1. Foundations for Mission

Canon Janice Price, Church of England
Rev. Dr. Deenabandhu Manchala, World Council of Churches, Switzerland

Under this theme, the meaning of salvation was considered in its biblical witness and in relation to freedom from every form of slavery in every context and culture. The study group examined the interfaces between the Trinity, mission, salvation, ecclesiology and scripture.

The task of this study group was to explore how a Trinitarian understanding of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit relates to the theory and practice of mission; how the confession that God has a missionary identity impacts Christian witness; how a discernment of the Trinitarian God´s inner relationships and love impacts ecclesiology, community life and society.

1.  The relation of the Trinitarian nature of God to our understanding of Christian mission.
2.  The relation of Christology to mission theology and practice.
3.  The relation of the work of the Holy Spirit to mission theology and practice.
4.  How does our understanding of the mission of the Triune God affect our ecclesiology and church practice?
5.  What do we mean by salvation, present and future? What is its link to conversion, baptism and participation in the sacramental life of the church?
6.  How does our understanding of salvation affect the way we do mission?
7.  How does mission engagement affect our biblical hermeneutics and vice-versa?

A book on foundations for mission arising from this study theme is being prepared for publication in the Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Series by Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar.

• Edinburgh 2010 consultation on 'Foundations for Mission' at Bossey, Switzerland, May 2009
• 'Sinking Foundations' conference, All Nations Christian College, UK, July 2009
• 'Mission at and from the Margins, Hyderabad, India, September 2009
• 'Doing Mission from the Underside: A Challenge to the Understanding of Mission since 1910', 7th Congress of Asian Theologians, Central Philippine University,  Iloilo, February 2009. Download final statement (pdf file) CATS Final Statement
• Paper by David Hesselgrave, 'Will We Correct the Edinburgh Error?' (reprinted with permission from Southwestern Journal of Theology, 49.2 (2007): 121-49 [full version available online at http://www.baptisttheology.org/journal.cfm])
• Extracts submitted by Damon So, from his book, The Forgotten Jesus and the Trinity You Never Knew  (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010)
• Tokyo 2010 Declaration, 'Making Disciples of Every People in Our Generation'. For further details, see http://www.tokyo2010.org/
• Cape Town Commitment, 'A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action'. For further details, see http://www.lausanne.org/en/gatherings/cape-town-2010.html