Edinburgh 2010: A Century of Christian Witness

Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today
June 2 – 6, 2010
a report submitted to:
World Council of Churches
Echos – Commision on Youth in the Ecumenical Movement
contents collated by:

Mr Jec Dan S. Borlado
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INTRODUCTION
One hundred years ago in this city,

men and women who were engaged in mission
came together from every part of the globe.
As they told their stories and prayed for each other,
they were surprised by the Spirit with a moment of inspiration,
when they glimpsed a vision of a united church
speaking with one voice the name of Christ,
and saw within grasp a world won for the gospel.
Now in a different age,

where violence and injustice still prevail,
where Christian witness is still fragmented,
and where secular forces mass against the gospel,
we gather to pray for a new moment of vision,
for new energy, fresh inspiration, and new resources
for witnessing to Christ today.
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2010 Global Prayer
God of Grace,
Your love flows in abundance through Your
world.
You have come close, touched our pain,
and fired our hearts with hope.
As now we give You thanks,
and celebrate Your mission
to reconcile, heal and transform,
fill us with your irrepressible Sprit of love
made known among us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Edinburgh 2010 Backgrounder - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 6
a. About Edinburgh 2010
b. Edinburgh 2010 Study Process
c. Study Themes and Transversals
d. The General Council
II. The Common Call - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 11
III. Learning and Insight
a. Megan O‟Callahan (page 14)
b. Anastasia Vassiliadou (page 16)
c. Jose Lopez Vazquez (page 18)
d. Aaron Hollander (page 20)
e. Andrew Thompson (page 21)
IV. A Selection of Youth Contributions
a. The Winning Essay (page 24)
b. Book Reviews (page 33)
c. A Speech at the Scottish Parliament (page 38)
d. A Speech on Youth, Mission, and Power (page 39)
e. A Creative Multimedia Contribution (page 43)
V. Liturgical Resources
a. Worship Resources (page 47)
b. Foreword: The Stations of the Cross of Globalization (page 51)
VI. Online Links & Resources - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 54
a. Edinburgh 2010: Youth Perspectives
b. Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today
c. Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today – a Facebook Group
d. Twitter: Edinburgh2010
e. Generation 2010: a Post Edinburgh2010 Facebook Group
f. WCC Mission and Unity: Edinburgh 2010
g. WCC Echos – Commission on Youth and the Ecumenical Movement
h. Luiz Coelho
VII. Youth Delegates - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 59
VIII. From the Youth Coordinator - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 61
IX. Pictures - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 64
X. Acknowledgements - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 72
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I.
Edinburgh
2010
Backgrounder
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About Edinburgh 20101
The Centenary of the World Missionary Conference, held in Edinburgh
1910, is a suggestive moment for many people seeking direction for
Christian mission in the 21st century. The initial driving force behind
Edinburgh 2010 was the Towards 2010 network under the
leadership of Prof. Ken Ross. Since 2005 an international group has
worked collaboratively to develop an intercontinental and multi-
denominational project, now known as Edinburgh 2010. The project is
based at New College and the Church of Scotland offices in Edinburgh,
and headed by an International Director, Dr. Daryl Balia. It is
governed by a 20 member General Council representative of most of
the Christian family.
Edinburgh 2010 Study Process

Essential to the work of the Edinburgh 1910 Conference, and of
abiding value, were the findings of the eight think-tanks or
"commissions". These inspired the idea of a new round of collaborative
reflection on Christian mission - but now focused on nine study
themes and seven transversal themes identified as being key to
mission in the 21st century. The study process is polycentric, open-
ended, and as inclusive as possible of the different genders, regions of
the world, and theological and confessional perspectives in today's
church. Follow the link to find out more about the Edinburgh
2010 Study Process.
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http://www.edinburgh2010.org/en/about-edinburgh-2010.html
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Different from 1910
In important ways the celebration of Edinburgh 2010 and the process
leading towards it will be different from the Edinburgh 1910
Conference.
 Rather than being centred in Edinburgh, a polycentric

approach is being taken, both for the study process
and for 2010 events which will take place in many
locations around the world including Edinburgh.
 Whereas 1910 was confined to mainline

Protestantism, the participants in 2010 are drawn
from the whole range of Christian traditions and
confessions, including Roman Catholic, Orthodox,
Pentecostal, and Independent Churches, and show a
better gender and age balance.
 Instead of being confined to the North Atlantic, there

is an intentional bias to the South, recognising that
Christianity's centre of gravity has moved markedly
southwards during the past century. The process aims
to be truly worldwide in its scope.
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.
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 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.
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Study themes
1. Foundations for mission
2. Christian mission among other faiths
3. Mission and post-modernities
4. Mission and power
5. Forms of missionary engagement
6. Theological education and formation
7. Christian communities in contemporary
contexts
8. Mission and unity - ecclesiology and
mission
9. Mission spirituality and authentic
discipleship
Transversals
1. Women and mission
2. Youth and mission
3. Healing and reconciliation
4. Bible and mission - mission in the Bible
5. Contextualization, inculturation and dialogue
of worldviews
6. Subaltern voices
7. Ecological perspectives on mission
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Members of the Edinburgh 2010
General Council (July 2009)
 Dr. Des van der Water, Council for World Mission*
 Rev. Canon Edgar Ruddock, Churches Together in Britain and
Ireland
 Ms. Jet den Hollander, World Alliance of Reformed Churches
 Rev. Roger Schmidt, Lutheran World Federation
 Mrs. Rose Dowsett, World Evangelical Alliance*
 Dr. Cathy Ross, International Association for Mission Studies
 Rev. Blair Carlson, Lausanne Committee for World
Evangelisation*
 Ms. Ruth Padilla-De Borst, Latin American Theological Fellowship*
 Rev. Andrew Anderson, Church of Scotland*#
 Dr. Ganoune Diop, Seventh Day Adventist Church
 Dr. Julie Ma, Asian Pentecostal Society*
 Ms. Maria Aranzazu Aguado Arrese, Roman Catholic Church
 Rev. John Kafwanka, Anglican Communion*
 Prof. Petros Vassiliadis, Orthodox Churches
 Baptist World Alliance
 Ms. Anastasia Vasileiadou , World Council of Churches*
 Prof. Joseph Otubu, African Independent Churches
 Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, World Methodist Council
 Rev. Michael Wallace, World Student Christian Federation*#
 Femi Adeleye, International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
* denotes member of the Executive Committee
# denotes Chairpersons
Former members of the Edinburgh 2010

General Council
 Bill Slack, Baptist World Alliance
 Ms. Nayiri Baljian, World Council of Churches
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II. The Common Call
Edinburgh 2010
June 6, 2010
As we gather for the centenary of the World Missionary Conference of Edinburgh

1910, we believe the church, as a sign and symbol of the reign of God, is called
to witness to Christ today by sharing in God‟s mission of love through the
transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
1. Trusting in the Triune God and with a renewed sense of urgency, we are
called to incarnate and proclaim the good news of salvation, of forgiveness of
sin, of life in abundance, and of liberation for all poor and oppressed. We are
challenged to witness and evangelism in such a way that we are a living
demonstration of the love, righteousness and justice that God intends for the
whole world.
2. Remembering Christ‟s sacrifice on the Cross and his resurrection for the
world‟s salvation, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are called to authentic
dialogue, respectful engagement and humble witness among people of other
faiths – and no faith – to the uniqueness of Christ. Our approach is marked with
bold confidence in the gospel message; it builds friendship, seeks reconciliation
and practises hospitality.
3. Knowing the Holy Spirit who blows over the world at will, reconnecting
creation and bringing authentic life, we are called to become communities of
compassion and healing, where young people are actively participating in
mission, and women and men share power and responsibilities fairly, where
there is a new zeal for justice, peace and the protection of the environment, and
renewed liturgy reflecting the beauties of the Creator and creation.
4. Disturbed by the asymmetries and imbalances of power that divide and

trouble us in church and world, we are called to repentance, to critical reflection
on systems of power, and to accountable use of power structures. We are called
to find practical ways to live as members of One Body in full awareness that God
resists the proud, Christ welcomes and empowers the poor and afflicted, and the
power of the Holy Spirit is manifested in our vulnerability.
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5. Affirming the importance of the biblical foundations of our missional
engagement and valuing the witness of the Apostles and martyrs, we are called
to rejoice in the expressions of the gospel in many nations all over the world. We
celebrate the renewal experienced through movements of migration and mission
in all directions, the way all are equipped for mission by the gifts of the Holy
Spirit, and God‟s continual calling of children and young people to further the
gospel.
6. Recognising the need to shape a new generation of leaders with authenticity

for mission in a world of diversities in the twenty-first century, we are called to
work together in new forms of theological education. Because we are all made in
the image of God, these will draw on one another‟s unique charisms, challenge
each other to grow in faith and understanding, share resources equitably
worldwide, involve the entire human being and the whole family of God, and
respect the wisdom of our elders while also fostering the participation of
children.
7. Hearing the call of Jesus to make disciples of all people – poor, wealthy,
marginalised, ignored, powerful, living with disability, young, and old – we are
called as communities of faith to mission from everywhere to everywhere. In joy
we hear the call to receive from one another in our witness by word and action,
in streets, fields, offices, homes, and schools, offering reconciliation, showing
love, demonstrating grace and speaking out truth.
8. Recalling Christ, the host at the banquet, and committed to that unity for
which he lived and prayed, we are called to ongoing co-operation, to deal with
controversial issues and to work towards a common vision. We are challenged to
welcome one another in our diversity, affirm our membership through baptism in
the One Body of Christ, and recognise our need for mutuality, partnership,
collaboration and networking in mission, so that the world might believe.
9. Remembering Jesus‟ way of witness and service, we believe we are called by

God to follow this way joyfully, inspired, anointed, sent and empowered by the
Holy Spirit, and nurtured by Christian disciplines in community. As we look to
Christ‟s coming in glory and judgment, we experience his presence with us in the
Holy Spirit, and we invite all to join with us as we participate in God‟s
transforming and reconciling mission of love to the whole creation.
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III.
Learning
and Insight
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Learning and Insight
by Megan O’Callaghan
Reflections on Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today
A Snapshot
The Edinburgh 2010 conference was and will remain in my memory as a special moment in my
ecumenical journey. It was an honour to be selected as a delegate of the World Council of
Churches to attend this historic event and overall, it was a really positive experience. As with
other ecumenical events, the diversity of people at this centenary conference stood out and was
to be celebrated. Unlike the 1910 conference – a wide range of cultures, denominations and
traditions were present from many countries (including the Catholic church and Pentecostal
movements). While of course we did not all hold the same view of what Christian mission
means at this critical point in time, the mere fact that it was possible to come with a “Common
Call” itself was a visible reminder that as Christians there is much we are now prepared to say
together about mission. A spirit of celebration undergirded the whole event – from the opening
ceremony in the Southall, through the uplifting chants from the small countries of the world led
by John Bell from the Iona Community to the closing ceremony in the historic General Assembly
Hall on the Mound in central Edinburgh where Archbishop John Sentamu challenged us to be
bold in sharing and living out the Christian message in today‟s world. I was refreshed that
amidst the celebrations, there was an honest recognition that to have integrity as witnesses to
Christ, we must recognise our need for God‟s forgiveness of our own weaknesses and failings –
the divisions between our congregations, the lack of voices of some parts of the body of Christ
(such as women and youth), and missionary practices in the past which have been abusive and
destructive.
Plenary sessions
The three plenary sessions were the opportunity for several perspectives on various parts of the
theme to be shared. Highlights included Professor Dana Roberts‟ address in the opening
plenary “Mission in the Long Perspective” where she looked at key milestones in the ecumenical
movement since 1910, Bishop Coorilos form South India urging us to name our own demons
which divide us and cast them out, Tony Kireopoulos lamenting the lack of support for some
Christians for those who engage in mission in different ways to and insights from reflectors –
young Greek theologian Anastasia Vassiliadou who emphasised that while we might not quite
understand each other at times the important thing is that we are engaged in mission together
and Vinoth Ramachandra of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students who urged for
more of an emphasis on the role of laity in mission.
Parallel Sessions
I was involved in the parallel sessions for Theme 1: Foundations for Mission, Theme 8: Mission
and Unity and Theme 9: Mission Spirituality and Authentic Discipleship. These sessions were
designed to build on the study process leading up to Edinburgh 2010 and provided real
opportunities to share in small groups and particularly to hear the voices from transversal
perspectives (such as youth, Bible and mission, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples). I
particularly enjoyed the session on mission spirituality and authentic discipleship as we
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considered what sustains and motivates us in our faith. As always at these events, the time
was short so there wasn‟t too much opportunity to get deeply into the topics but I‟m pleased
there will be more publications coming out which will explore the various themes and hopefully,
encourage people to continue in dialogue.
Final thoughts
Only time will tell if Edinburgh 2010 will have as significant an impact on Christian mission and
the world as the 1910 Conference did. I hope that it will inspire a broader group of Christian
traditions to actively seek more opportunities to share, support and strengthen one another as
they participate in God‟s mission in multiple contexts in their own ways. For me, I will take
away the snippets of conversations with new friends, the sounds of over 300 people
worshipping together to the rhythm of an African drum, and the memories of Scottish
hospitality and dancing at the celidh and a sense of renewed faith that, despite our differences
and varied contexts, we as Christians can stand together to be authentic witnesses to Christ
today.
** Megan O'Callaghan is a Lawyer by profession, currently working and residing in

