History : Mott’s visit
* The milestones of our faith journey
* Mott's visit
* Council of Mission
* Serving the Society
During his life-time John R. Mott paid five short visits to India . Yet there is probably no single individual to whom the movement for Christian Unity in India owes more than to him. In 1938 he chaired and to a great extent organized the first international ecumenical gathering in India , the Tambaram Conference that was to have great effect on the life of the India Church also.
Sherwood Eddy , former missionary and YMCA secretary to India , accompanied Mott on the tour. A few months before their arrival he described in a letter the back ground and purpose of the mission in these words:
“ Asia has been divided into twenty areas, and in each one a private conference will be conducted with the fifty most influential leaders of that area. At these conferences we shall take up in a constructive way the most vital questions involved in the expansion of Christianity, treating them with reference to bringing about a better understanding, closer cooperation and real unity. At the end of the series of sectional conferences in each country there will be a national conference, attended by deputations appointed from and by each of the sectional conferences.
The mission began in Madras in the middle of November 1912 and ended in Calcutta at Christmas time. The sectional conferences mentioned in Eddy's letter took place in Madras , Bombay , Jabalpur , Allahabad , Lahore and Calcutta ; the last place was also chosen for the National Conference.
However, for a true account of Mott's visit it would not be sufficient just to enumerate these ‘business meetings' and their results. It was much more than seven consecutive conferences; it was rather, one might, say, a royal tour through India by the already then celebrated world citizen and World Church leader. The letters from the British and American governments opened doors for him everywhere, and rulers and Church dignitaries went out of their way to meet him. The Governor of Madras arranged a conference between him and the Roman Catholic Archbishop on the question of Christian Unity, probably the first Roman Catholic Protestant dialogue held in India . Two metropolitans, a bishop and a number of other representatives of the Syrian Christian community traveled all the way to Calcutta to ask his help in healing the divisions in Kerala.
The Metropolitan of the Anglican Church in India shifted important engagements to be able to be present at Mott's conference in Calcutta . Somehow he seemed able to bring together leaders of all denominations, even those most widely apart. Never before, and probably never since, have the head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Kerala and the leader of the Salvation Army in South India been seen at the same conference table discussing cooperation in evangelism.
This was the background of the conferences that led to the formation of the National Missionary Council. The question was now: Would the churches and the missions march with them? Would they make use of the enormous strength that lies in united action ? or would they continue to be separated, only concerned with the expansion of their own denominations? The answer given at the conferences was unanimous; they would ? as far as possible ? march together.
But in the matter of missionary cooperation it took several important steps, especially by framing the basis upon which both Provincial Councils and National Council could be formed. As to the latter, the conference decided that its main objects should be to coordinate the activities of the local councils and to deal with matters that affected the entire mission field, particularly in relation to the Continuation Committee of the Edinburgh Conference. Its functions should be solely consultative and advisory and not legislative or mandatory. It was to be composed of two persons from each of the local branches and a number of co-opted members.
It took more than a year for the Interim Committee to finish its tasks. First the Provincial Councils had to be constituted; they then had to elect their representatives to the National Council; and lastly the Constitution of the National Council had to be scrutinized. All this took place during 1913, in which year eight Provincial Councils were formed, namely in Bengal , Bihar-Orissa, Bombay , Punjab , Mid-India, Upper Provinces , Madras , and Burma . Everything was ready now for the founding meeting of the National Missionary Council. |
