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People involved in the five year process leading to the ecumenical recommendations “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World”, whom I want to thank

On the 28th of June, 2011, the ecumenical code “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World – Recommendations for Conduct” was launched in Geneva as reported in my blog twice (here and here).

At the launch, my introduction to the purpose and history of the recommendations had to be short, as I was the first of fours speakers. Thus the following details had to be skiped, also not to give the impression, that the recommendations were bound to much to specific people. But now half a year later, I would like to offer my personal thank you.

Hans Ucko from Sweden with a PhD from India, programme director of WCC’s Office on „Interreligious Relations and Dialogue“ (IRRD, later „Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation“, I stay with IRRD) for nearly 20 years from 1989-2008, brought the idea up in one of the yearly staff meetings between PCID and IRRD. This is why I took the liberty to invite him to the launch of the recommendations in Geneva. (see photo 1: talking to Ucko in Toulouse)

I also wanted to invite Mgr. Dr Felix Machado for the launch, then Undersecretary of the PCID, who traveled to Geneva quite a lot, but he lives a bit far from Geneva. Since 2008 he is back in his native country India, since 2009 as the Archbishop of Vasai.

2006 I was invited by the WCC as an expert to a small meeting in Geneva (see photo 2:). It was there when Hans Ucko – with the consent of Felix Machado – invited WEA on behalf of WCC to become part of the process.

The consultation „Towards an ethical approach to conversion: Christian witness in a multi-religious world“, which was prepared by a small group meeting in Geneva, January [11-12,] 2007, took place as a larger meeting of all branches of Christianity in Toulouse, France, August [8-12,] 2007 with 45 participants. (see photo 3)

The leadership of Hans (Ucko) and Felix (Machado) in Toulouse 2007 is unforgettable! Beside achieving our business, many partcipants became friends across all theological lines. Eg the Catholic archbishop of Nepal became one of my best friends here – I just visted his cathedral recently, which was bombed by Hindu fundamentalists with three young people dying.

After Toulouse, a draft committee of the three bodies involved started to work on the text of the recommendations, following the topics listed in Toulouse. The text was revised again and again in discussion with the leadership and taking in reactions from church leaders from all over the world who got to see the text. Finally the text was taken to a third consultation in Bangkok under the title “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for a Code of Conduct “, January [25-29,] 2011, with 45 high ranking representatives of the three bodies plus church leaders and experts, which had the sole task to discuss and revise the text of the recommendations. After Bangkok, only very minor changes were agreed upon between PCID, WCC and WEA.

The project has stayed on course, while the President of PCID changed as well as the General Secretary of WCC. The responsibility for interreligious dialogue within WCC changed even twice. The majority of the staff on the side of PCID and IRRD changed within the five years. (This is why it came by chance, that at the launch I by chance happened to be the longest one working on the script committee.) This proves that the project was not just a project bound to certain people and their private interest, but was a joint need of the whole Christian community and a result of official cooperation of the largest Christian bodies.

Let me mention some further peoples and names, who were important during the process, even though surely not complete.

I mentioned Hans Ucko and Archbishop Felix Machado already.

Pentecostal Bishop Tony Richie from the USA, representing the Pentecostal voice in the process, is the only person to my knowledge, who visited all three major consultations in Lariano, Toulouse and Bangkok, plus one of the smaller meetings.

The process started under His Emminence Michael Cardinal Fitzgerald and His Eminence Paul Joseph Jean Cardinal Poupard as presidents of PCID. We thank them for their gracious blessings and leadership in the beginning. His Eminence Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, from France, became president of PCID in autumn 2007 and without him backing the process and its result on behalf of the largest church in the world, we would not have achieved anything.

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata from Italy, has ‚outlived’ them all, being the Secretary of PCID since 2002 and thus bringing a lot of stability to the process. He played a major role in the final Bangkok meeting as one of the two chairs.

