World Mission and Evangelism Conference Recommended for 2011

A global conference on Christian mission has been proposed for late 2011 by the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The commission, newly elected and reconstituted following the WCC's February 2006 assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, includes delegates from member churches of the Council as well as from the Roman Catholic Church and several other Christian bodies not in full membership of the WCC. The recommendation for a 2011 conference was made on 26 April at the close of a commission meeting in Geneva, and it will go to the WCC central committee for action.

A Wealth of Activities

The next world conference on mission and evangelism will continue a series of representative gatherings that began with the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910, leading to the WCC's most recent world mission conference near Athens in 2005. Many historians of Christianity consider the decision at Edinburgh to form a Continuation Committee (which eventually led to the formation of the International Missionary Council) as the starting-point of the modern ecumenical movement.

Discussions concerning the date for a conference acknowledged a spate of upcoming events, some of which will celebrate the centenary of "Edinburgh 1910". Leaders and staff of the WCC's Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) are engaged with many other Christian bodies and churches in study and planning for festivities, educational opportunities, work and worship that will mark the 100th anniversary in Edinburgh, Scotland, 12-15 June 2010.

According to Nayiri Baljian, an Armenian Orthodox representative of CWME in the "Towards Edinburgh 2010" General Council, a mission conference in late 2011 would avoid diverting energy and attention from the celebrations and also allow time "so that we can digest what we learn in 2010 and apply it to the ecumenical agenda going forward."

Rose Dowsett, a CWME member representing the World Evangelical Alliance, suggests that participants could report back on activities scheduled in 2010 by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation, the Boston Theological Institute, Pentecostal partners in mission and other contributors to the commemoration.

The CWME took note that the WCC will mark the end of its programmatic Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) with an international ecumenical peace convocation in the spring of 2011, and a mission conference could pursue related topics. They also looked forward to the Tenth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, that most likely will be held in 2013 at a site yet to be determined. A world conference in late 2011 would allow the CWME to offer the WCC assembly a future-oriented agenda for ecumenical mission and evangelism.

Despite the churches' crowded calendars, there was little doubt that the CWME will sponsor a conference early in the next decade. The commission has a mandate to convene such a gathering between WCC assemblies; in addition, the Porto Alegre assembly of 2006 stressed the essential nature of mission and evangelism in the continuing quest for church unity.

Mission and Evangelism within the WCC

As the Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, a Methodist pastor from Kenya and general secretary of the WCC, reminded the CWME at its April meeting: "We have been commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to go out and proclaim the gospel to everybody."

He also reported on the beginning of a dialogue between the WCC and the Vatican that aims to help establish an inter-religious "code of conduct" for Christian witness and conversions in a pluralistic world.

The WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism was created through a 1961 merger between the International Missionary Council (established following Edinburgh 1910) and the WCC. The 50th anniversary of the CWME will occur in 2011, another reason for holding a mission conference in that year.

Not all observers of the ecumenical movement have been convinced that the cause of Christian mission has been best served by the merger of 1961. A reorganization of WCC programmes in 2007 recognises the centrality of mission and evangelism to the life and goals of the World Council of Churches. This concern has been closely linked to the quest for Christian unity in the Faith and Order Commission, to common prayer and to the WCC's historic emphasis on the inclusive nature of Christian community, and together these key matters now are being addressed through the programme on "Unity, Mission, Evangelism and Spirituality". Jacques Matthey, a Swiss Reformed pastor with a strong background in missiology, brings a wealth of ecumenical experience to his new role as director of this programme.

The CWME chose as their moderator Bishop Geevarghese Mor Coorilos from India, and as their vice-moderator Dr Kirsteen Kim from the UK. The commission emphasised the importance of new work on evangelism, expressed eagerness to collaborate in the inter-religious process leading towards a code of conduct on conversions, to cooperate with the Faith and Order Commission on questions of mission and unity and in particular on the study document, The Nature and Mission of the Church, and to continue ecumenical work on health and healing consistent with the 2005 Athens mission conference's deliberations on the theme "Come, Holy Spirit - Heal and Reconcile: Called in Christ to be reconciling and healing communities". Members of the commission will remain in contact until their next meeting, slated for 2008 in Bangalore, India.