London, England. She is from the Anglican Church in Aotearoa – New Zealand and Polynesia.
She serves as a commissioner of the World Council of Church Commission on World Mission and
Evangelism. She is also a member of Echos - Commission on Youth in the Ecumenical
Movement. She attended Edinburgh 2010 as an official delegate of the World Council of
Churches.
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by Anastasia Vasileiadou
Reflection: on the Centenary of Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference
We have gathered here in Edinburgh these days to celebrate the 100 years from that first
World Missionary Conference, to reflect and to pray together. To rejoice for what has been
achieved all these years with the help and power of the Holy Spirit, to repent for things we have
done when we failed to listen to the Spirit, and to ask for a renewed energy and look together
for a renewed vision of the mission of the Church.
We have heard more than once these days that we have come a long way in the last 100 years.
And it is true; from Evangelization of the whole world, to witnessing to Christ in humility.
What is to be celebrated above all is the uniqueness of this event. And I would like to
congratulate and thank the organizers, the stakeholders, the General Council, those who
contributed to the Study process in one way or another, the hosting churches and the staff, for
believing in this common celebration and working so hard for it, often against all odds. For the
first time so many different churches and traditions have come together to help make this
mission conference happen. And I see hope in that; I see an opportunity to heal the wounds of
the past and hold together the call for mission and the call for unity. Not the one in the expense
of the other. Not by softening the disagreements nor by hiding the burning issues, but by
listening carefully to each other, engaging in genuine dialogue, disagreeing and challenging
each other, but nevertheless staying together. For our witness to be a credible and authentic
one, in a world that is suffering from fragmentation, alienation and despair.
Being an Orthodox myself and coming originally from the «ecumenical» tradition (that is not a
contradiction in terms as some might think!), I found my home in mission (and neither is that!).
It was in the light of mission that the search for unity and the search for justice made sense to
me. And I cannot imagine mission but through unity and through justice. Liturgy before and
after liturgy. My understanding of church can only be a missional one. And by that I mean a
church that is not closed to herself but opens up to the world, reaches out to the world,
embraces the whole creation giving witness to the Kingdom of God.
I do not know to what extend I will feel comfortable in that enlarged constituency. I probably
won’t, but that is ok. I shouldn’t! It was when our churches felt comfortable that they failed to
listen to the Holy Spirit.
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I personally very often struggle with the notion of evangelism, with the «great commission» as
it is often understood by my evangelical brothers and sisters. I might even feel uncomfortable
with the spirituality and the mentality of the huge Pentecostal churches in Korea and in China. I
might be confused by the practice and the theology of some of the African Instituted Churches.
I am sure many of you also struggle, feel uncomfortable and confused by the theology and the
practice of the Orthodox church, if you are aware of it! I am at the same time inspired by the
zeal, the creativity, the enthusiasm and the deep and authentic faith of many of so many men
and women from all over the world and from all spectrums of Christianity.
You do not need me to say that only if we remain together, will we learn to appreciate and
understand each other better. We will be mutually accountable and will be challenged and
changed. But isn’t that part of the new understanding of mission that we are advocating?
Risking vulnerability, being humble, receiving the other instead of being powerful, self-
sufficient, triumphant and imposing our perspective to the other.
Let us make sure that for the next centenary celebrations we will all be there as one to give
praise, ask for forgiveness and seek enlightenment for the mission of the church, the mission of
God.
** Anastasia Vasileiadou is a member of the Commission on World Mission and

Evangelism of the World Council of Churches. She has studied theology and is working as a
teacher of religious education. She is a member of the Church of Greece (Eastern Orthodox).
She delivered this reflection during the Closing Plenary Session of the conference on evening of
Saturday, June 5, 2010.
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by José López Vázquez
Edinburgh 2010 and History

Edinburgh 2010 for me was a moment to reflect about the role of history in our search for new and
deep meanings of Mission. I believe that knowing our history – history in general and recent church
history in particular – is of essential importance and will help us both in understanding the current
Christian reality – our present with all its challenges – and in envisioning our possible future as Christians
in Mission.
I think, churches owe it to themselves and to the rest of society to take a close look at their past and at
what went wrong in the different mission contexts. The word “mission” still evokes a lot of negative
feelings and memories in many people and, in my opinion, churches have not paid enough attention to
this.
History as the key to understand the present. For instance, as Latin Americans, we could find better
explanations for the following questions: Why are there so many clashes between Catholics and
Evangelicals/Protestants, e.g. in Mexico? Why do Catholics and Evangelicals not see themselves as part
of one Christian family? Why wasn’t there a Latin American representative at the mission conference in
Edinburgh 1910? Why do evangelical churches in countries like mine, Mexico, almost exclusively have
relations with the more conservative U.S. American churches? These and many other realities could be
better understood.
I’m sure that all Christians in the world could benefit of reflecting on their history – everyone will have
their own set of questions according to their context. During the mission conference Edinburgh 2010
(esp. the session “Mission and Power”) participants had the important chance to share and remember
some sad experiences of abuse and harm that was done in the name of Mission, situations where local
cultures were destroyed and people were physically and psychologically injured.
Terry LeBlanc, an indigenous Canadian, presented a very interesting and moving documentary. The film
showed the story of indigenous people in Canada whose children were forcibly taken away from them
and put into “Residential Schools”. There, the indigenous children were made to give up their original
identities and adopt new traditions, a new language – English, and a new religion – Christianity. This
happened between 1850 and 1969, but it sounded to me like a story from the colonization of the
American Continent in the beginning of the XVI. century.
To some participants of the conference the story of this documentary may have seemed like an isolated
error, which could be overcome by new evangelism methods. Others, however, felt the pain of this
forced Christian mission very strongly, because of what their countries, their families experienced. These
experiences have sometimes even been passed on from one generation to the next and is still very
much present in the lives of people today.
I think, this kind of abuses relate directly to our historical and theological understanding of mission. For
the most part, mission in the past meant to bring the Christian faith to other people in the world,
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ignoring their cultures and traditions and imposing on them not only a new religion but also a Western
culture.
Of course, there are also good memories and traditions in mission that can be celebrated and
remembered while at the same time acknowledging the pain and hurt that mission sometimes has
caused. Reflecting the history of mission is important to all church members – theologians or
parishioners, adults and children, and it should be told from different contextual perspectives. Self-
criticism and humility are needed when facing history. Looking at history is not easy but in the long run it
will give the churches more credibility, transparency, accountability and the opportunity to learn from
the past.
I remember a quote by the Spanish-American thinker George Santayana who wrote: “Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The question for the churches on a global level is:
What are the errors that we are not allowed to repeat?
I think, participants of Edinburgh 2010, their churches and Christians in general are called to reply to the
questions and challenges our history sets before us. Only if we take responsibility for the consequences
of history we will be faithful to the love of God and to His Mission. If we ignore history and its effects,
Christians will be discussing the same mistakes at the next Mission Conference in 100 years.
** Jose Lopez Vazquez, from Mexico, was a delegate to Edinburgh 2010. He gave an
interview and addressed the youth transversal in one of the Parallel Sessions of Track 2 on
Theme 5: Forms of Missionary Engagement. He was a previous intern of the World Council of
Churches in 2005-2006. He currently resides in Germany and is happily married to Julia Heyde
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by Aaron T. Hollander
Regarding Point 2 of the Edinburgh 2010 Common Call (and Theme 2: Christian Mission Among Other
Faiths):
It is heartening to see the care with which the language has been chosen to describe the dialogical task
of 21st century mission, insofar as it involves a particular manner of communication between individuals
and communities of different religious faith. By emphasizing the “authenticity” of missionaries’ dialogue
with religious others, the “respectfulness” of their engagement, and the “humility” of their witness, the
Common Call successfully reflects a recurrent theme that I observed firsthand in Edinburgh 2010’s
diverse sessions: that we have reached and committed to a point in our history where we recognize
those who do not share the images and narratives of our faith as subjects rather than objects. The
understanding that the Church conducts its mission among people who have a right to represent
themselves no less than we do is, it seems clear, an indispensable hallmark of witness to Christ in the
21st century.
Therefore, I propose that we illuminate more explicitly the significance of this human reciprocity for
mission. Let our hearts be lifted by this ecumenical milestone and let us make it unambiguous in our
public relations that in 2010 and beyond we are ready to bear our witness in the context of the witness
of others. Let us be clear that we will not merely endure the testimony of those of other faiths – and no
faith – but rather that we are inspired by love to welcome their articulation of themselves and the
world, and that we will sincerely contemplate the insights they bring to our lives in relationship.
For indeed, to send missionaries to those from whom we are not willing to receive missionaries, or to
expect to touch the lives of those whose deep conviction and ways of understanding we are not willing
to genuinely hear and consider, would be to fall unacceptably short of Jesus’ teaching to love our
neighbors as ourselves and to treat them as we would ourselves be treated. It would be to conduct
insincere dialogue, hierarchical engagement, and narcissistic witness.
Throughout the conversations of Edinburgh 2010, we have repeatedly and bravely committed ourselves
to authentic dialogue, respectful engagement, and humble witness. With God’s help, all three are within
our grasp.
“Remembering Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and his resurrection for the world’s salvation, and
empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are called to authentic dialogue, respectful engagement and humble
witness among people of other faiths – and no faith – to the uniqueness of Christ. Our approach is
marked by bold confidence in the gospel message, as well as by loving enthusiasm to hear and reflect on
the committed witness that others would bring us in return. Our approach builds friendship, seeks
reconciliation and practices hospitality.”
-- Aaron T. Hollander
University of Chicago
Anglican Communion
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Edinburgh 2010: How Far Have We Come?
by Andrew R. H. Thompson
The Edinburgh 2010 World Mission Conference is a powerful example of how much mission has
changed in the hundred years since the 1910 conference. It is also a clear reminder of how little
progress we’ve made.
The changes were clear; a cursory glance around the conference revealed a far different group
from the one assembled a hundred years ago. Organizers made a sincere effort to include delegates
from groups that had been included only marginally, or not at all, in the first conference: Roman
Catholics and Orthodox, indigenous groups, participants from the global south, women, and young
people. Worship was designed to be as inclusive and creative as possible (and indeed, under the
leadership of the Iona Community’s John Bell, worship was one of the highlights of the experience).
Imbalances and abuses of power that have too often characterized missionary activities were
acknowledged and lamented. These advances all call for celebration.
Many important ideas, both new and well-established (but nonetheless urgent for that), were
raised. Among the latter, one of the most significant was the recognition that mission can no longer be
viewed as unidirectional, principally from countries in what may be called the “global North” to those in
the “global South.” Dr. Fidon Mwombeki reminded delegates, first, that much of the impact of mission
in history was due to the local communities’ graceful reception of missionaries, and, second, that, in
spite of the general failure to acknowledge it, a great deal of contemporary mission is from, within, and
among former mission fields. The distinction between “sending” and “receiving” countries can no
longer stand. One of the most urgent issues for contemporary mission is therefore for communities in
Europe and North America to recognize their own need and the very real contributions offered by
Christians from other continents. Related, and equally significant, discussions emphasized the need for
mutuality in mission, for careful attention to context and experience, and for social and environmental
justice as central concerns for mission efforts.
Some ideas were perhaps more unconventional. In his concluding reflections on the
conference, Dr. Vinoth Ramachandra delivered an impassioned call to reconceive mission not solely as
the responsibility of appointed missionaries (and much less that of academics and religious
professionals), but rather fundamentally as the work of believers everywhere whose lives testify to
Christ in the public sphere. This view of mission is multidirectional, in all times and places, and
emphasizes the role of laypeople. Thus while the intercultural encounter of international mission
remains an invaluable aspect of that engagement, we ought no longer see it as the only, or even the
paradigmatic, form of mission. The challenge of mission in the twenty-first century is the challenge of
God’s people everywhere witnessing to the world around them.
All of these developments notwithstanding, the conference was also a clear reminder that we
still have far to go if we are to overcome traditional shortcomings and prejudices. Despite the
commendable inclusion of typically marginalized perspectives, the intellectual and institutional
character of the conference meant that these voices – young people, non-whites, non-professionals and
non-academics, women, and those for whom English was not a first language – often went unheard.
21 | P a g e
Dominant voices sadly remained dominant. Attention to past – and in some cases, painfully
present – abuses was, in general, not frank enough. Early in the conference Bishop Geevarghese Mor
Coorilos urged us to be straightforward about issues of power, race, gender, injustice, and exploitation –
to “name the demons” that continue to possess our approaches to mission. Perhaps because of the
desire for unity, these demons, though not ignored, were not named clearly enough. If they are ever to
be exorcised, we must first address them honestly, however threatening it may be.
The 2010 World Mission Conference is a momentous achievement. There is much here for
Episcopalians and Anglicans to celebrate and embrace. As an opportunity to meet and engage in serious
(and even joyful) sharing with diverse Christians participating in God’s mission all over the world, it was
an incredibly enriching experience. At times, the notion of Christian unity in diversity was indeed
tangible. Yet for the conference to have real impact, and, more importantly, to be faithful to the divine
mission, it must broaden and deepen its scope. For Edinburgh 2010 truly to be counted as a success, its
insights will need to be entrusted to, challenged by, and (we may pray) accepted by God’s people
everywhere in the world.
** Andrew R. H. Thompson is a doctoral student at Yale University, and served as a missionary in

