Dear ###USER_name###,
Happy Centenary Year! We, and many of our friends, are very excited that 2010 has finally begun. Things are speeding up in Edinburgh and elsewhere, with India and the USA kicking off the celebrations. From January 18 to 25 the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is picking up the conference theme, 'Witnessing to Christ today'. These and many more events are listed in our event calendar.
A wee reminder for young Christians: the deadline for our Youth Contest is January 15. For more information visit our website.
Kind regards
Jasmin Adam
Communications Officer
jadam@cofscotland.org.uk
Interview with Stephen Smyth
Brother Stephen Smyth is General Secretary of ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland) and Chair of SCOT, the Scottish Coordinating Team. He is a member of the Marist Brothers, a Roman Catholic Religious Congregation with a focus on education. In this month's interview, Stephen tells us about the involvement of Scottish and British churches in the centenary celebrations.
Stephen, you are chair of SCOT, the Scottish Coordinating Team. Who is involved in the group and what is your remit?
Like Edinburgh 2010 itself, SCOT brings a wide spectrum of churches and traditions together for mission. Currently, SCOT team members come from six of the nine member churches of ACTS along with the Baptist Union of Scotland and the Evangelical Alliance Scotland. I have the privilege of being the General Secretary of ACTS as well as Chair of SCOT. SCOT’s aim is twofold: 1) to support the Edinburgh 2010 event in prayer and provide practical local knowledge and support for the event organisers, and 2) to encourage churches and ecumenical groups across Britain and Ireland to REMEMBER Edinburgh 1910, to CELEBRATE the work of Mission and Ecumenism in the 20th century, and to BE INSPIRED for working together on mission in the 21st century.
Have you learned something from the experience for future ecumenical cooperation?
Yes: learned – or rather been reaffirmed. There is great joy in working and praying as Christians together, especially when focussing on mission. Edinburgh 2010 gives us a unique opportunity to work in partnership, and to share the gifts and stories of our different traditions. SCOT has experienced and modelled this in microcosm as our team has shared prayer and our personal skills, as well as the gifts of our denominations. We are constantly reminded of how much we share in common in our faith and commitment to the Lord. Yes, there are differences in interpretation and practice – some more significant than others. Thankfully, goodwill, common action and prayer help transcend the problematic, and enable us to work warmly and effectively together for the good of all.
SCOT has a responsibility to inform churches in Britain and Ireland to remember and celebrate the Centenary of the World Missionary Conference. How do you support groups that want to get active, and what could they do?
SCOT publicises the anniversary across the churches and mission and ecumenical organisations in Britain and Ireland. We work in partnership with the national ecumenical bodies: ACTS, Churches Together in England (CTE), Cytun (Churches Together in Wales), the Irish Council of Churches (ICC) and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI). SCOT is now encouraging individuals, groups and churches to prepare for and sustain Edinburgh 2010 in prayer and by marking the celebration in some special way ‘where you are’.
- We have produced a leaflet to this effect. Copies can now be downloaded here.
- We are encouraging groups to let us know of any local events. These will be added to the Events Calendar on the Edinburgh 2010 website.
- A simple prayer card Is now available to remind people of the event and the importance of prayer. These will be distributed along the same lines as the leaflet. They can now be downloaded here.
- A small SCOT working party is organising four Prayer Days around Scotland to encourage people to set up small ecumenical groups to pray individually every day, and to meet monthly to hold Edinburgh 2010 before the Lord. These are being led by Fr Gerard W Hughes SJ, the well known spiritual writer. Suggestions for planning such a prayer day will soon be available on the website.
- We hope to produce some other discussion and prayer materials for local groups. These will also become available on the Edinburgh 2010 site.
- SCOT can be contacted on: contact@scot2010.org.uk
What's New?
New Team Member
Rev. Mitchell Bunting, known as Bungie, is a new part-time member of the team preparing for the Edinburgh 2010 event. He is the Ecumenical Officer of the United Reformed Church National Synod of Scotland and for Edinburgh Churches Together. He is also the Ecumenical contact for the Iona Community of which he is a longstanding member.
Bungie's main roles in the team are to liaise with local churches and to help with practical arrangements for the conference. During the conference he intends to make a video record that will be available afterwards to stakeholder organisations. He feels that it is very important for conference delegates to experience Scottish hospitality, and likewise it will be very important for Scottish Churches to be challenged by the conference themes. At various points in the conference programme there will be opportunities for delegates and local churches to meet - most notably on Sunday 6th June in the morning when it is hoped delegates will go out to attend a large number of local churches before gathering in the afternoon, along with someone from their hosting local church, to the final celebration.
2010.global brochure now available in Korean
The Edinburgh 2010 team invites Christians all over the world to celebrate and commemorate the centenary of the World Missionary Conference. A Korean version of the 2010.global brochure can now be downloaded from our website.
