Redcliffe consultation to strengthen links with Asian mission movements

Mission agencies and church leaders working in Asia or with Asians will gather in June for a two-day consultation on how they can strengthen existing partnerships with Asian mission movements.

The consultation, entitled Asian Mission Movements: Competition or Collaboration?, is being hosted by Redcliffe College in partnership with CMS, OMF International, South Asian Concern and Faith2Share.

Dr Kang-San Tan, Head of Mission Studies at Redcliffe College, said: “Despite the rapid growth of Asian mission movements, many Western mission agencies persist with outmoded mission structures.

“Others are beginning to seek new models for partnership with these newer movements.

“For the second year, the Asian Mission Consultation seeks to provide a forum for exchanging ideas on best practices and creative models of partnership with Asian mission movements.”

The consultation will include addresses from Dr Julie Ma, President of the Asian Pentecostal Society, Mark Laing, a former teacher of missiology at Pune Theological Seminary in India, and the Rev Dr Warren R Beattie, OMF International’s Director for Mission Research.

Dr Beattie said it was important for churches and agencies to partner in mission in the present global climate.

“If we are to facilitate the way in which mission is carried out then there is a necessity to partner with others so that ‘organisational knowledge’ and skills as well as experiences of Christian life and spirituality can be shared with others,” he said.

“Different groups will profit in different ways from these partnerships but the challenge remains to interact and learn with others.”

The Asian Consultation will be held at Redcliffe College, Gloucester from 5pm on Wednesday 10 June until 4pm on Thursday 11 June 2009.

On the web: www.redcliffe.org/events