El Salvador with the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps. He lives in West Hartford, CT, and is volunteer
minister of music for Spanish worship at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hartford, where his wife, Leigh
Preston, is priest-in-charge. He attended the Edinburgh 2010 World Mission Conference as a delegate
after winning a writing competition with his essay “Communities of the Spirit: The Missiology of Roland
Allen in the Twenty-First Century.”
22 | P a g e
IV.
A Selection
of
Youth
Contributions
23 | P a g e
The Winning Essay
by Andrew R. H. Thompson
Communities of the Spirit:

The Missiology of Roland Allen in the Twenty-First Century
“I hate it,” responded one disaffected seminarian. “I hate the word ‘mission.’” The seminarians
were preparing for a trip to El Salvador, and were discussing missiology and its various
implications. All of the students were ambivalent about the idea of mission, and they reflected
on the various possible locutions to describe to others the purpose of their upcoming trip:
“service,” “volunteer,” “study,” “relationship-building.” Anything but “mission.”
These students are not alone in their uncertainty. Conversations like this occur
throughout the church, some with reactions every bit as adverse as that of the student above.
Church groups on short-term visits wonder what it means to call such a thing “mission.” A
group of young adults preparing for their departure into the field struggles with the
connotations of the term “missionary,” most opting for “volunteer,” or “community
development worker.”2 These conversations reflect an understanding of mission primarily as
an encounter between distinct cultures, usually characterized by inequality of wealth or power,
and accordingly they express discomfort with the colonialist or imperialistic connotations and
history of mission so conceived. Likewise, the choice of labels like “service” points to a
recognition that the church must attend to communities’ material needs, and a belief (justified
or not) that mission may not always include such attention. These sentiments are especially
prevalent among young leaders in the church, such as the seminarians and missionaries above,
who see mission as a relic of a less pluralist, less culturally-aware past, and yet struggle to
reconcile this perspective with the mandate to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt
28.19).
Such a narrow view of mission, as primarily one-way, from “developed” or “advanced”
societies to “developing” or “third-world” countries, with all of its attendant implications, is
inadequate to address the contemporary faith of Christians, young and old; it is also
theologically impoverished. Yet it persists in the face of decades of efforts to provide more
appropriate missiological frameworks.3 In my own tradition, leaders of the Anglican
Communion called upon the church to “rethink the whole idea of mission” in terms that reflect
2
These experiences are from my own time as a missionary in El Salvador with the Episcopal Young Adult Service
Corps.
3
David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books, 1991),
369-393.
24 | P a g e
equality, interdependence, and mutual responsibility as early as 1963. 4 Nonetheless, the
objections and ambivalence described above suggest a perception that these conceptual
changes have not always translated into notable shifts in practice. Appropriately for this
centenary, a practical missiology that meets these twenty-first century needs is found in the
writings of a missionary from the turn of the previous century, Roland Allen. Allen’s challenge
to the missionary practices of his time, with their dependence on what he called “the modern
Western spirit”, and call for greater trust in the work of the Holy Spirit in mission communities,
are as relevant to our current situation as they were a century ago.
Before turning to Allen’s methods, though, I consider one conception of mission that
addresses some of the contemporary concerns already noted. A more theologically
appropriate missiology views mission as the concrete witness of Christian communities in all
places – “the whole church bringing the whole Gospel to the whole world.”5 The ecclesiology of
John Howard Yoder presents a compelling call for just such a view, one that will subsequently
be clarified by the methods commended by Roland Allen.
I. Proclaiming the Missio Dei
Mission is the concrete witness of Christian communities in the world. Since the middle
of the twentieth century Christians have affirmed that Christian mission is always a
participation in the missio Dei, God’s saving purpose for the world. 6 The core of mission, then,
must be the faithful witness of Christians to the missio Dei, our testimony to God’s reconciling
purpose for creation that embraces and subsumes and saves all other goals and acts. Mission is
therefore central to the identity of the church itself, as the faithful community that exists as a
sign, in the world, of God’s mission. Conversely, the primary locus of Christian participation in
God’s mission is the church, or, more specifically, the faithful communities that testify to the
missio Dei; in other words, the church is central to mission. The “sending” to which the
etymology of “mission” refers is not the sending of individuals by one community to another,
but rather the sending of God’s people by God in witness into the world.
John Howard Yoder’s ecclesiology helps clarify the content of this proclamation. 7 He
describes the community’s mission as a “modeling mission,” in that, “the church is called to be
now what the world is called to be ultimately.” 8 In other words, the example of the church
testifies to God’s purpose for creation – the missio Dei. Specifically, the witnessing community
enacts values of reconciliation, peacefulness, and egalitarianism in the midst of a world that
4
Address by Rt. Rev. Stephen Bayne to Anglican Congress 1963, cited in Ian T. Douglas, “The Exigency of Times and
Occasions,” in Beyond Colonial Anglicanism, eds. Ian T. Douglas & Kwok Pui Lan (New York: Church Publishing,
2001), 28.
5
Bosch, 10.
6
Titus Presler, Horizons of Mission (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Press, 2001), 30; Bosch, Transforming Mission, 10,
370; Douglas, “Exigency,” 42.
7
John Howard Yoder, The Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press,
1984).
8
Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, 92.
25 | P a g e
undermines or rejects those values. Because the God it proclaims is other than and beyond the
world, the church’s ability to carry out this modeling mission depends on its ability to stand
against the wisdom and values of the world when necessary.9 It thereby proclaims by example
God’s desire for human life in community as revealed by Jesus, and works toward some partial
realization of that desire.
The witness of Yoder’s Christian community is theologically founded. Its first and core
commitment is to Christ’s example, most fundamentally His cross. The believers’ cross
mandated in the New Testament is our imitation of Jesus in his disavowal of worldly ways of
relating to others.10 It is our willing acceptance of rejection and suffering as potential
consequences of our testimony. Witnessing to God’s mission of reconciliation and peace
necessarily places believers apart from – yet always in mission to and in service of, never purely
against – the world to which they are sent.
Yet Yoder’s vision is also culturally apt: it acknowledges and addresses contemporary
concerns about pluralism. He argues that gaps between different cultures or beliefs are not
bridged by some universal metalanguage, but rather by our own particular witnesses
proclaimed in the language of pluralism.11 We are called to discern how to proclaim Christ’s
lordship in a way that is meaningful to a pluralist world, the same way the first Christians
discerned how to proclaim it in new and different contexts. 12 Yoder refers to this as a
“missionary ethic of incarnation.”13 God became incarnate to call us to a particular way of
participating in the missio Dei, and we can extend that invitation to all. The fact that the truth
has taken on particularity in a particular time and place is the basis for our engagement with
other ways of believing. We proclaim this truth not by seeking to be less specifically Christian,
but rather by working at every commonality and conflict to which our particularity leads us. As
we shall see, Allen’s missionary methods provide some suggestions for our discernment of the
shape of this engagement. The existence of Christian communities testifies to the fact that our
truth, like all truth, is particular, and precisely in this particularity, it can be meaningfully
communicated – universally – to other particular contexts. As Yoder says, “we report an event
that occurred in our listeners’ own world, and ask them to respond to it. What could be more
universal than that?”14
II. Roland Allen: Communities of the Spirit
Roland Allen, an Anglican missionary in China at the turn of the twentieth century,
criticizes the missionary practices of that period. His challenges invite comparison with modern
concerns and suggest methods for realizing Yoder’s notion of a particular communal witness in
9
Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, 91, cf. Bosch 386.
10
John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994), 94-97.
11
12
Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, 49-54.
13
14
26 | P a g e
a pluralist context. Allen argues that the “modern Western spirit,” suffers from a lack of trust in
the presence of the Holy Spirit in mission communities, creates utter dependence on the
missionary, and is inconsistent with the practices modeled by the most successful missionary in
the history of the faith, St. Paul, who was able to establish viable Christian communities in four
provinces of the Roman Empire in the ten years between 47 and 57 C.E. 15
Allen elaborates St. Paul’s methods, addressing his administration of the communities
(including leadership and finances), his preaching, and his use of miracles.16 First, in contrast to
the administrative methods of his modern-day successors, the key to Paul’s success is “that he
founded churches whilst we found missions.”17 That is, Allen’s contemporaries gather
dependent communities around a single missionary, usually sent and supported by an
elaborate foreign organization, who administers the sacraments and delivers the teachings of
the faith. Paul, on the other hand, incorporated the local leadership, introduced the
fundamental elements of the Gospel and Old Testament and basic sacraments, and, usually
after five or six months, left behind a viable church in the care of local elders. 18 He taught in a
context of mutual instruction, allowing “local prophets” to speak, then withdrew from the
community to enable local leadership. Of course, Paul maintained communication with the
churches through his letters. Nonetheless, according to Allen, Paul consistently emphasized the
importance of their freedom. 19 Paul’s financial practices also supported this: he did not
establish financially dependent communities. Rather, financial matters were always means to
strengthen the unity of the Body of Christ.20
Allen surveys the accounts of St. Paul’s preaching, and discerns a characteristic
recognition and understanding of the particular “condition” of his listeners as regards their
current beliefs, and a corresponding effort to address their own peculiar challenges to
accepting the Gospel. 21 Underlying this approach is a frank acknowledgment of the general
difficulty of such acceptance, as well as respect for the hearers’ understanding and confidence
in the message itself. These aspects portray a style of teaching that gave careful attention to
the specific circumstances of the communities. Finally, according to Allen, Paul’s working of
miracles and teachings on charity (such as 1 Corinthians 13.1-3) illustrate Christian concern for
“doing good,” a perspective that saw, “in every case of trouble or disease…an opportunity for
15
Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1962), 6.
16
Specifically, Allen discusses miracles (chapter 5), finance (chapter 6), preaching (chapter 7) and teaching (chapter
8). I have chosen to treat his accounts of Paul’s teaching and use of finances together (based on a common
emphasis on local autonomy) as “administration,” and to change the order.
17
Allen, Missionary Methods, 83.
18
Allen, Missionary Methods, 84-90.
19