Later, Andrew Vissanu Thanyaanan from Thailand followed Felix Machado as Undersecretary of PCID. The experts from PCID were a great team: Ms. Khaled B. Akasheh from Jordan and Ms. Denis Chidi Isizoh from Nigeria.

Early 2008, Dr Shanta Premawardhana from Sri Lanka followed Hans Ucko as director of IRRD of WCC. He has been instrumental to ensure that the process would go on even after a major change of staff both in PCID and IRRD. A little earlier in 2007, Ms Rima Barsoum from Syria, became programme executive for Christian-Muslim relations till 2011, and she has been a constant major reminder to us all to view the code with the eyes of adherents of other religions. I am glad, that she attended the launch even so she no longer worked for WCC.

Hans Ucko got Rev Jacques Matthey, programme director of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) of WCC, involved from the beginning, as was Ms Yvette Milosevic in organising the adminstrational side.

In 2009, John Baxter Brown from the UK became consultant for evangelism of the WCC. One of his major tasks was to further the process for a code. He acted as a great bridge builder combining love for mission and love for ecumenical cooperation.

Late in 2010, Dr Shanta Premawardhana left for a new position in the USA and was not immediately replaced. Dr Mathews George, Director of the International Affairs and Public Witness kara from India, had to take over responsibility despite his already full calender of travels etc. In the midst of an incredible work load he guided the last month of the preparation of the text and organised the launch.

On WEA’s side we would have to mention especially Dr Richard Howell from India, General Secretary of the Asian Evangelical Alliance, and Godgrey Yogjahara from Sri Lanka, Executive Director of the Religious Liberty Commission.

From our WEA-side John Langlois from Guernsey, chair of the Religious Liberty Commission and member of the International Committee, and Dr Richard Howell, general secretary of the asian Evangelical Alliance joined me in Toulouse. John’s longstanding experience as a lawyer and a politian, to formulate short and concise texts, was vital to the whole project. In 2010, Dr Rosalee Velosso Ewell from Brazil, joined our team. All participants will not forget her superb ability to write minutes of the discussions and to harmonize proposed formulations.

Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe from Canada, secretary general of the WEA, encouraged and backed the process from beginning to the end and was always willing to deal with critics personally. He used his many connections towards a good end.

The new general secretary of WCC, Dr Olav Fykse Tveit from Norway, was involved in formulating a similar interreligious code in Norway before he took office. He thus backed the finalising of the process and text out of deep conviction and has to be thanked for arranging a fine and successful launch in the hall of WCC.

But beyond all these thanks to finite humans, we thank our Creator and Saviour, the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Whom we worship, and whose Holy Spirit has led us to formulate what it means to witness his message of salvation in a spirit of trust, peace and dignity. May He give us the strength to live out what we state and help to admonish wisely those amongst us who still might use unethical means in preaching the gospel.

“An intra-Christian ethical code for missions:
An introduction”

The following article by a Catholic and a Protestant author was published in German as an introduction to the printed German version of the ecumenical code “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World – Recommendations for Conduct” in the journal “Materialdienst” by the Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen (Protestant Central Office for World View Qutesions) of the Protestant Church in Germany. Translated by Dr. Richard McClary [Materialdienst vol. 74 (2011), issue 8, pp. 293-295 (text of the code pp. 295-299)].

Christian Troll SJ, Thomas Schirrmacher

Since 2006 the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the departments within the World Council of Churches and World Evangelical Alliance responsible for the relationship to other religions have worked on an ethical code for missions. Christian Troll SJ and Thomas Schirrmacher participated in the latest consultations in Bangkok, which have led to the recently published results entitled “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World – Recommendations for Conduct.” The ethical code is accessible on the internet on the website of the World Council of Churches (www.oikoumene.org).

