Dear ###USER_name###,

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Benedict XVI praised the pioneers of the 1910 World Missionary Conference. Looking forward to the centenary celebrations in June, the Pope called for 'a new, intense work of evangelisation, not only among people who have never known the Gospel, but also among people for whom Christianity is part of their history.'

It's just another four months to go, and we are overwhelmed with positive news related to the centenary. Numerous articles, books, videos and other resources are now available, and conferences around the world shape a new perspectives on mission in the 21st century.

Best wishes

Jasmin Adam
Communications Officer
jadam@cofscotland.org.uk

Theme 4: Mission and Power

A Canadian Case Study

The subject of power dynamics in mission resonates loudly in North America. Here the Christian community has grown acutely aware of the damage perpetrated in the name of Christ among the indigenous peoples of our continent. In Canada, the Roman Catholic and three Protestant denominations signed a binding legal agreement to mandate a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine this history. 
With this historically significant and sacred moment of national reflection in mind, a core group of eight Canadians, and one expatriate living in the U.S., our co-chair Jon Bonk, commissioned a case study on the specific mission story of Indian residential schooling - a story of collaboration between the governing powers of Canada and four powerful churches from the mid-19th through most of the 20th century - a missionary endeavour to mould indigenous peoples in the image of the colonising peoples. Different kinds of power imbue this story, and so we hope it will be instructive and will resonate with mission practitioners around the world. Indeed, we solicited responsive reflections from individuals who hail from Cuba, Ghana, Kenya, Nicaragua, Malaysia, Palestine, Peru, Romania, South Africa, and Wales. These international responders worked hard to listen to the Canadian case study and to respond from their location of power. We are indebted to them for their many insights and deeply felt observations.
Our study is also a story of the call of mission churches to repentance and to reconciliation. We see reconciliation as a journey, a journey of relationship, and one that is intergenerational. Repentance is a process, built on many acts of atonement, and transformation of behaviour, hearts and mind. The act of confession is iterative as understanding between individuals and between peoples deepens. Our indigenous contributors suggest Ezekiel 37 as a metaphor for their journey to restore lost identity, an identity intrinsically connected to the land.
Ultimately we ask how should Christians look at power? How do we use the Power of the Holy Spirit faithfully in mission? And what value do we place on the power to receive from and be transformed by those whom we encounter in mission?

Lori Ransom, Convener 

Working with the Mission and Power case study committee provided an all-too-rare opportunity to view the 'progress' of Western 'civilisation' from the underside. From that angle, the self-congratulating official histories of nations are so visibly tangled and untidy as to be virtually unrecognisable. The inspiring tales of intrepid explorers, fearless adventurers, heroic pioneers, resourceful settlers, selfless missionaries, compassionate clergy, far-sighted politicians and hard-fighting soldiers - all duly transmitted from generation to generation - seem but a cover for a tragic epic of global proportions.  Such is the effect of stories told by the ancestors of those whose territories were taken, memories destroyed, languages decimated, cultures obliterated, and whose sons and daughters were forcibly enculturated and deliberately ghettoized. Whether related by a member of Canada's First Nations, an Australian aborigine, a Central European Gypsy, a Mayan or any one of scores of other people whose fate it was to be overwhelmed and subjugated by superior force,  that all of this should have occurred usually with the complicity or acquiescence of Christian clergy and missionaries gives profound pause for theological thought: if this was what it meant to be 'Christian' then, just what do we mean by 'Christian' now? The answer to this question is not as simple as it once seemed.

                                                                                                                        Jon Bonk, Co-Convener

You are invited to join in prayer with all those who look forward to the celebrations of Edinburgh 2010 with faith and hope.

Take time to listen to the Word of God

I take no pleasure in your sacred ceremonies. 
When you bring me your whole-offerings and your grain-offerings
I shall not accept them.
Spare me the sound of your songs;
I shall not listen to the strumming of your lutes.
Instead, let justice flow on like a river
And righteousness like a never-failing torrent.

You thrust aside all thought of the evil day
And hasten the reign of violence.
You loll on beds inlaid with ivory
And lounge on your couches;
You feast on lambs from the flock
And stall-fed calves:
You drink wine by the bowlful
And anoint yourselves with the richest of oils;
But at the ruin of Joseph you feel no grief.

Amos 5:21 – 6:6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to see right prevail:
They shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6