Allen, Missionary Methods, 91. Allen cites the ambiguous example of Paul’s letter to the Galatians; problems
with this reading will be noted below.
20
Allen, Missionary Methods, 51-2.
21
Allen, Missionary Methods, 62-64ff.
27 | P a g e
the revelation of grace and loving-kindness.”22 Miracles and service manifested the Spirit and
character of the new religion.
This latter point deserves more consideration than Allen gives it. God’s desire for
creation is more comprehensive than material well-being; our participation in the missio Dei
therefore cannot be reduced to social or economic development programs. On the other hand,
neither can it ignore the concrete realities of those to whom it is addressed. Indeed, one aspect
of modern dissatisfaction with the idea of mission is based on a perception, noted above, that
missions have neglected these realities in the past. Both Jesus and St. Paul consistently
attended to the material care of those with whom they shared the Gospel, in the form of
miracles and, in Paul’s case, the collection for the poor in Jerusalem; we, as their successors,
must do so as well. Nor does it suffice simply to assert that teaching of the faith must be
accompanied by care for material well-being, as two distinct parts of the church’s mission.
There is an intrinsic relation between the two. The Gospel is the “good news to the poor” (Luke
4.18). With its message of hope and liberation, the Christian faith has concrete consequences
in the life of the community.
These concrete implications are not strictly “economic development” in the way it is sometimes
understood, with wealthier communities aiding those less fortunate (though they do not
exclude this), any more than mission is necessarily a sending from more advanced societies to
more marginal ones. They are, rather, a central aspect of the concrete discernment of the
Gospel in communities of all kinds; spiritual transformation and material change go hand in
hand. Allen recognizes this: “the activities of the Christians as individuals and as a body, the
church in the place, should be the most clear revelation of the spirit… *W+hen *people+ see a
change in the lives of their neighbours…*t+hen the people are face to face with the Holy
Ghost.”23 If Christians have at times neglected the integral nature of this connection, it is
nonetheless true that it has had real manifestations throughout the world. Christian faith has
been an integral (rather than incidental) force in efforts at education, community development,
advocacy, and revolution (two examples are considered below). Christian communities
proclaim and participate in God’s mission not simply or primarily in their words, but in their
very lives.
The missiology that I propose, then, builds on Allen’s insistence that the church follow
the example of St. Paul in focusing on the communities in which mission takes place. It is a
matter of nurturing and developing communities whose lives reveal God’s reconciling purpose,
albeit incompletely, to the world around them. To do this the church must address its Christian
formation to the actual social and material situations of communities themselves and empower
these communities to advance this formation themselves; that is, it must discern the truth of
22
23
Roland Allen, The Ministry of the Spirit: Selected Writings of Roland Allen, ed. David M. Patton (Grand Rapids, MI:
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1960), 100.
28 | P a g e
the Gospel in those specific contexts. Discernment does not relativize or undermine the
Gospel. Rather, as Yoder argues, it is precisely the particularity of the Gospel, of Christ’s
lordship, that is professed in all new contexts, spoken in the language of pluralism. And in all
contexts, appropriate humility and dependence on God’s self-communication lead us to
acknowledge that God is already present in all places and communities, waiting not to be
revealed to them, but rather in them. This realization and the attendant goal of empowering
communities themselves to witness to the Gospel in their own particular contexts together
constitute the heart of Christian mission.
Mission so understood, as the proclamation of God’s reconciling mission in the concrete
lives of communities everywhere, does not take place exclusively, or even essentially, across
national or cultural boundaries. Rather, it occurs wherever the life and ministry of the church
constitutes a genuine testimony to the kind of reconciled, loving relationships that God desires
for God’s creatures. Nonetheless, encounters across various kinds of boundaries – which are
often much closer than we imagine – can call us to understand just how radical and risky this
reconciliation is, and are therefore a necessary component of our participation in mission.
Further, they can remind us that the boundaries between the witnessing community and the
world to whom it addresses its witness may be fluid and shifting.
Our participation in God’s mission ultimately requires us to approach mission with an
attitude of faith in the power of God in the Holy Spirit. It was this faith, according to Allen, that
enabled St. Paul to entrust the formation and guidance of the early church to the communities
themselves. Such trust is risky, and a more critical reading of Paul than Allen’s suggests that the
Apostle’s example may be insufficient here. The trust and freedom that Allen finds so evident
in Paul’s dealings with the communities are firmly – and at times aggressively – circumscribed
by Paul’s insistence on the purity of the Gospel (this is perhaps most apparent in Galatians, the
very text Allen cites as exemplary of Paul’s emphasis on freedom!). Elsewhere, Allen attends to
this concern for purity as he sees it in the missionary practices of his time. 24 He believes that
such fear for proper doctrine expresses a lack of faith in the Holy Spirit, in the ability of others
to receive the Gospel, and in the doctrine itself. The truths of Christian faith, he argues, are not
primarily intellectual assertions, but are encountered in our experience. Thus the diverse
experiences of faithful communities enrich, rather than threaten, doctrine. 25
Allen urges us, therefore, to learn from the faith that grounded Paul’s ministry. He argues that
throughout his career Paul “believed in the Holy Ghost, not merely vaguely as a spiritual Power,
but as a Person indwelling his converts. He believed therefore in his converts. He could trust
them. He believed that Christ was able and willing to keep that which he had committed to
24
Roland Allen, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes Which Hinder It (London: World
Dominion Press, 1927), 57-79.
25
Allen, Spontaneous Expansion, 66-67.
29 | P a g e
Him.”26 While affirming the example of Paul’s faith for contemporary mission, I would add the
need to deepen it in the way described above, balancing concern for purity with trust in the
Spirit’s ability to express the Gospel in new and diverse ways. God is active and revealing
Godself in communities everywhere. The church is blessed with the opportunity to witness to
and participate in this missio Dei, and to commend all of its efforts to God, trusting that God
and God’s people will together bring it closer and closer to fruition.
III. Examples of Missionary Community
As a missionary of the Episcopal Church, I worked in Sitio de los Nejapa, a poor community in
rural El Salvador. It is a place of great need, and its residents have been grateful recipients of a
small number of charity and development programs. Yet when the few community leaders try
to mobilize support for their own efforts, or to encourage new leaders, they are met with
indifference. Many community members, particularly women with little formal education,
attribute this apparent indifference to, among other things, feelings of inadequacy or lack of
ability. They do not advocate on their own behalf, they say, because they are looked down on
or ignored by local officials; they cannot be leaders because they lack the skills.
In weekly Bible studies, however, these women are able to encourage one another to
value their own voices. In reflecting on passages such as Matthew 11.25 (“I thank you,
Father…because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have
revealed them to infants”) they begin to overcome their self-doubt and recognize their ability
to speak for themselves. This new self-awareness, in turn, empowers them to collaborate with
leaders of the church and community to develop other programs, such as a weekly sewing
class.27
The story of the women of Sitio de Los Nejapa is an example of discernment of the truth
of the Gospel in a specific context. The consequent changes, however slight, in the life of the
community testify to more reconciled, equal relationships. Another, perhaps more striking,
example can be seen in the well-documented, real impact of Christian base communities in
Latin America. Don Pablito, a Salvadoran in the town of Cinquera, recounts how regular Bible
studies initiated by local priests empowered community improvement: drunks stopped
drinking, men stopped beating their wives, and workers began to advocate on behalf of their
rights.28 Again, discernment of the concrete implications of the Gospel creates a powerful
witness to reconciled relations.
In both these examples, the material and social life of the community is one with its reflection
on the truths of the Gospel, and constitutes its witness to the world. Here, in Allen’s words,
“the activities of the Christians as individuals and as a body, the church in the place, *are+ the
26
27
The mission in Sitio de los Nejapa is still relatively young, too young to point to more dramatic outcomes. The
sewing class has, at the time of this writing, come to an end, and the community members are working with the
new missionary (a Salvadoran) to discern new possibilities for community engagement.
28
Interview with Don Pablito in Cinquera, El Salvador, November, 2007.
30 | P a g e
most clear revelation of the spirit.” In some cases, this witness relies on the work of
missionaries of some kind, persons whose work is to build up each community. Yet more
fundamentally, the mission involved is the witness of the communities themselves, as their
formation empowers them to proclaim to the world, through their shared life, the missio Dei.
IV. Conclusion
At its heart, Christian mission is participation in God’s loving mission for all of creation.
This participation is enacted in the lives of Christian communities everywhere, lives that bear
witness to the divine purpose. In following Christ’s example and testifying to ways of relating
other than those that dominate society, believers are set apart from the world, as Christ was, in
mission to it. This mission is integral to the identity of the church. The life of the church
witnessing to the world: this is the foundation of mission, “the whole church bringing the whole
Gospel to the whole world.”
The character of that proclamation will be determined by the practices we use to shape
our communities. Roland Allen’s methods, focusing on the formation of viable communities,
leadership from within, teaching that addresses particular, concrete contexts, and trust in the
communities themselves and the Spirit working in them, offer some initial suggestions. Mission
so understood provides a theologically compelling corrective to the impoverished conception
that still leads some Christians, especially younger ones, to question the relevance of mission or
reject it altogether. Christian mission is not intrinsically colonialist or hegemonic, but is rather
the proclamation of God’s presence in particular communities everywhere. This is good news
in a world that sorely needs it.
** Andrew R. H. Thompson is a doctoral student at Yale University, and served as a missionary in El

Salvador with the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps. He lives in West Hartford, CT, and is volunteer
minister of music for Spanish worship at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hartford, where his wife, Leigh
Preston, is priest-in-charge.
31 | P a g e
Bibliography:
Allen, Roland. Ministry of the Spirit: Selected Writings of Roland Allen. Edited by
David M. Patton. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1960.
Allen, Roland. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.
Eerdmans, 1962.
Allen, Roland. The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes Which Hinder
It. London: World Dominion Press, 1927.
Bosch, David. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.

Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books, 1991.
Douglas, Ian T. “The Exigency of Times and Occasions.” In Beyond Colonial

Anglicanism. Edited by Ian T. Douglas & Kwok Pui Lan. New York: Church
Publishing, 2001.
Presler, Titus. Horizons of Mission. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Press, 2001.
Yoder, John Howard. Politics of Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994.
Yoder, John Howard. Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel. Notre Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1984.
32 | P a g e
Book Reviews
by Aaron T. Hollander
The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910, Brian Stanley

(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), paperback, 324. ISBN: 9780802863607
Edinburgh 2010: Mission Then and Now, ed. David A. Kerr and Kenneth R.
Ross (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2009), paperback, 317. ISBN: 9781870345736
To reflect today on the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, 1910, is to approach an
event that has acquired all the mythology and ambiguity of other world-historical transitions. It is
common to conceive of the conference either as having “given birth” to Christian ecumenism in a direct
and linear way, or else as being a fork in the road of global Christianity at which the evangelical and
ecumenical communities began to diverge. But as we approach the centenary of the conference – an
event which is being approached with a similar combination of sobriety and preemptive canonization –
it is valuable to return to the source and gain a clear view of the proceedings, content, and immediate
aftermath of Edinburgh 1910.
Towards this purpose, the two texts reviewed here have been recommended as reference
material by the study process committee of Edinburgh 2010. Brian Stanley splits his work between “a
close account of the [1910] World Missionary Conference as an event in itself and…a synthetic
interpretation of the western Protestant missionary movement as it reached the apex of its size and
influence” (p. xx). The book is first a narrative of the history, and then a reflection on the ideas, of
Edinburgh 1910. David Kerr and Kenneth Ross take a different approach by bringing together diverse
modern voices to consider the eight “commissions” of the 1910 conference and their distance or
proximity to missionary concerns today.
Within the tremendous detail and methodical structure of Stanley’s text is one running theme of
particular importance. From his first chapter, he calls attention to the discrepancy between the
conveners’ expectations for Edinburgh 1910 and the legacy that modern scholars ascribe to the
conference. Part of this variance is due to the limited horizon of the conference’s time and place – but
to an equal or greater extent, Stanley argues, contemporary retrievals of Edinburgh 1910 as a great
dawn of ecumenism tend to misread the trajectory on which the conference lies. Notably, he
demonstrates that it was the inauguration of neither inter-denominational collaboration on mission, nor
of the “ecumenical movement” per se. The former can be traced back much further – an inter-
denominational mission conference, for instance, was held in 1810 at Capetown. Nor can the
ecumenical movement, in Stanley’s analysis, be said to have properly begun at Edinburgh 1910, due to
the conference’s almost unanimously evangelical Protestant orientation and studious evasion of most
theological and ecclesiological questions. Certainly now this character does not reflect the meaning of
“ecumenical,” but more strikingly, neither did it meet the criteria then! The term “ecumenical” was in
fact dropped from the original name of the conference (“The Third Ecumenical Mission Conference”)
and replaced by the term “World,” to reflect the horizon, rather than the perspective, of the assembly
(p. 19).
33 | P a g e
But where unique groundwork for the ecumenical movement was laid at Edinburgh was in the
conveners’ careful attention, before the conference even began, to the potential meltdown that could
be caused by any suggestion that Protestant missionaries were justified to evangelize in Roman Catholic
or Orthodox communities around the world. Stanley emphasizes the tension that built as it was being
deliberated whether to include the voices of Protestant missionaries in Latin America and Eastern
Europe, and he discusses at length the final decision not to do so (although some delegates represented
societies with other members in such countries – p. 303). Although the decision was largely, at the time,
a point of compromise to secure Anglo-Catholic participation in the conference, it had ramifications
beyond the subtle addition of “Non-Christian” to the conference’s original mantra: “the evangelization
of the whole [non-Christian+ world in this generation.” Throughout his text, Stanley turns a spotlight on
Edinburgh 1910’s recognition of non-Protestants as legitimately Christian, which, however tacit, was
indeed a keystone for later expansion of ecumenical relations.
There was a price to rejecting Christian proselytism in this way, one that we can see clearly in
hindsight: an ever-more-pronounced binary between “Christian” and “non-Christian” lands, which
Stanley describes as “the division of humanity into two along lines that were not strictly confessional,
but primarily geographic” (p. 72). This binary, however, bore the weight of what fragile ecumenical
consensus existed going into the conference – and while the binary of Christian and Non-Christian
territory had begun to erode within two decades of the conference (p. 305), the ecumenical groundwork
on which confessional difference could be overcome in solidarity remains essential to this day.
Brian Stanley’s text can be dry and circumambulating, but it is exhaustively researched and
annotated, making it an important reference text. The level of detail provided in every aspect of the
conference – from the tensions between American and British convening assemblies (p. 31), to the
particular timing structure of the delegates’ presentation of and responses to each commission (Chapter
Four), to the particular questions asked of each committee’s contacts in “the field” (various chapters’
appendices), straight down to the delegates’ various lunch options (p. 84!) – is well above satisfactory
for those seeking to review the proceedings chronologically and with scholarly distance from
contemporary chilliness towards the Edinburgh 1910’s more imperialistic or naïve ambitions. Indeed,
Stanley has written an excellent work of history.
However, when it comes to our full appreciation of the content of the Edinburgh 1910
commissions in the present day, such a strict historical approach has its limitations. Although Stanley is
justified in stressing the extent of the delegates’ ideological homogeneity (whose extreme fringe –
absurdly so today – was occupied by the Anglo-Catholics and the few Asian Protestants present), if the
1910 conference is to provide value as we articulate the inheritance and horizon of 21st century mission,
it will need to be addressed by more than one, historical-critical voice. We will need more polycentric,
polyglottal, multidisciplinary reflections.
And here is the value of Edinburgh 2010: Mission Then and Now, edited by David Kerr and
Kenneth Ross. In this collection of 17 essays, with introductions and commentary by the editors, each of
Edinburgh 1910’s eight commissions is addressed from perspectives that confront head on the impact
that the 1910 conference had on the theological and ecclesiological history of the subsequent century.
Kerr & Ross introduce their text in a similar way as Stanley does his: while less cautionary than
Stanley, they do remind the reader that Edinburgh 1910 was neither without precedent nor in and of
itself ecumenically significant without the reflection we bring to it (p. 4). But they too emphasize the
elements of the conference’s organization and content that were inaugural in various ways. Of particular
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import: the conference was a milestone in Protestant theology of religions – indeed, this was the only
theology examined closely by the delegates (p. 13), as a “safe” question that did not appear to have
controversial ecclesiological implications. Perhaps it is because these implications were avoided that
Visser’t Hooft essentially passes over Edinburgh 1910 in his account of the genesis of the WCC (p. 17).
But the question of whether the conference is or is not a turning point in the overall history of
ecumenism comes back to the “true sense” of the term, and who is defining it. Was Edinburgh 1910
“proto-ecumenical” or genuinely ecumenical – just in the narrowest, intra-Protestant, pre-expanded
sense? This question hits home for us in 2010 as we consider the ways in which ecumenism has pushed
its horizons outward over the last century, coming to encompass not only a far broader spectrum of
Christian witness but inter-religious solidarity on behalf of the shared “household of life” (cf. Konrad
Raiser, Ecumenism in Transition, 1989). The extent to which this expansion is legitimate and of
consequence for inter-religious relations, whether missionary or otherwise, is likely to be a concern of
Edinburgh 2010.
As noted above, the wrestling reflection on Protestant mission in Roman Catholic and Orthodox
countries was inspiration for both the stripping of “ecumenical” from the conference’s name and for the
formulation of the final version of that name: “World Missionary Conference: to Consider Missionary
Problems in Relation to the Non-Christian World” (p. 17). It is in this light that Commission One –
“Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World” – can be considered, though perhaps not in
retrospect the “most important,” certainly the “flagship” commission of the conference itself.
Commission One’s depiction of the “Non-Christian World” is at the heart of the missionary
discussion both in 1910 and 2010. In the Kerr/Ross text specifically, the two authors writing on this
commission agree that this depiction took for granted a fully evangelized home base – in other words, a
clear binary in territory, not only in identity. And both agree, unremarkably, that this classification is
obsolete. But there is some disagreement between the respondents, Andrew Walls and Kosuke Koyama,
which for me exemplifies the importance of such a plural perspective in interpreting Edinburgh 1910
and its legacy. Walls argues that the most striking rejoinder to Commission One (and indeed to
Commission Two, “The Church in the Mission Field”) is that today the binary has inverted – 2010’s
representative Christians are African, Asian, Latin American, while it is Europe that could be described as
the “non-Christian culture” (p. 37) in need of missionary attention in all its nuance. But for Koyama this
is too glib, discounting the divisions and ambiguities within civilizations that eroded the binary to begin
with. He suggests, rather, that “the concept of the Christian world is as unrealistic as that of the non-
Christian world” (p. 42). From this perspective, the missionary task is not merely to redirect the
translation of the gospel towards the idiom of Western, humanistic society – it is to consider how the
work of loving relationship between culturally and spiritually divergent people has become a relevant
issue at every point on the earth.
Most of the commissions are treated in this multi-voice manner, and the text holds interest all
the way through. There is no space here to discuss each commission in depth, but a few additional
reflections should serve to highlight issues that were both of central importance in 1910 and achieving
new resonance in 2010.
According to Kerr and Ross, Commission Four (“The Missionary Message in Relation to Non-
Christian Religions”) and Commission Eight (“Cooperation and the Promotion of Unity”) are the two that
have received the most attention from ecumenical scholars to date. Of all the commissions, Four
received the greatest number of responses from the field (over 200) and Eight had the greatest number
of speakers address it at the conference itself (over 50). Each commission, moreover, demonstrates a
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high degree of reflection from missionaries in the field and a significant level of continuing commitment
after the conference ended, and each complicates the caricatured picture of turn-of-the-century
evangelism that many today may hold. In their introduction to Commission Four, for instance, Kerr and
Ross include a number of quotes from the commission’s organizers that exemplify this complexity (pp.
122-123). Phrases such as “We are all agreed that Christianity is the final and absolute religion” (Robert
Speer) are combined with those such as “Do we not need the broadening and deepening of all our
conceptions of the living God?” (David Cairns), “Christ’s own attitude towards Judaism ought to be our
attitude to other faiths” (J. N. Farquhar), and “No one believes we have the whole Christian truth”
(Speer again!) to give a picture of genuine, if not yet wholly coherent, pilgrimage in love among other
faiths.
Vinoth Ramachandra, in his own reflections on the commission, asks us to consider that it may
have been a blessing in disguise that no conclusion was reached on this theme in 1910; perhaps, to
attempt closure today would equally risk being “inevitably reductionist” (p. 147) in the attempt to
systematize a theology of religions. The tension of missionary encounters – between the need to
communicate the truth we have inherited and the need to approach other faith traditions with humble
unknowing towards the truth that they contain and can convey – remains today at the heart of a viable
approach to missionary vocation. Ramachandra might not agree entirely with this formulation, but he
does invoke the closing words of the Commission Four Report, which I do believe to be aligned with it:
“But at least as remarkable as that spectacle of the outward advance of the Church is that which has
also been revealed to us of the inward transformations that are in process in the mind of the missionary,
the changes of perspective, the softening of wrong antagonisms, the centralising and deepening of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the growth of the spirit of love to the brethren and to the world. Once again the
Church is doing its duty, and therefore once more the ancient guiding fires begin to burn and shine.” (p.
150).
The treatment of Commission Eight in Kerr’s and Ross’s text is significant because it approaches
Edinburgh 1910’s inter-denominational cooperation not only from the single synthetic perspective of
the WCC or from the historically apt stance of Protestant evangelicals, but also through authors within
the major Christian traditions that were conspicuously absent at the conference: Orthodox, Roman
Catholic, and Pentecostal. However, the reflections of these authors tend to fall somewhat short of the
opportunity to look towards a uniquely 21st century ecumenism. In each chapter, the future of mission
resembles the best of 20th century mission – in each writer’s tradition of reference. For Ionita
(Orthodox), mission will be oriented by a renewal of high Christology (p. 268) and a balance between
liturgical richness and diaconal service (p. 270). For Radano (Catholic), visible unity, repentance, respect,
and continuity will remain at center stage (pp. 286-287). For Robeck (Penecostal), ecclesiological unity
will increasingly be recognized as not an end in itself but chiefly as a tool for the free movement of the
Spirit into all corners of the world (p. 299).
The point is not that these values are themselves problematic, nor that they do not deserve to
be voiced just because they are specific to their traditions. Indeed, viable ecumenism requires such
insights grown within tradition, in addition to synthetic theologies at the constructive crossroads. But to
the extent that the ecumenical worldview has become polycentric over the last century (p. 308), it is the
responsibility of each tradition to speak not only from its own experiential center but also to the heart of
each other tradition.
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Both in terms of inter-denominational communion and inter-religious hospitality, mission after
2010 may well be an open-ended dialectic of parts, rather than a crowding together of existing wholes.
Kerr and Ross suggest as much in their concluding chapter, and they invoke Ramachandra’s statement
that when we reach out to the other in ecumenical solidarity we must “go expecting to meet the God
who has preceded us” (p. 311). It is a sentiment that is uniquely resonant both with the pluralistic and
post-pluralistic instincts of the contemporary theological academy and with the moments of deepest
and humblest vision in the documents of Edinburgh 1910. Some of the closing words of Commission Six
– an example of these moments that inspire us equally today – are also the closing words of this
wonderfully rich and diverse anthology: “We can never understand our own Holy Scriptures until they
are interpreted to us through the language of every nation under heaven…”
** Aaron T. Hollander is a student of ecumenical theology and inter-religious relations from New
York City, beginning the PhD program in Theology at the University of Chicago in September
2010. He currently serves as lay ecumenical officer and as a chorister for St. John’s Episcopal
Church, Brooklyn.
[This book review has been published in “One in Christ” 43:2 (Winter 2010)]
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A Speech at the Scottish Parliament
by Adele Ngomedje
Date: Thursday, 3rd June 2010
Speaker: Adele Ngomedje, World Student Christian Federation Delegate
Occasion: Edinburgh 2010 Mission Conference
Location: Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh, Scotland
Presiding Officer
Chair of the General Council
Representatives of Stakeholders
Representatives of the University of Edinburgh
Distinguished guests
Delegates at the Edinburgh 2010 Mission Conference
It is a great honour and privilege for me to speak on behalf of the international delegates, you, my
friends who have travelled from far and wide to Edinburgh in order to witness to Christ today and
beyond as we celebrate the centenary of the 1910 Mission Conference and press ahead into the
missionary journey.
This is indeed a momentous time for Christian mission, ten years into the new millennium and
looking forward to what is to come next.
The Delegates who are here today at this Conference come from over 60 countries from the five
continents and represent all major Christian denominations. Here, we reflect the world gathered in
Edinburgh for this wonderful occasion. Just look around.
As proud as I am to speak to you all today, it is an even greater honour to speak to representatives
of Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Evangelical Christian bodies all under
one roof with a truly global agenda. This is what makes this conference so important because all of
the major Christian denominations are working together to witness to Christ today.
My friends and guests this collective spirit is what makes our hard work and perseverance
worthwhile as we witness to Christ today.
A century ago, the first mission conference was organised to shape the future of the missionary
movement in order to bring the Christian gospel to the whole world. Being myself from Cameroon, it
is wonderful to stand here in Edinburgh, Scotland to speak a century later at the centenary
conference.
So may I take this opportunity to thank the Presiding officer and the Scottish Parliament for
recognising the significance of this event and for welcoming us in this magnificent building.
In closing, fellow delegates, let us remind ourselves that we are friends in mission to witness to
Christ today for Jesus himself said:
I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. You did not
choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures.
And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. (John 15: 15-16).
Thank you for your attention.
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A Speech on Youth, Mission, and Power
by Jec Dan S. Borlado
Delivered at: Edinburgh2010: Witnessing to Christ Today