The question of ethics in missions has in recent years increasingly been asked in intra-Christian dialogue[1] as well as in relationships between religions.[2] However, a political question has also been asked, and that is the extent to which the human right of religious freedom,[3] including the right to public self-expression on the part of religions and the right to religious conversion, may and must be limited by other human rights.[4]

The first consultation in Lariano, Italy in 2006 was interreligious. There, representatives of Christian denominations listened to adherents of different religions. In the end there was a joint avowal of religious freedom as well as an intra-Christian operational program.

When the second consultation occurred in Toulouse, France in 2007, it involved an intra-Christian assembly. The goal was to find a joint direction as well as to establish a problem catalog and a questionnaire. Questions relating to family, school, education, social and medical care, the economy, politics, legislation, and violence were discussed. In the end there was a rough outline for the impending document.[5] A list was made of which means were to be qualified as unethical with respect to missions and were thus to be rejected. Included among them were the use of violence, threats, drugs, or brainwashing, but likewise also providing material advantages or the use of police or the army to propagate a religion. From a Christian point of view, such an ethical code for missions should more precisely label forms of abuse of religious freedom and at the same time not least offer assistance to politians and governments.

A small group of about nine staff members of the Holy See, the World Council of Churches, and the World Evangelical Alliance met regularly in Genf, Bossey, and Rome from 2006 to 2011. As a result, they progressively formulated a recommended text, which in 2010 was sent to various church leaders, member churches, and commissions. Innumerable suggestions were evaluated and incorporated. The entire process was organized by three bodies, first The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), to which delegation archbishops and other church leaders from Asia and Africa belonged, second the Office on Interreligious Relations and Dialogue of the World Council of Churches (IRRD), whose delegation also included representatives of oriental, orthodox, and Pentecostal churches in addition to evangelical church leaders. For the World Evangelical Alliance, the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) and the Theological Commission were active. Through the inclusion of numerous church leaders from all continents, quick results were not able to be expected.

For the purpose of the third intra-Christian consultation, experts and high ranking church leaders met January 25 – 28, 2011 in Bangkok for the sole purpose of working intensively on the final text. After the Bangkok meeting only minor details in the text were worked out an amended by the highest committees of the three respective bodies through mutual agreement.

All denominations which unequivocally speak out for and advocate religious liberty are interested that within Christianity there are joint discussions about the limits of religious freedom as well as about unethical methods of missions work. In the meantime everyone is aware of the fact that with respect to the questions named there are problems in all confessions and thus in this respect a self-critical intra-Christian dialogue is called for.

Christian witness essentially includes presenting one’s own faith unfeigned to another. However, this is always to be done in a peaceful way and with deep respect for the dignity of other individuals. People who possibly want to become Christians should do this out of conviction and not in a calculating manner. They should have the opportunity to consider their decision and to make it freely and in utter trust in God. All forms of Christian witness and evangelization which do not correspond to these criteria and injure human dignity and human rights in one way or another are to be resolutely rejected as contradicting the good news of Christianity.

The code of conduct at hand does not have a canonical character. Situations in different countries and cultures are in fact so different that short, succinct statements can often not do them justice. For that reason, general guidelines have been formulated for the code.

[Deleted for reasons of space: The code of conduct at hand is in any event an unambiguous indication of the fact that the vast majority of the global Christian community clearly distances itself from every form of missions work that seeks to coerce or manipulate with psychological, financial, or physical might and power. Missions work is only justifiable within the framework of correctly understood religious freedom. It is based on the conviction that it is part of the basic dignity of an individual to be able to decide freely and concretely after careful consideration for a faith or world view one holds to be true and views to be compulsory for oneself. Daily we see people on television who use force or unfair means to spread their religion or at least attempt to do so.]

In its history, Christianity has in multiple cases employed dishonest means and has to be on guard against any relapse into former and abnormal attitudes and behavioral patterns. We thus view it as an extremely welcomed and long overdue sign that Christians now jointly and officially declare, as in the code at hand, that such methods are immoral and unchristian and thus contradict and distort the true sense of mission. Furthermore, they publicly obligate themselves to follow the principles named in the code as well as to allow their actions to be measured by them.

