wfn.org | WCC NEWS: World mission conference begins in Edinburgh

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>World Council of Churches - News

>WORLD MISSION CONFERENCE BEGINS IN EDINBURGH

>For immediate release: 03 June 2010

"To launch together a new beginning for common mission in the 21st
century" is the challenge put before participants at an international
mission conference taking place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, from  2-6
June.

The international gathering commemorates the hundredth anniversary  of the
1910 World Mission Conference which took place in the same city  and is
widely considered the symbolic starting point of the modern ecumenical
movement.

"One hundred years after the Edinburgh conference in 1910 we are  challenged
to launch together a new beginning for common mission in the 21st
century", the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary  Rev. Dr
Olav Fykse Tveit told conference participants on 3 June.

Tveit was one of two speakers expressing hopes and expectations  for the
conference before some 300 delegates from over 60 countries and  virtually
all Christian traditions at the opening celebration.

The other speaker was Rev. Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director  of
the World Evangelical Alliance. He said he hoped that the Edinburgh  2010
conference will help participants to achieve a "renewed commitment  to bear
witness to Christ with the love of the Father and in the power of  the Holy
Spirit in every corner of the globe".

The WCC general secretary emphasized the need for contemporary Christian
mission to reconcile evangelization and prophetic witness. "It is
important to keep a healthy dialectic and creative tension between  the
many dimensions of our calling", Tveit said. "To witness to Christ  is both
evangelism and the prophetic stand for Christ's will for justice,  peace
and care of creation", he added.

Tveit also highlighted that mission and unity are inseparable: "Mission  and
unity belong together. To be one in Christ is to witness together  to
Christ."

Tunnicliffe said that although it would not be realistic to expect
historical differences to be solved in a few days, he hoped "that  during
the conference participants will be able to "listen to one another  with
love and respect, build bridges rather than create chasms, pray  together,
learn together, establish new friendships".

"We come to celebrate the progress of world Christianity over the  last 100
years", Tveit said. Amongst some "difficult lessons" that have been  learnt
during that period, he mentioned "the links between mission and
colonialism", "shameful power struggles" and the fact that "mission  is a
challenging theme in our relations to people of other faiths".

Tveit acknowledged that "many more sectors of world Christianity  now take
their inspiration from the deliberations of the 1910 Edinburgh conference
than those who actually participated in the event". Therefore he
emphasized: "Nobody needs triumphalistic movements and churches.  The world
needs faithful disciples of Christ, always carrying the cross in  love and
solidarity with the world for which Christ died."

>Christian diversity gathered in one place

The 1910 World Mission Conference brought together some 1,200
representatives mainly linked to the Western missionary movement.  In
addition to its focus on evangelism, the historic gathering emphasized
cooperation and unity.

The Edinburgh 2010 conference gathers with the theme "Witnessing  to Christ
today" and is hosted by the School of Divinity at the University  of
Edinburgh. The World Council of Churches (WCC) supports its organization,
together with partners in the ecumenical movement, within and beyond  the
WCC fellowship.

The wide spectrum of churches, denominations and mission traditions  united
around the project makes it one of the most representative of the
diversity of world Christianity today. This spectrum includes Orthodox,
Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist,
Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Independent traditions.

The conference will end on Sunday, 6 June, when participants will  join
members of the local churches and gather at the 1910 Assembly Hall  for "a
significant celebration", the organizers have announced.

In parallel to the centenary conference a plethora of workshops,  events and
services (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=23ff33809581b16947e0 )  are being
organized by local churches and organizations all over the world.  A
multi-denominational and international study process (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0a1abc7395d9d4a6fead )  has been 
carried out
in order to provide new perspectives on mission for the 21st century.

The Edinburgh 2010 conference website (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3ef5b2e063db965756e9 )  offers various 
opportunities to get
involved; it is thus possible to follow the conference online, to  discuss
and study crucial mission topics, or to set up local events commemorating
the centenary.

Full text of the WCC general secretary's greetings in Edinburgh
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f50c44df8f2a2d347ed7  )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

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