Australia looks towards Edinburgh 2010
On October 2-3 last year, Christian missionaries and theologians in Melbourne, Australia, organised an ecumenical celebration and seminar which has set the ball rolling in anticipation of next year’s Edinburgh gathering. A key goal of the Melbourne event was... [To read the full article click here]
Tickets for Sunday Celebrations
The final celebration of the conference will be held in the General Assembly Hall, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland on Sunday 6th Jun starting at 3.00pm local time and finishing by 6.00pm. Due to limited space in the General Assembly Hall the event will be ticketed. Tickets are to be distributed fairly between people from Britain and Ireland, and people from other countries who are either based in the UK or who will be able to make a special trip to join the Edinburgh celebrations in June. Please note that visitors are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs as well as visa arrangements. The conference itself is for delegates only, and it will not be possible for any visitors to attend any part of the conference. It is hoped, however, there may be informal events in local churches in the evenings - check the events listing for details.
Tickets for people in Britain and Ireland are being distributed by the national ecumenical bodies (ACTS, CTE, CTYUN, CTI) to a wide range of churches, After this initial allocation any local tickets left over may be distributed after Easter to individuals. Please register your interest by an email to contact@scot2010.org.uk.
For the international community, either resident in the UK or coming from abroad, please register your interest in attending the final celebration on Sunday 6th June from 3.00pm-6.00pm by an email to: jadam@cofscotland.org.uk. We are sorry if limited space means we cannot respond to all requests.
Study Process Update
Theme 5: Forms of Missionary Engagement
Over the past twelve months a group of missiologists and mission practitioners from around the world have been looking at how God has engaged his people in mission in past centuries and what patterns of mission we can expect to emerge in coming decades. We have benefited from being a very mixed group of people with wide ranging experience in mission. Our core group from Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, South Africa, and Zambia has met twice but most of our work has been done virtually using dedicated web space which allowed another thirty or more people to participate in our discussions and contribute papers. Denominationally we have had contributions from Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist and Pentecostal believers. Amazingly, with all this diversity, we eventually pulled together a fine set of papers (available on the Edinburgh 2010 website) and an agreed text.
At the core of our discussions was the central role of the local church in mission. Whether we came from an Orthodox mission centre or a Pentecostal church in Africa we all agreed that the place where mission starts is the local church. In fact it might be better to say that the local church starts with mission! The two cannot be separated.
The Edinburgh 1910 conference took place at the height of the movement of missionaries from Europe and North America to the rest of the world. In our discussions we became aware that the sending of long term missionaries from everywhere to everywhere remains an important aspect of God’s mission but by no means the whole story. Mission happens in an amazing variety of ways and we need to rejoice in all of these, especially where that mission is characterised by vulnerability. We were particularly interested in the ways in which children are carriers of the gospel within, but also well beyond, their own communities. We also looked at the increasing use of electronic media in mission noting that we need to find more effective ways to engage the media, not just using them as a tool.
Finally we spent some time looking at how we can build much more effective collaboration in mission. Aware of the many ‘divides’ in our world (economic, gender, theological etc.) we are committed to responding to our Lord’s prayer that we ‘might be one’ in mission.
Canon Mark Oxbrow, Convener
Events & Opportunities
13-15 January 2010
Consultation of the Centre for Mission Studies
Venue: Union Biblical Seminary, Pune (India)
'Give Us Friends' is the theme of the annual consultation of the Centre for Mission Studies at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India on 13-15 January 2010. That plea was made by the Indian delegate to Edinburgh 1910, V.S. Azariah, and the consultation will be taking an Indian perspective on 'Edinburgh 1910: One Hundred Years Later'. The organisers are using the study themes identified by Edinburgh 2010 and have put out a call for papers, which can be downloaded here.
18-25 January 2010
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Venue: global event
Churches around the world traditionally mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from 18 to 25 January in the time between the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, although some local contexts choose to celebrate it around the Feast of Pentecost. This year's theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010, 'You are witnesses to these things' (Luke 24:48), marks the centenary of the World Missionary Conference. Resources and more information are available here.
New Mission Resources
African Christianity
A documentary film produced and directed by James Ault (2009)
Christianity is no longer the religion of the West. Over two-thirds of the world's Christians now live in the global South - with Africa growing the fastest - and all signs point to this trend continuing. With guidance from leading scholars in the field and major funding from Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Temleton Foundation, African Christianity shows the vitality and changing nature of Christianity in Africa. Pieces from the documentary are available here. An accompanying article can be downloaded from our website.
Pray with us
You are invited to join in prayer with all those who are sharing in faith and hope in this preparatory time leading to the celebration of Edinburgh 2010.
Take time to listen to the Word of God
In the course of his preaching John the Baptist said, ‘Someone is coming after me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’
It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised in the Jordan by John. No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’
Mark 1:7-11
Take time to ponder that Word and to pray
This month we meet across the churches in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Let us ask for the grace to see and hear one another with love and respect, as brothers and sisters of the Son of the Father.
Father in heaven, you revealed Christ as your Son by the voice that spoke over the waters of the Jordan. Grant us the grace that all who share in that sonship may follow on his way of service to humankind. Let his kingdom be shown in its beauty in all places on earth. Give us the wisdom and love to see and hear one another as brothers and sisters as we reflect on the meaning of Mission, and humbly learn to understand his way.
We make this prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
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