Paul calls upon believers in 1 Peter 3:15-17 to answer everyone’s questions and to clearly defend one’s own “hope,” also towards those who wish us evil. However, they should do this with “gentleness and respect.” People who do not hold to their convictions are not partners for dialog to be taken seriously, but there is a world of difference between peaceful and respectful propagation and a forcible spreading of one’s own conviction which does not respect the dignity of others. Christian witness is not an ethics-free space; it requires an ethical foundation which is biblically based, so that we truly do who what Christ has assigned us to do.

Umbrella organizations have been founded by the Catholic Church, the National Council of Churches, and the National Evangelical Alliance in India and Malaysia. These organizations face the state with a single voice, especially when it comes to questions relating to missions work and laws against conversion formulated to oppose them. Ostracized and discriminated against via unjust laws, Christian confessions do not work against each other but rather with and for each other.

In recent decades there have been developments in all denominations which have made this affiliation possible in the first place. On the Catholic side this began with the Declaration on Religious Freedom at the Second Vatican Council. It awards state power sole concern for the secular public welfare and once and for all rejects the idea of a ‘Catholic state’ as being contradictory to religious freedom. This also includes the dismantling of prior enemy stereotypes and controversial topics between the World Council of Churches and Evangelicals – thanks to an evangelical missiology which has become self-critical and an enhanced status awarded thought relating to missions over against political topics found in ecumenism. In the process, Churches in the south have been leading the way in building a bridge between the camps.

Let us hope that this code of conduct on missions is accompanied by regularly occurring consultations based on the model of the intra-Christian consultation in Bangkok which took place from January 25-28, 2011. In such consultations, Christian denominations should jointly scrutinize their particular conduct in missions work in a self-critical manner. On all sides, what is called for is self-critical, honest, interreligious dialog on questions of current, concrete behavior exhibited by religious groups towards each other.

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[1] See Elmer Thiessen, The Ethics of Evangelism. A Philosophical Defence of Proselytizing and Persuasion, Paternoster / Exeter 2011; Pope Benedikt XVI. in his encyclica Spe salvi, 2007.

[2] All codes on mission existing worldwide, secular, religious or Christian, are discussed and compared in Matthew K. Richards / Are L. Svendsen / Rainer Bless, Codes of Conduct for Religious Persuasion. The Legal Practice and Best Practices, in: International Journal for Religious Freedom (Cape Town) 3 (2010) 2, 65-104.

[3] Cf. die international academic consultation at the State University of Bamberg: Marianne Heimbach-Steins / Heiner Bielefeldt (Hg.), Religionen und Religionsfreiheit. Menschenrechtliche Perspektiven im Spannungsfeld von Mission und Konversion, Würzburg 2010.

[4] See the Oslo Declaration signed by all religions in Norway plus experts from the academic field: Oslo Declaration, Missionary Activities and Human Rights: Recommended Ground Rules for Missionary Activities, www.oslocoalition.org/mhr.php (5.7.2011).

[5] The programme is spelled out in the opening plenary in Toulouse: Thomas Schirrmacher, „But with gentleness and respect“. Why missions should be ruled by ethics, short version: in: Current Dialogue (World Council of Churches) 50 (Februar 2008), 55-66, long version under www.worldevangelicals.org/news/article.htm?id=1372 (5.7.2011), German version: „Mit Sanftmut und Ehrerbietung“. Warum die Mission von der Ethik bestimmt sein muss, in: Klaus W. Müller (Hg.), Menschenrechte – Freiheit – Mission, edition afem – missions reports 18, Nürnberg 2010, 97-119.

Download “An intra-Christian ethical code for missions: An introduction” as PDF

A new Page of History is Written

“Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct” published

(Bonner Querschnitte no. 172 – 18/2011, June 29, 2011) “Today represents an historic moment in our shared Christian witness,” claimed Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. For the first time in history the World Council of Churches, representatives of the Vatican, and the World Evangelical Alliance have issued a joint document.

