IAMS meeting - Understanding the Integrity of Mission Today

The International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS) meeting, which was entitled "The Integrity of Mission in the Light of the Gospel-Bearing the witness of the Spirit,", ended last week in Port Dickson, Malaysia.

The gathering brought together more than 200 people from 44 countries and a wide range of church traditions.

Since it coincided partially with the World Council of Churches'(WCC) Faith and Order plenary commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur, some participants attended both meetings.

The main two speakers of the meeting, Rev. Dr Hwa Yung and Professor Dr Pablo Suess brought an in-depth personal and theological encounter of how to understand mission in today's society.

Rev.Yung of Trinity Theological College in Singapore, identified Asian mission factors. He spoke of accepting "signs and wonders" in regards to healing and exorcism, and he pointed out that westerners seem to have ceased to be aware of supernatural powers.

Professor Suess, the outgoing IAMS president and a Brazilian Catholic, focused on what the Holy Spirit was saying to today's Christians as they encountered the spirit side by side with the oppressed, the excluded and the marginalised. He said, "It is because of the universality of victims that our mission is universal. Mission follows the suffering servant of God into the most remote areas of the world."

Other addresses were made by theologians from Africa, Latin America and Europe. Dr Philomena Mwaura, a university teacher at Kenyatta University, Nairobi suggested to enhance the integrity of mission in the light of the gospel. She spoke of the church as a mediator of peace, healing and reconciliation, providing visionary leadership and discipling the nations, and stressed the need for courageous, empowered and effective leadership committed to evangelisation and ecumenism.

The conference was followed by a two day visit to a Buddhist temple and a Catholic centre to meet groups of migrant workers from nearby Asian countries.