One inescapable feature of the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the world in 2020 is that it has shown how inter-connected and inter-dependent is the human community. It was soon apparent that the spread of the coronavirus was a global crisis calling for a global response. Yet the human community had to meet the pandemic after a period of systematic weakening of agencies of international cooperation as populist and nationalist political movements gained control of nation after nation. This put the (...) issue of internationalism, the belief that the nations of the world should work for greater mutual understanding and cooperation, high on the agenda. The focus of this article is on the role of faith, particularly the missionary dimension of Christianity, in relation to internationalism. It explores what recent thinking about Christian mission might have to contribute to the recovery of internationalism in the crisis of the 2020s. (shrink)

Though it began with an assumption that there was one universal and normative Christian theology, the modern missionary movement has resulted in the emergence of polycentric theology. As each new centre thinks through the meaning of the faith in contextual terms, it offers a distinctive theology – to the extent that it becomes a question whether any universal theological affirmation can be possible. Meanwhile the theory and practice of mission has been no less radically reshaped by a polycentric vision, with (...) the concept of “mission from the margins” capturing the imagination. A profound openness to others and, ultimately, the deep spiritual discernment that is sensitive to the presence and action of the Spirit of God in our world, is the essential equipment needed for leadership in mission today. (shrink)

In this brief article, essential content from mission statements by three different church groupings is compared and contrasted. Lausanne’s Cape Town Commitment is brought together with the WCC’s Together Towards Life and the Vatican’s Evangelii Gaudium. This article identifies considerable convergences between the three agendas and sees these as grounds not only for general optimism for the future of mission, but also for meaningful dialogue and appropriate strategies for the work.

Though a small and relatively obscure country, Scotland enjoyed a certain prominence in the modern Western missionary movement. Explanation of this may be attempted by an examination of some principal characteristics of Scottish engagement in worldwide mission during the 19th and 20th centuries. These include social vision, ecclesial commitment, intellectual quality, extensive engagement, an inclination to the long view, and a balance struck between national identity and global outlook. As new movements of mission find their shape and direction, the Scottish (...) experience worldwide across two centuries may have some value as a point of reference. (shrink)

The origins of the Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Series can be traced to a lecture given in Edinburgh by John Pobee of Ghana in 2000. Pobee highlighted the importance of the upcoming centenary of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference. This prompted a series of annual conferences in Scotland that yielded the material for Volume 1 of the Series. It also resulted in the international meeting that identified the themes on which the Edinburgh 2010 study process, conference and publications would be (...) concentrated. A distinctive unifying thread in a diverse series of studies of Christian mission is the pneumatogical turn in Missio Dei thinking that is evident in this literature. (shrink)