“Mission belongs to the very being of the church.” These words stand at the beginning of the document that was delivered in a public ceremony celebrated at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva yesterday. Representatives of the above named church organizations worked more than five years in a series of larger and smaller conferences to come up with a document stating what it means to bear testimony to and pass on the Christian faith in the multi-religious world of the 21^st century. The result is a document reflecting classical foundations for Christian witness and followed by principles and recommendations.

Cardinal Tauran called upon those present with the following words: “We Christians have the duty to proclaim our faith without any compromise . . . We are not teachers giving lessons about God. We are messengers of salvation brought to us by Christ’s death and resurrection, who is still living today.”

Geoff Tunicliffe, the Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), pointed out that all four major concerns which the WEA have defended since its founding in 1846 play a leading role in the document presented. These main concerns are: 1. Christian Unity, 2. Human Rights, 3. World evangelism, and 4. Religious freedom. The Secretary General of the WEA spoke of a “powerful document,” not least of all due to the fact that through the representatives of the various organizations 90% of the world’s Christians are represented. Mission is at the “heart of the Gospel,” and without mission the church is dead. Christian witness should not only take place through words; rather, it should likewise take place through deeds.

Thomas Schirrmacher, who coordinated the efforts for the World Evangelical Alliance, made it clear that the document presented is in no way a compromise. Over the years there have been very skeptical voices from assorted directions which held a document with any substantial content regarding the topics of freedom of religion and mission as impossible to compose. In the end there are now distinct recommendations which, on the one hand, clearly bear witness to Jesus’ mandate to his church. On the other hand, there are also limits highlighted with respect to mission tied to the biblical message and religious freedom and human rights are seen as the other side of th coin of mission.

In this connection the text points out in its first foundational point that that it is not only a joy to give an account to others about one’s own hope, but that rather this has to happen with “gentleness and respect” (with reference to 1 Peter 3:15). In the final point of the foundations it is reinforced that while Christians have the responsibility to bear witness to Jesus, “conversion is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit.” According to Schirrmacher, this theologically excludes any thought about the possibility of a forced conversion. This places limits on Christian mission, not, for example, for political reasons but rather due to the fact that it is biblical.

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata said in the subsequent press conference that the document is built upon two pillars: the first is Jesus’ mandate to make the Gospel known, and the second is the dignity every person has by virtue of the creation.

Various representatives of the WEA expressed their delight in Geneva with respect to the contents of the recommendations and to the fact that these recommendations had been brought about at all. In comments made to Bonner Querschnitte, Prof. Thomas K. Johnson of the WEA’s International Institute for Religious Freedom said, “The recommendations before us for a code of conduct contain the major themes which, for example, have been discussed and recommended in the International Journal of Religious Freedom.”

Links:

• Code of Conduct (English [pdf])
• Code of Conduct in the German translation (doc)
• Comments by Geoff Tunicliffe in Geneva (pdf)
• Comments by Thomas Schirrmacher at a preconference in Toulouse (English [pdf] and German [pdf])
• http://www.worldevangelicals.org/news/article.htm?id=3578&cat=main
• http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/christians-reach-broad-co.html
• http://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/gesellschaft.html?&news[action]=detail&news[id]=4163

World Evangelical Alliance welcomes Ground Rules on Missions by Oslo Coalition

Here a press release by WEA:

World Evangelical Alliance welcomes Ground Rules on Missions by Oslo Coalition
The International Institute for Religious Freedom and the World Evangelical Alliance would like to publicly welcome the Oslo Coalition for the Freedom of Religion or Belief into the international dialogue.

