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The Centenary of the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh 1910, for many, is a suggestive moment for seeking direction for Christian mission in the 21st century. In joining the Edinburgh 2010 celebration (June 2-6, 2010), the NCCI, together with other constituents, conducted three major Mission Consultations at Bangalore, Kolkata and Aizawl at different times on different topics related to the main themes of Edinburgh 2010. In this the Ecumenical movement in India sought to capture the vision of God’s mission for us today.

While looking forward to 2010 Centenary conference It is important to register, refer and recall the idea and proposal for the International Missionary Conference was suggested from India by the father of the Modern Mission movement. Rev. Dr. William Carry, the first Baptist missionary in Sri Rampur, West Bengal. The idea of a great international conference to discern the next steps for worldwide Christian mission is by no means the sole prerogative of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference.¹

According to John R Mott, the Conference Chairman “Edinburgh 1910 is the most notable gathering in the interest of the worldwide expansion of Christianity ever held, not only in missionary annals but in all Christian annals.”² Scott LaTourette’s says that “The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910, was the birthplace of the modern ecumenical movement.”³ The conference was not without its critics though. Many felt that the patronage of the colonial powers of the time to the conference paved the way for colonial expansion of the super powers of the day which subjugated many a people and their territories in far away lands.

The Conference worked under 8 themes including, Gospel, Church, Mission and Unity. Mott described the 1910 Conference as “the first attempt at a systematic and careful study of the missionary problems of the world”.⁴ In fact, the most oft-quoted and perhaps the most influential speech was made by the South Indian priest V.S. Azariah who concluded: “Through all the ages to come the Indian church will rise up in gratitude to attest the heroism and self-denying labours of the missionary body. You have given your goods to feed the poor. You have given your bodies to be burned. We also ask for love. Give us FRIENDS!”⁵

This speech challenged the WMC towards considering the context first in the mission and this into Christian legend and become the landmark in the history of mission; the starting point of the modern theology of mission; the high point of the modern Western missionary movement and the point from which it declined; the launch-pad of the modern ecumenical movement; the point at which Christians first began to glimpse something of what a world church would be like.

The World Mission movements consider this congruence as guiding point which led them on a centurial journey and call the world Christian community to commemorate and celebrate the Edinburgh 1910 in the same place on the 02nd June 06th June 2010. The theme of the 2010 Conference is “Witnessing to Christ today”. It is also aims to get directions for the future mission movements under 9 study themes: Foundations for Mission, Christian Mission among other Faiths, Mission and Post-modernities, Mission and Power, Forms of Missionary Engagement, Theological Education and Formation, Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts, Mission and Unity – Ecclesiology and Mission and Mission Spirituality and Authentic Discipleship.

Intended Outcomes of Edinburgh 2010
•    Churches will be provided with an opportunity to celebrate what God has done in the growth of the Church worldwide over the past century and to prayerfully commit to God the witness of the churches in the 21st century.
•    The biblical call to mission will be affirmed and articulated within our contemporary contexts with particular focus on the meaning of evangelization and relevance of Christian witness today.
•    A key conversation on mission will be initiated with mission leaders from the older mission movements of the North and the new mission movements from the South and East, with dialogues held among representatives of different Christian traditions.
•    Guidelines will be developed and studies published to help church and mission leaders evaluate for their own situation models of mission which are proving effective elsewhere.
•    Networks will be mobilized and alliances formed so as to develop greater strategic collaboration and greater synergy in fulfilling the mission mandate.
•    Based on a critical assessment of the status of the world, a new vision of God's purposes for creation in Christ and a renewed spirituality and mission ethos will be developed in the life of the churches worldwide.
•    Centenary celebrations of witnessing to Christ today will be held throughout the world - with the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, again, being the venue on 6 June 2010 for the historic celebration involving over 1000 delegates.
The organizing committee invites the Christian Churches all over the World to observe similar activities locally along with observing June 06th as a World Mission Sunday. It might be a special event or part of the existing local programme. It is appropriate and well fitting that we set aside to celebrate all that we have received from God through the many different expressions of faith – and a great chance to commit ourselves to witness to Christ today.

Let us join with Christians all over the world when they come together :

•    To give thanks for God’ faithfulness as seen in the mission of the Church;
•    To initiate conversations on modern mission and relevance
•    To critically review and evaluate the development of Christian mission; and
•    To form vision that will renew and energise Christian witness worldwide.

For more information visit Edinburgh 2010 link http://nccindia.in/edinburgh2010.htm in nccindia website

Solomon Rongpi
Secretary, Unity Mission and Evangelism, NCCI
Email : srongpi@nccindia.in, srongpi@gmail.com

Endnotes:
¹Ruth Rouse, “William Carey’s ‘Pleasing Dream’”, International Review of Mission, Vol. XXXVIII (April 1949), pp. 181-92.
2. C. Howard Hopkins, John R. Mott 1865-1955: A Biography, Geneva and Grand Rapids: WCC and Eerdmans, 1979, p. 342.
3.Kenneth Scott Latourette, “Ecumenical Bearings of the Missionary Movement and the International Missionary Council”, chapter 8 in Ruth Rouse and Stephen C. Neill, eds., A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-1948, Vol. I, 4th ed., Geneva: WCC, 1993 [1954], p. 362.
4.Cit. Andrew F. Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Appropriation of Faith, New York and Edinburgh: Orbis and T. & T. Clark, 2002, p. 59
5.World Missionary Conference 1910: The History and Records of the Conference, Edinburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier; New York, Chicago and Toronto: Fleming H. Revell, p. 315.