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"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 are being organized by local churches and organizations all over the world. A multi-denominational and international study process has been carried out in order to provide new perspectives on mission for the 21st century.
The Edinburgh 2010 conference website 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