Track 2; Theme 4: Mission and Power (youth transversal)
On: June 4, 2010
Good Afternoon. Thank you for giving me the “power” to speak to you.
I recognize that you become vulnerable when you don’t have “the power”..
And so, for your security, I hope not to abuse it in the next five minutes or so.. 
I am an Asian.
I am a Filipino.
I am a Young Person.
As Asians, our context is that of plurality and diversity..

most of the countries in this region have a colonial past..
we are on the process of nation building, development and modernization..
we want to achieve authentic self & cultural identity in the context of a modern world ..
we are in search of a form of social order beyond the current alternatives..
Asia is home to some of the world’s living and reawakening religions that shape both
culture and consciousness..
and last but not the least, in the Asian context, the Christian community is a minority.. 29
(show first painting)

It was 489 years ago when the first fleet of Spanish ships landed on the shores of my
Motherland. And it has been said that they came holding the Cross on one hand, and a
Sword on the other.
These forceful waves relay the impacts of their coming..

Yet, the first fleet may have actually landed amidst still-calm waters..
Some 333 years later, Protestant Christianity arrived in the Philippines introduced mostly by
American Missionaries at that time. After dividing the country up into 7 parts, so as to
delineate the geographical work allotments for each church, can it be said that, this time
around, they came with Bibles and scissors?
29
Douglas Elwood quoting Emerito Nakpil, former Executive director of ATESEA, “Introduction”, What Asian
Christians Are Thinking: A Theological Source Book, ed. Douglas Elwood (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1976),
xix-xx.
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Not all people who do not look like ourselves are savages or uncivilized..
Not all people who don’t understand what we are saying are illiterate and stupid..
It doesn’t mean that in unknown worlds, there are no divinely inspired pre-existing systems
within their practice of community..
This is the “Bantayan”. Bantay in my dialect means “watcher.”

So, bantayan would mean a “watch tower”; a place to watch from.
The Filipino people (among other races) have a positive characteristic called the Bantay
System. We are our brother’s and sister’s keeper!
Theologians, is this theologically sound? You would agree?
This pre-existing reality is very similar to the Prayer on Wisdom from the traditional spiritual
teachings of the Elders of the Omuskagowuk Nation.
The point is: if only we aren’t so blinded by our sin of pride or the unhealthy passion to
always triumph and succeed; if only we have the right kind of sensitivity – mission work can
become a mutual life-transforming & mutual life-saving endeavor.
It is unfortunate that we cannot recover the past. However today, as prophets, we are to
and can address wrong systems of power such as war, neo-colonialism guised in the form of
economic domination, and moreover address demeaning and abusive inter-personal
relationship habits influenced by, but not limited to, selfish and individualistic capitalists.
40 | P a g e
(point to the flying fragments)
The constant collide through painful clashes and smashes have truly been traumatic.
Yet to be optimistic about it, our engagement or exposure to another - reveals our
weaknesses, pointing us to opportunities of growth; opportunities where new and better
things can emerge.
Our missions have been very divisive, destructive and disempowering!

If not among those we witness to, to those whom we witness with.
The very opposite of what Jesus prayed for.
(stand between the paintings)

Yet today we are here at Edinburgh.
Today, we are at our crossroads as the global church representing our own respective local
congregations.
The fullness of God’s time has come to pursue new and fundamentally better participation
in God’s Mission in the world.
And so I say, let us repent from our ways!
(open second painting)

Essential to this road towards new and better things is the young person;
the young person, being both a recipient and potential agent of The Mission.
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As a young person, I say:
through the prodding of the Holy Spirit: empower us to be reconciliatory to the divisions we
did not start!
through the prodding of the Still Small Voice: empower us to be restorative to the lives we
did not destroy!
through the prodding of the Sustainer of our Faith: empower us to re-empower others in
reflecting God’s will for the whole created world!
All for the Glory of God!
Do so by retelling, and retelling the old-old story of Christ’ love and the old stories of our
people.
Consequently, the youth will prophesy;
the young will see visions;
the old will dream again! (Acts 2:17)
Do so by equipping us with facilities to use in paving the way.

In effect, we will turn swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
(Isa 2:4)
Empower us to pursue new and fundamentally better approaches to the unchanging

Mission of God.
Affirm the notion that mission shouldn’t be a traditional project understanding;
instead affirm that it should be a project of Lifestyle – with a transformative; restorative;
reconciliatory; mutually empowering – disposition.
And by that, let us together witness to Christ today

not through politically strategized means;
but through a naturally compelling practice of a life in Christ – a light that shines in the
darkness..
So let us live a life of empowered solidarity;

a life of empowered praise;
a life of empowered faith.
Because the Consequence of an Empowered People..

- in solidarity: is The Beloved Community
- in praise is: God’s Inhabitation
- in faith: is God’s Mission Incarnated
And on that note, I now relinquish my power.

Thank you for your kind attention.
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A Creative Multimedia Contribution
by Heather Chester
Dwelling Within
Mission has always been about how someone orients him or herself in relation to the World. A
missionary focuses on how he or she relates in a space they are non-native inhabitants of, and how they
dwell among the people of that space. With this mindset kept in thought is how one must approach the
installation art piece entitled: Dwelling Within. The piece itself is a handmade Bedouin-style tent.
Walking within the tent the viewer is instantly struck with the sound of a heart beating, and is immersed
in a complex network of string all somehow lead, connecting, to an incandescent light.
The very image of a tent itself alludes to movement; the act of moving oneself into a land that is
not one's own and dwelling within the land amongst its people. This is what the original missionaries
did. Abraham left his land and his people and went to dwell in a land that the LORD would show him,
and in essence because of this movement the Nations were blessed through him. (Genesis 12:1,3). Paul,
43 | P a g e
too, left his people, his land and moved as a tent-maker amongst the gentiles, preaching the good news
to them. (Acts 18:1-3). Mission has always been about dwelling within cultural groups that the
missionary is a non-native to, and in turn allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell within one's everyday
encounters. The tent is representative of where mission originated, highlighting the past in order that
the evolution of mission might become more evident.
The inside of the tent speaks to the evolution of mission. The living space of the tent has been
transformed into a place of intricate webs, a room of networking, partnerships and connections. Mission
has undergone a world-wide transformation, with the introduction of technology, partnerships and
networking is made possible and accessible. Instead of mission organizations working independently and
unaware of each other,
networking is possible for
believers around the
world to unite in order to
spread the gospel more
effectively. Missionaries
are able to share what
God is doing in amongst
the nations to their
supporters more speedily
as well as send urgent
prayer requests to
intercessors across the
world.
A secondary
meaning can be read
from the image of the
tent. Not only is
networking made more
possible with the
introduction of
technology but going
back to the idea of
44 | P a g e
movement. Unreached People Groups are migrating, moving around the world to reached nations and
dwelling within our very own neighborhoods, dwelling with us. In order to reach Unreached Peoples we
don’t always have to migrate to different continents, or different nations. In some cases all we have to
do is use the information available from technological advances, find pockets of unreached people living
near us and migrate down the street in order to develop relationships with them.
A final meaning that can be read into Dwelling Within is found within the use of the light and the
heart beating inside of the tent. All the string, the “networks,” are somehow connected to the light,
picking up on the rays of the light, highlighting the rays of light. Perhaps the light could be symbolic of
the light that shines in the darkness that the darkness could not comprehend. Perhaps the light could be
symbolic how we, are the light of the world, a city on the hill that cannot be hid. It is because of the
light, and the revelation of that light, that we are able to connect and shine unto all the nations. It is only
in the rhythm of the heartbeat that we are able to live and move and have our being. It is only by
Dwelling Within this light, or letting this light dwell within us that Christ made be made known unto the
nations.
The answer to how Dwelling Within can be used in the mission field is found within the bodily
experience of indwelling this tent. The tent is an invitation asking the viewer to become a "tent-
dweller," the tent is asking the viewer to engage in the network. In fact, once the viewer enters the tent
they cannot help but become part of the network. This bodily experience not only points Christians to
the ideas of dwelling within the nations and becoming part of the modern mission movement, but also
can serve as an invitation for non-Christians to become a tent-dweller. I pray that this invitation to enter
the network, to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, would impact people from all nations. It is my hope that
this project would serve as a visual reminder of Christ embodied to the nations.
Heather Chester
Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today
Youth Multimedia Contest Winner
45 | P a g e
V.
Liturgical
Resources
46 | P a g e
Worship Resources
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(words in bold said by all together)
Come and see what we have seen:

the lame dance for joy,
the blind see wonders,
the deaf hear music,
the voiceless given dignity and worth.

the powerful are humbled,
the prisoners are freed,
women heard and honoured,
children grow in safety and love.

