World Mission Conference

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The term World Mission Conference (officially: Conference for World Mission and Evangelism ) describes the major ecumenical conferences that have been taking place since the beginning of the 20th century and deal with the content and development of Christian mission. They are organized today by the World Mission and Evangelism Commission of the World Council of Churches .

First World Mission Conference in Edinburgh in 1910

The first world missions conference, held in Edinburgh , Scotland in 1910 , is considered the starting point of the modern ecumenical movement , although the vast majority of the 1200 delegates from Protestant churches and mission societies came from the Anglo-American region. Europeans were in the minority, neither the Roman Catholic nor the Orthodox churches had been invited. The conference emphasized the concept of proclaiming the gospel to the " Gentiles " and spreading the values of " Western civilization ".

A continuation committee followed up the questions raised by the conference and prepared the establishment of an International Mission Council .

International Mission Council Conferences (1921–1961)

The next conference in Jerusalem in 1928 had to deal with this triumphalistic attitude. The First World War , triggered by “Christian” countries, had called into question the ideal of “Western civilization” as the embodiment of the Gospel. The October Revolution of 1917 turned the Western dream of evangelizing the whole world "in one generation" into an illusion .

The third conference took place in 1938 - before the outbreak of World War II and in the midst of growing fascism in many of the so-called Christian countries - in Tambaram not far from Madras , India. There the foundations were laid for the dialogue with other religions , but at the same time the “ultimate truth ” of Christianity was defended.

The fourth conference in Whitby , Canada , in 1947 , was on a small scale. She dealt with fundamental changes in the world after the shock of World War II. Whitby became known for its motto "partnership in obedience ". The delegates gave up the terms “Christian” and “non-Christian” countries and thus opened up completely new avenues for mission theology . They also stressed the importance of good relations with the World Council of Churches , which was inaugurated in 1948.

The fifth world missions conference in Willingen , Germany, in 1952 , was faced with a revolutionary world. China , traditional mission area, expelled all missionaries from the country. The conference recognized that the political events in the world had an impact on mission and began to understand Christian mission as a mission from God ( Missio Dei ).

In 1958 in Accra , Ghana, the unification of the World Mission Conference and the WCC was decided, but it was not until the 3rd assembly of the WCC in New Delhi in 1961 that the “integration of church and mission” was accomplished. At that time the Orthodox churches had joined the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church sent observers.

WCC World Mission and Evangelization Division conferences (1961–2000)

The first WCC world missions conference was held in Mexico City in 1963 under the theme "Missions in Six Continents" . It was a time when secularization and non-religious expressions of Christian belief and action, especially in the West, were viewed positively.

At the Seventh World Missions Conference in Bangkok , Thailand, 1972/1973 , the terms “ context ” and “ culture ” came to the fore, and the delegates dealt intensely with exploitation and injustice in relations between the Third and First World and between the churches apart. The African churches proposed a temporary “ moratorium ” on the transfer of money and the sending of missionaries from the north to the south.

The eighth World Mission Conference in Melbourne , Australia, in 1980 , under the influence of Latin American liberation theology , emphasized the role of the poor and the oppressed in God's mission and highlighted the radical aspects of the gospel. The conference emphasized the church as a healing community and illuminated the use of power in politics, church and mission.

The ninth world missions conference in 1989 in San Antonio , USA, was known for the consensus it reached regarding the relations between Christianity and other religions : “We can testify to no other way of salvation than Jesus Christ; at the same time we cannot set any limits to God's saving action. "

The tenth World Mission Conference in 1996 in Salvador da Bahía , Brazil, was dedicated to the relationship between gospel and culture. The rich diversity of cultures was placed at the center as a gift from God and it was emphasized that the affirmation of one's own cultural identity in the mission must be combined with openness to other identities. In light of the growing proselytism (mission in the sphere of influence of other churches) that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe , Salvador reiterated the rejection of proselytism by the WCC and the need for cooperation in mission.

Conference of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (since 2000)

The first World Missions Conference of the 21st Century, in Athens , Greece in 2005 , was also the first to be held in a country with an Orthodox majority ( Greek Orthodox Church ). With almost a quarter of the 500 participants from Evangelical , Pentecostal and Roman Catholic traditions, it deliberately went beyond membership of the inviting World Council of Churches. The last conference took place under the title "Moving in the Spirit - Called to transforming Discipleship" from March 8th to 13th, 2018 in Arusha / Tanzania.

literature

  • To J. van der Bent, Dietrich Werner: Ecumenical Conferences . In: Nicholas Lossky et al. (Ed.): Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement . 2nd ed., WCC Publications, Geneva 2002. pp. 359-373.
  • Hans-Werner Gensichen : Mission Conferences . In: Hanfried Krüger (Ed.): Ökumene-Lexikon. Churches, religions, movements . Otto Lembeck / Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-87476-200-9 (Lembeck) and ISBN 3-7820-0488-4 (Knecht), Sp. 820-825.
  • Wolfgang Günther: Mission Conferences. Protestant area . In: Wolfgang Thönissen (Hrsg.): Lexicon of ecumenism and denominational studies . Herder, Freiburg 2007, Col. 882f.
  • William Richey Hogg: Article World Mission Conferences . In: Stephen Neill, Niels-Peter Moritzen, Ernst Schrupp (Hrsg.): Lexikon zur Weltmission . Theological Verlag R. Brockhaus, Wuppertal / Verlag der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Mission, Erlangen 1975, ISBN 3-7974-0054-3 (Brockhaus) and ISBN 3-87214-052-3 (Evangelical Lutheran Mission), pp. 588-593 .
  • Philip A. Potter , Jacques Mathieu: Mission . In: Nicholas Lossky et al. (Ed.): Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement . 2nd ed., WCC Publications, Geneva 2002, pp. 783-790.
  • Thomas Stransky: International Missionary Council . In: Nicholas Lossky et al. (Ed.): Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement . 2nd ed., WCC Publications, Geneva 2002, pp. 595-598.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Potter / Matthey 2002, p. 793
  2. ↑ van der Bent / Werner 2002, p. 359
  3. ↑ http://www.oikoumene.org/de/wer-sind-wir/organisation-struktur/beratende-gremien/weltmission-evangelisation/geschichte.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was created automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.oikoumene.org  
  4. ^ Karl Müller , Theo Sundermeier , Steven B. Bevans, Richard H. Bliese (eds.): Dictionary of mission. Theology, history, perspectives . Orbis Books, Maryknoll 1997, p. 409.
  5. ^ EMW - Evangelical Mission in Germany. Retrieved August 23, 2020 .