E2010 Begins: Witnessing to Christ Today echoes

The bright skies, with long day light, the cool breezes, the old mountains peeping down in all grandeur, with cheerful moments of exchanging smiles all around at Pollocks Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, the centenary celebrations of the International Missionary Conference of 1910 began in all splendor on the 2nd June 2010. About 300 participants from across the world representing various faith affirmations in the World Christianity gathered together thanking God for all the mission endeavors thus far, particularly for the last hundred years, and for re-committing towards new missiological engagements in our times today.  Participants at Edinburgh 2010 (E2010) are from diverse walks of life and faith affirmations, representing from the member Churches of the World Council of Churches, from the World Evangelical Alliance and from the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity from Vatican, which added much colour and grace to the occasion.  Formal welcomes from the organizers of the Edinburgh 2010 and from the Churches in Scotland was done on the 2nd June in the evening, during the opening worship, which included singing from different languages. One of the main objectives of this E2010 celebration is to build friendships among people of different countries, different Churches, and different mission agencies, and the participants have been in mutual sharing of the mission engagements in their contexts. “Give us Friends and make us Family” was the prayer made by Rev. Andrew Anderson, Chairman E2010 General Council during his welcome in the day.

On the 3rd June 2010, during the opening worship, the participants brought stones from their countries and have placed them in the front, and the biblical challenge that all of the participants need to become living stones was symbolically presented. During the same session, Rev. Dr. Olav  Fykse Tveit, the General Secretary of the WCC and Rev. Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director, World Evangelical Alliance, as representatives of the ‘stakeholders’ for the E2010 project looked ahead to the opportunities and tasks of the conference and shared their hopes and expectations for the Mission in coming generations. The participants then were asked to take a journey like that of the journey of the two disciples on Emmaus, to discover and recognize Jesus Christ in our situations today.

E2010 was special in every way from that of the E1910, for it had a reasonable representation from the global south, the participation of women and youth was relatively more in number. It was commented by an African participant, the Africans in E2010 are only represented but are not presented) At E2010 in its Opening plenary, Dr. Dana L. Roberts from Boston delivered the keynote address on “Witnessing to Christ today: Mission from Long Perspective”, during which she elaborated the missional engagements of the Churches from 1910, with specific challenges to our missioning today. Four responses representing the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Evangelicals to the keynote address were presented.

Nine study themes in correlation to the E1910 were divided into three tracks, and the participants were asked to attend the discussion on each of the study theme according to their choices. To each of the study themes, seven transversal areas were identified to add specific perspectives to the discussions. On the 3rd June, in the afternoon participants were in their respective study themes. Study themes, ‘Foundations for Mission’, (study theme 1), ‘Forms of Missionary Engagements’ (study theme 5), and ‘Christian Mission among other faiths’ met during the day and worked out in prioritizing the key issues in mission for today. In the afternoon, the book, “The Atlas of Global Christianity: A Concourse” edited by Todd John & Kenneth Ross was launched.

The Scottish Parliament gave a warm welcome and reception to the participants of E2010 in their premises, during which the Presidential Officer also called the Speaker of the Parliament spoke on the occasion and thanked the participants for their presence at E2010.

More detailed presentations are available on www.edinburgh2010.org and www.oikoumene.org

Raj Bharath Patta & Vineeth Koshy
NCCI
From Edinburgh
04.06.2010