the fearful find courage,
the broken-hearted find healing,
the addicted embrace freedom,
the indifferent find passion,
the superstitious find truth that is real.

long-standing hatreds overcome,
sacrifices made across borders,
care and respect for the earth,
hope springing forth,
a new creation emerging,
God’s praise rising from all nations.
Come and see - See what God has done.
47 | P a g e
Worship Resources
Prayer of Confession
[A musical setting of Kyrie eleison, such as CH4 no. 776, should be used]
The leader says

Because God is merciful,
and because there is nothing we should hide from God,
let us express to our Maker regret which comes from our hearts.
Forgive us, gracious God, if - as your people –
we have tried to make heaven in the image of our church,
rather than making our churches resemble heaven.
And forgive us if we have looked with suspicion on churches not of our tradition,
and especially if we have been unwilling to share the gifts
which your Holy Spirit brought to birth in other cultures.
Kyrie eleison
Forgive us, gracious God,

if we have called ourselves „ the Body of Christ‟
but have refused to share the pain which others bear,
and have been jealous of the happiness others share.
Christe eleison
Forgive us, gracious God,

our abuse of power, personal and institutional,
if at any time we have approached with disrespect
the cultures and customs of those we are among,
and sought to impose our own interpretations of the truth and love of Christ.
Kyrie eleison
Now, where penitence is real,

let your forgiveness, O Christ, be truly felt.
Say to us all, as you said to your first followers,
Your sins are forgiven.
Go in peace.
Come and follow me.
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Worship Resources
Prayer of Intercession
Leader:
Let us pray
We give thanks to God for the unique beauty
God has created in our motherlands:
their landscapes, their plant life,
their animal life and people.
Encourage, O God, a deep love

for the lands from which we come.
Preserve their water, air and soil;
keep their economies clean,
their trade fair, their politics healthy.
We give thanks to God

for the Churches to which we belong,
their centuries of worship and witness,
their service to those in need,
the potential in every member.
Keep them nourished, good Lord,

through your word and sacraments;
show them what to leave behind
and what to anticipate in hope,
so that they may attract others to Christ.
We give thanks to God

for calling us to be his ambassadors,
so that the Gospel may be shared
and shown throughout the world,
Let it take root in our time
as strongly as in the time of the apostles.
49 | P a g e
Give us discerning minds, O Christ,
so that we know when to speak,
what to say,
and when to be silent and trust your Spirit.
Give us courage to challenge beliefs and customs
which make people slaves,
and to proclaim the love which liberates and reconciles.
We thank you, eternal God,

for the World Missionary Conference of 1910,
and the good things which began there.
And we thank you for this moment, one hundred years later,
when, by your Spirit and with those around us,
we can prepare for the ever new future to which you call us.
Keep our eyes, our ears,

our hearts and our minds open,
for we do not know when your Holy Spirit
will confront us with a new thing.
May we all find new friends here,
and catch visions of your Kingdom
we have not glimpsed before.
And may those who speak find words to fire the faith
and shape the discipleship of all who listen,
so that we may become better witnesses to Christ today.
50 | P a g e
The Stations of the Cross of Globalization
Paintings and Meditations by Luiz Coelho
Foreword
Often, when Christians gather to discuss mission, certain common themes seem
to emerge in the conversations: the call for us to become engaged with the
work of bringing more souls to Christ's family, the call to preach the Gospel to all
peoples, and the call to go and serve those in need, by sponsoring church
planting, medical and educational facilities are just a few of those common
themes. In recent decades, we have heard the Holy Spirit calling us to include in
our Mission endeavors works which protect and care for all God's creation.
This call has led us to promote policies that focus on sustaining the Environment
and grant basic living conditions to all.
As we prayerfully continue listening to God and to one another, many other

faces of Mission begin to emerge. One of them, which is often daunting to put in
practice, is the call to transform the unjust structures of our society. This call is a
challenge partly because many well-meaning and faithful Christians lack
knowledge and access to information concerning the widespread web of
injustice around them. These “Stations of the Cross” emerge as a series of
conceptual works that focus on current issues on globalization and world trade;
they are meant to both inform and provoke prayerful action for justice.
Today, those who earn a reasonable salary have access to more goods than
their ancestors could have ever imagined. However, within the production
networks which grant this easy access to goods, there are often many cases of
human exploitation. Have you ever noticed that many products you find in
stores and on supermarket shelves are not made in your country? Have you ever
pondered why sometimes they can be so cheap to the point they will
eventually be sold in sales at enormous price cuts? Have you ever thought
about the impact that ubiquitous, cheap, imported products have on local
businesses? Have you ever wondered why most products – from food items to
electronics – now have their production controlled by only a handful of
companies, which act through a complex network of distributors, contractors
and factories spread throughout a global nexus?
On the other end of the line of production, there is often considerable

exploitation happening. Crowded factories force workers to labor long hours per
day. Farms employ young children, who never get to complete even the most
basic education. Workers who protest are threatened and fired. Modern forms
of slavery persist. All of these abuses, and many others, are documented by
51 | P a g e
trustworthy sources, but rarely surface to the mass media. Still, people are being
oppressed every single day in precarious labor environments. Their life
expectancy is low. They do not have time for their family. They lack basic rights.
Their life is miserable.
It is our firm belief that Christians, regardless of their church affiliation, must work
to transform the unjust structures of our society. This is not mere political speech.
It is Our Lord's will. We learn through Scripture that Jesus fed the hungry, healed
the sick and came to bring abundant life to all. As Christians, we are supposed
to be salt and light in a sinful world. But how can we rejoice with Our Lord's
Resurrection and proclaim His Good News if we let other human beings –
created in the image and likeness of God – suffer, and worse, suffer in order to
bring us comfort? We ought to see Jesus' face in the oppressed, and this
includes those who are directly oppressed by our consumerism and irresponsible
shopping.
This series of pieces is not intended to completely replace traditional formulas of

the Stations of the Cross. Those have their own liturgical and theological
implications, and point to the suffering of our Lord and his sacrifice in atonement
for our salvation. It is presented, nonetheless, as a Lenten meditation for those
who, like us, feel that it is integral to the Mission of the Church that we fight
against human exploitation in the production and trade system.
Luiz Coelho
Additional Notes
This liturgy may be used for private prayer. However, for communal prayer, the
Officiant should read the Readings for each station, and the people will join the
Officiant in saying or singing the Trisagion (Holy God...).
All paintings are 16” x 20” oil and acrylic on canvas.
A list of sources used while doing research for this booklet can be found at the
end of it. Special thanks to the Rev. Fr. Robert J. Laws III, SCP, OPC, for his
valuable support in revising and updating these texts.
** A full copy of the text of “The Stations of the Cross of Globalization: A

liturgical resource for Christian communities engaged in God's reconciling
mission throughout the world” is attached with this email. Or you may find it
at www.luizcoelho.com
52 | P a g e
VI.
Online
Links &
Resources
53 | P a g e
Online Links & Resources
a. Edinburgh 2010: Youth Perspectives - this book, consisting of a

series of essays, provides a look into the various perspectives of
youth from around the world, as they engage in the future
challenges facing the Church today and the opportunities for the
future. The authors of these essays provide new and refreshing
approaches to Christian witness within the 21st Century.
Edited by Kirk Sandvig
William Carey International University Press 2010 / ISBN
978-0-86585-0125
A free downloadable version can be found at:
http://www.edinburgh2010.org/en/resources/books.html
b. Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today – was the primary

resource book for all the Edinburgh2010 delegates. Discussions
in the conference were encouraged to spring board off of these
reports of the 9 study theme processes.
Edited by Daryl Balia and Kristeen Kim
Regnum Books International 2010 / ISBN 9781870345774
A free downloadable version can be found at:
http://www.edinburgh2010.org/en/resources/books.html
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c. Edinburgh2010: Witnessing to Christ Today – a Facebook
Group – is the official Facebook Group of the Edinburgh
2010 conference. With almost 1450 members, this facebook
group was the venue for online discussion on the 9 study themes
leading up to the conference and is a source of information for
upcoming events happening all around the world related to the
centenary celebration of the 1910 World Mission Conference. The
purpose of the Facebook page was to accommodate more youth
interaction on the conference via the internet.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86413318386
d. Twitter: Edinburgh2010 – this is the official twitter page of

Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today. The “tweets” were
being “tweeted” by accompanying Young Adult Stewards. They
were listening to profound phrases utter by the plenary speakers
or by the delegates during the parallel sessions.
http://twitter.com/edinburgh2010
e. Generation 2010: a Post Edinburgh2010 Facebook Group –

“Many of us met at Edinburgh 2010, and many more will come
together in a culture of sacred mission that crosses boundaries,
heals afflictions, and speaks new possibilities into being.” This
Facebook group is a fruit of the conference coming from the new
friendships that were forged during the conference among the
“younger” delegates, stewards, and staff.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=135372346473
889&v=photos&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=135372346473889
&ref=ts
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f. WCC Mission and Unity: Edinburgh 2010 – inside the World

Council of Churches‟ website (www.oikoumene.org); under
Program 2: Unity, Mission, Evangelism, and Spirituality;
Edinburgh2010 is found under the program project of Mission and
Unity. There you can access WCC news written on
Edinburgh2010 and other related articles on the subject matter.
http://www.oikoumene.org/programmes/unity-mission-
evangelism-and-spirituality/mission-and-unity/towards-
2010.html
g. WCC Echos – Commission on Youth and the Ecumenical

Movement – consists of 25 young people from a broad cross-
section of churches and youth organizations within the
ecumenical movement. It was set up as an "active think tank" to
provide the WCC and ecumenical youth networks with new ideas
on how young people can engage in ecumenical work. The Echos
commission met with the Commission on World Mission and
Evangelism in Bangalore, India in an attempt to facilitate quality
youth involvement in the Centenary Celebration. Echos was
involved in naming Young Missiologists who could get involved in
the Edinburgh2010 study process. Two Echos members were
delegates to the conference.
http://www.oikoumene.org/programmes/the-wcc-and-
the-ecumenical-movement-in-the-21st-century/youth-in-
the-ecumenical-movement/echos-youth-commission.html
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h. Luiz Coelho - is an Engineer, Visual Artist, and Ordained from

the Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His multidisciplinary
work focuses mostly on the intersections between Sacred Art,
Liturgy, Mission and Technology. He is the author of “The
Stations of the Cross of Globalization”. His other works can be
found in his website:
http://www.luizcoelho.com/en/home.html
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VII.
Youth
Delegates
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A List of Delegates below 30 years of Age
# Name Organisation Gender
Denomination Nationality
1 Rev. Irene Ayallo Anglican F Anglican Kenyan
Communion
2 Ms Caitlin Beck Anglican F Anglican Church of Canadian
Communion Canada
3 Mr Jec Dan Borlado World Council of M Convention Baptist Filipino
Churches
4 Mrs Gwen Bryde Lutheran - Study F Lutheran German
Process
5 Miss Heather Multi-media Contest F Missionic Church USA
Chester
6 Mr Luiz Coelho Episcopal Anglican M Anglican Brazilian
Church of Brazil
7 Ms Elizabeth Duffy Diocesan Centre F Roman Catholic British
8 Miss Taryn Knibbs Youth With A F Presbyterian/Free SouthAfrican/
Mission Church British
9 Fr Vineeth Koshy National Council of M Malankara Orthodox Indian
Churches in India Syrian Church
10 Miss Karyn Lasei Council for World F Congregational Union New Zealander
Mission of New Zealand
11 Mgr Urszula Marek Center for Missions F Silesian Evangelical Polish
and Evangelism Church of the
Augsburg Confession
in Czech Republic
12 Mr Iain McLarty The Church of M Church of Scotland Scottish
Scotland
13 Ms Adele World Student F Evangelical Church of Cameroonian
Ngomedje Christian Federation Cameroon
14 Lic. Nicolas Iglesias World M Iglesia Evangelica del Uruguay
Schneider Lutheran Federation Rio de la Plata (IERP)
15 Ms Megan World Council of F Anglican Church of European New
O'Callaghan Churches Aotearoa, New Zealander
Zealand and Polynesia
16 Ms Alejandra Ortiz Latin American F Methodist Mexican
Theological
Fraternity
17 Mr Andrew Youth Essay Contest M Episcopal USA
Thompson
18 Mr Burkhard Lutheran World M Pomeranian German
Wagner Federation Protestant Church
(PPC)
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VIII.
From the
Youth
Coordinator
60 | P a g e
WCC Feature Article
by Kirk Sandvig
Youth Voices on Mission were heard at Edinburgh 2010

