths

The title of the study theme, "Christian Mission among other Faiths", may sound redundant as Christian mission is popularly understood to be Christian activities to and with other religious faiths. Understanding Christian mission broadly as "the act of crossing a faith boundary in its multiple dimensions," the group undertook a corporate study on the theme.

It has been recognised that during the past three decades, there have been serious debates as to how Christians should relate with people of other faiths. While some Christians have come to understand Christian mission to be the formation of mutual relations with people of other religious faiths, others seek to offer the Christian message of "good news" to other religious adherents and look for "effective" means of persuading them to accept the Gospel. Respecting the different theological positions and traditions, the study group sets out to incorporate the various thoughts into a body of understanding mission among other faiths.

The core group met twice (in January and August of 2009), and designed the study, invited contributors, and wrote the summary paper. From the beginning, the group felt that the scenario of the study and the hermeneutical approach have to be worked out by the group within which contributions by thinkers and practitioners of mission among other faiths will be situated. These features are spelled out in the core group’s summary paper. Two groups of contributions were then collected. The first group is on the various theological and ecclesial "positions". These "position papers" are drawn from Catholic, Evangelical-Protestant, Conciliar-Protestant, Orthodox, and Pentecostal. In addition, a position paper each on "apologetics" and "theologies of religions" are also included. The second group of papers is on case studies of missional works and thoughts among or with various other (non-Christian) religious traditions. Such case studies are invited from thinkers and practitioners of different theological persuasions and traditions.

The core group was pleased to have completed the entire project by October 2009. We thank the cooperation and hard work of all the contributors.

Lalsangkima Pachuau, Co-Convener

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 ponder that Word and to pray

Father of Mercies, draw us once more this December to contemplate the Child in the manger – your Son, born of Mary, God become man, God here for us. Teach us how to tell this story, as the shepherds did, now, to the men and women of our time. Fill our hearts with love and concern for the children of this world, the small ones who remind us of your coming. Let your love reach out through your people, especially to children in need or oppressed. And remind us always that unless we become as children, we will never find your kingdom.

Amen