It has often been said that youth are the future of the Church. While this may be true, it is important to
realize that while youth will eventually become the Church of tomorrow, they are also intricately
involved in the formation and development of the Church of today. In the time leading up to the June
conference, Edinburgh 2010 has worked hard to increasingly incorporate the inspirational perspectives
and ideas of young people within the Church.
There have been quite a few events that have occurred during the build-up to the centenary
celebrations in June, particularly as they pertain to youth. Various groups and committees have been
gathering to discuss the various conference study themes in preparation for the conference. During
these meetings, ideas were shared about the complex issues facing Christian witness within the twenty-
first century, and how transversal themes, such as Youth and Mission, should be addressed during the
Edinburgh 2010 conference.
Edinburgh 2010 Youth were host to an Online Consultation through the Edinburgh 2010 Facebook
group. The consultation took place from September to November 2009, and addressed each of the nine
study themes of the conference. This consultation was open to people of all ages and backgrounds for
the purposes of allowing Christians from all over the world the ability to share and discuss mission
related topics.
In an effort to increase youth participation and foster creative thinking within the Edinburgh 2010
process, a youth writing contest was established in order to provide youth an opportunity to share their
thoughts on the issues of Christian witness. Youth, ages 18-30, were encouraged to write a 3000-word
essay, engaging in one of the nine study themes of the Edinburgh 2010 conference. We were fortunate
to receive essays from youth spanning around the world, including: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya,
Rwanda, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK.
The essay contest was evaluated by a panel of top theologians and missiologists with varying age,
gender, theological, and geographical backgrounds. The panel was charged with finding the essay which
clearly and precisely engages in one of the nine Edinburgh 2010 Study Themes through new and
innovative ways. In Andrew Thompson's essay, entitled 'Communities of the Spirit: Missiology of Roland
Allen in the Twenty-First Century', the panel found what they were looking for.
Andrew received a sponsored invitation to the Edinburgh 2010 conference and celebrations in June.
The top 10 papers from the writing contest were published in the form of a book entitled Edinburgh
2010: Youth Perspectives.
In light of the centenary celebration of Edinburgh 1910, a Youth Multimedia Contest was established in
order to challenge youth (ages 18-30) to think creatively about “The Changing Face of Mission” through
the submission of projects which incorporate diverse forms of media, incorporating but not limited to:
61 | P a g e
video, photography, music, painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. Similar to the writing contest, the
multimedia contest was also evaluated by a panel of theologians who specialize in incorporating media
and theology. The purpose of this group was to find the project which best illustrated 'The Changing
Face of Mission' in thoughtful and meaningful ways. Through the use of a handmade Bedouin-style tent,
Heather Chester's project demonstrates how the introduction of technology has transformed Christian
mission from tent-makers, spreading the gospel throughout the world, to a network of churches and
organizations around the planet, working together through the utilization of the internet.
Heather received a sponsored invitation to the Edinburgh conference, where she presented her
installation art peace, entitled ‘Dwelling Within’, during one of the three evening sessions, and
showcased her project throughout the conference.
Throughout the conference, young delegates contributed to the break out sessions through
presentations and discussions relating to the many issues facing Christian witness in the various contexts
of today's world. Everyone had their own perspective and opinions that were shared and listened to by
other delegates. It was clear that there is no such thing as a 'youth voice', but many voices, and each
were considered thoughtfully during the discussions.
In addition to this, Edinburgh 2010 had YouTube videos, as well as facebook and twitter updates
throughout the conference, where people from all over the world could be aware of the events taking
place in Edinburgh and share their comments. This was done so that those who were unable to attend
the conference in Edinburgh could also experience and contribute to the discussions and topics raised
throughout the conference.
** Kirk C. Sandvig is a Ph.D. student at the University of Edinburgh, New College,

Centre for the Study of World Christianity. Since the beginning of 2009, he has served as the
Edinburgh 2010 Youth and Mission Coordinator, encouraging youth from around the world to
increasingly participate in the Edinburgh 2010 process.
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IX.
Pictures
63 | P a g e
Pictures
courtesy of Gary Doak & Jec Dan Borlado
Sights in Edinburgh
above: looking up to
Arthur’s Seat
below: Arthur’s seat
above: a walk down Holyrood Park

inset: St. Leonard’s Hall
at Pollock Halls
below: Bagpipe player in

a kilt
above: the Royal Mile in typical Scottish weather
64 | P a g e
Pictures
The Youth in Edinburgh
below: The Anglican

Youth Delegation
above standing: (left-right) Andrew Thompson, Heather Chester, Adele Ngomedje, Fofo Lerefolo – WCC
intern, Alejandra Ortiz, Iain McLarty, Kwok Keung Chan, Jose Lopez Vazquez.
above sitting: (left - right) Caitlin Beck, Vicentia Kgabe, Irene Ayallo, Luiz Coelho, Nicolas Iglesias Schneider.
left standing: (left – right)

Jose Lopez Vazquez,
Megan O’Callaghan,
Irene Ayallo,
Andrew Thompson,
Alejandra Ortiz,
Iain McLarty,
Miriam Haar,
Aaron Hollander,
Heather Chester,
Julia Heyde
left sitting: (left – right)

Luiz Coelho,
Jec Dan Borlado,
Vicentia Kgabe,
Caitlin Beck,
Mark Taylor
65 | P a g e
Pictures
Significant Voices
right:
Bishop
Geevarghese
Mor Coorilos
(moderator –
Commission
on World
Mission and
Evangelism)
inset:
Olav Fykse
Tveit
(General
Secretary of
the World
Council of
Churches)
above: Adele
Ngomedje
addressing the
Scottish
Parliament
left: Anastasia Vasileiadou (member, General Council

Edinburgh 2010) giving her conference reflection
above: Michael Wallace (member, General Council Edinburgh
2010) from the World Student Christian Federation
66 | P a g e
Pictures
Expressions
below: Gwen Bryde from Germany
above: Luiz Coelho from Brazil
left: Heather Chester from USA
right: Jec Dan Borlado

from the Philippines
67 | P a g e
Pictures
Facets of the Conference

below: at the closing plenary
below: Dr. Sarojini Nadar

in conversation with
fellow delegates.
above: pebbles brought from all over the world and laid down during the Opening Ceremony.
inset: a buzz group during one of the Parallel sessions in Track 3.
68 | P a g e
Pictures
The Ceilidh - is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic
folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland and Scotland, but is now common throughout
the Irish and Scottish diaspora. Before discos and nightclubs, there were céilidhs in most town
and village halls on Friday or Saturday nights; they are still common today.
69 | P a g e
Pictures
The Closing Celebration at the Church of Scotland Assembly Halls
above & right: inside the Church of

Scotland General Assembly Halls on the
Mound, the historical venue of the 1910
World Missionary Conference
left: sending off the

delegates with their
red and white
umbrellas and pebbles
from Iona.
70 | P a g e
X.
Acknowledgements
71 | P a g e
Acknowledgements
by Jec Dan Borlado
At the onset, I would like to express that this report is a personal initiative to echo the
Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today experience to those who were not there.
Initially intended as a report for the World Council of Churches Echos – commission on
Youth in the Ecumenical Movement, I recognize that this piece of work might have
valuable significance to wider communities and contexts.
It is my hope that this material will be useful to those who wish to share and impart the
Spirit of God’s Mission experienced for a short time being by those who were there at
Edinburgh, Scotland from June 2 – 6, 2010.
I concede that there are limitations to this compendium of insights, resources, and
information that will not suffice to offer a comprehensive picture of the total Edinburgh
2010 experience.
I express my thanks to all those who have contributed to the making this material.
To those who gave their insights on the conference:

Megan, Anastasia, Jose, Aaron, and Andrew.
To those who contributed in the road leading to and during the conference:
Andrew for the essay, Aaron for the book reviews, Adele for the Scottish Parliament
speech, Heather for the creative artwork, and Luiz for the creative liturgy on the
Stations of the Cross of Globalization.
A big thanks goes to Kirk Sandvig for being our Youth Coordinator and for forwarding
to me much of the content.
To stewards and staff: Kirsteen, Mark, Fiona, Miriam, Aaron, Fofo and Jasmin.
Great job!
To all who were there in at Pollock Halls: we celebrated, we repented, and we learned;
we were transformed, renewed, and inspired. As we journey on, may we respond to the
challenge by living a new sense of hope and assurance that we are God’s Mission and
that we are active participants in the demonstration of our encounters of God’s Mission
from our contexts, to our generation.
And to the Primary Mover, Radical Example, and Gracious Sustainer of The Mission – all
glory be Yours!
Jec Dan S. Borlado

July 2010
72 | P a g e

Edinburgh 2010: A Century of Christian Witness

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One hundred years ago in this city,

Now in a different age,

Edinburgh 2010 Study Process

 Rather than being centred in Edinburgh, a polycentric

 Whereas 1910 was confined to mainline

 Instead of being confined to the North Atlantic, there

Intended Outcomes of Edinburgh 2010

 The biblical call to mission will be affirmed and

 Guidelines will be developed and studies published to

 Networks will be mobilized and alliances formed so as

 Based on a critical assessment of the status of the

 Centenary celebrations of witnessing to Christ today

Former members of the Edinburgh 2010

As we gather for the centenary of the World Missionary Conference of Edinburgh

4. Disturbed by the asymmetries and imbalances of power that divide and

6. Recognising the need to shape a new generation of leaders with authenticity

9. Remembering Jesus‟ way of witness and service, we believe we are called by

Reflections on Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today

** Megan O'Callaghan is a Lawyer by profession, currently working and residing in

Reflection: on the Centenary of Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference

** Anastasia Vasileiadou is a member of the Commission on World Mission and

Edinburgh 2010 and History

** Andrew R. H. Thompson is a doctoral student at Yale University, and served as a missionary in

Communities of the Spirit:

** Andrew R. H. Thompson is a doctoral student at Yale University, and served as a missionary in El

Bosch, David. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.

Douglas, Ian T. “The Exigency of Times and Occasions.” In Beyond Colonial

Presler, Titus. Horizons of Mission. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Press, 2001.

The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910, Brian Stanley

Thank you for your attention.

Delivered at: Edinburgh2010: Witnessing to Christ Today

As Asians, our context is that of plurality and diversity..

(show first painting)

These forceful waves relay the impacts of their coming..

This is the “Bantayan”. Bantay in my dialect means “watcher.”

Our missions have been very divisive, destructive and disempowering!

(stand between the paintings)

(open second painting)

Do so by equipping us with facilities to use in paving the way.

Empower us to pursue new and fundamentally better approaches to the unchanging

And by that, let us together witness to Christ today

So let us live a life of empowered solidarity;

Because the Consequence of an Empowered People..

And on that note, I now relinquish my power.

Come and see what we have seen:

Come and see what we have seen:

Come and see what we have seen:

Come and see what we have seen:

Come and see - See what God has done.

The leader says

Forgive us, gracious God,

Forgive us, gracious God,

Now, where penitence is real,

Encourage, O God, a deep love

We give thanks to God

Keep them nourished, good Lord,

We give thanks to God

We thank you, eternal God,

Keep our eyes, our ears,

As we prayerfully continue listening to God and to one another, many other

On the other end of the line of production, there is often considerable