The International Institute for Religious Freedom and the World Evangelical Alliance would like to publicly welcome the Oslo Coalition for the Freedom of Religion or Belief into the international dialogue. Their Oslo Declaration, Missionary Activities and Human Rights: Recommended Ground Rules for Missionary Activities, should help stimulate and develop this important global discussion. Developed by Norwegian university institutes in cooperation with representatives of churches and non- Christian religions in Norway, it seeks to clarify those things about which the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches, and the World Evangelical Alliance are attempting to develop agreement within the Christian tradition. Reactions from some of our scholars:

The IIRF Director, Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher (Bonn), who participated in the expert discussions in Oslo in preparation for the Oslo Declaration, especially welcomed the fact that the Declaration recognizes peaceful mission efforts as an essential part of religious freedom and thereby as a basic human right, while also affirming the other rights of the people being served by missionaries.

The Co-Director of IIRF, Dr. Christof Sauer (Cape Town), announced that he plans to publish the Oslo text in the next edition of The International Journal for Religious Freedom in order to promote academic discussion of the Declaration. “This Declaration,” claims Sauer, “offers a wide opportunity for Christians to establish ethical boundaries for their own mission efforts, in light of the whole range of temptations and failures of the past and present, as well as against the many partly unjustified objections from outside of the Christian faith.”

Rev. Dr. Paul C. Murdoch (Tübingen) noted, “As Chairman of the Board of IIRF, I am grateful for every contribution to the dialogue and discussion about mission and religious liberty. I welcome the sincere efforts of the Oslo Coalition to establish ethical guidelines and rules of fair play in the realm of missionary activity. It is my sincere hope that these ‘ground rules’ might further the cause and the implementation of religious liberty worldwide.”

Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Johnson (Prague), of the Academic Council of the IIRF, was deeply impressed by the precise and balanced formulations of the Oslo Declaration. “We should welcome the Oslo Declaration as a truly thoughtful contribution to the international discussion relating human rights with the world’s various religions. Representatives of all traditions should take it into account. It addresses the mystery of our humanness: tremendous reflected dignity mixed with the tragedy of our fallen condition that requires us to protect each other from each other. It should become our global goal that each person may freely consider which answer to the deepest questions of existence is most persuasive, without undue pressure or manipulation. If such a goal is achieved in even a tiny way, faith will be more authentic and society more humane.”

Prof. Dr. Dr. John Warwick Montgomery (Strasbourg), the distinguished human rights theorist and religious freedom lawyer, honorary chair of the academic board of IIRF, expects good results from the declaration: “A statement relating human rights to missionary activity is long overdue. Now this has been achieved–to the benefit of both believers and those who will learn of the faith from them.”

The text of the Oslo Declaration is available as a free download at www.oslocoalition.org/mhr.php and at www.iirf.eu, where one can also find valuable background material. A quality printed version can be ordered from Oslo Coalition, POBox 6706, St. Olavs plass, No-0130 Oslo, Norway. More information about religious freedom, human rights, and the ethics of missions can be found at the website of the International Institute for Religious Freedom, www.iirf.eu.

Tokyo 2010

2000 missionary leaders from 140 countries – primarily representing the largest Protestant missionary societies – met for a four-day world missions conference entitled “Tokyo 2010 – Global Mission Consultation” in Japan in commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the first world missions conference in Edinburgh in 1910. At the same time, the conference was a direct continuation of the 1980 international conference, which under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ralph Winter I helped organize while still a student. Winter had worked to also organize this most recent conference, but he did not live to experience it [see blog entry at: http://www.thomasschirrmacher.net/blog/ralph-winter-1924-2009-–-rest-in-peace/].

For the first time, the participants clearly reflected the fact that missionary societies from the southern hemisphere have overtaken the traditional sending nations of the west. Missionaries from western countries were in the minority, with the result that the program was determined by Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans. In the following, please find my opening words from May 13, 2010.

Links:

• www.tokyo2010.org
• www.christianpost.com/article/20100513/tokyo-missions-conference-draws-2000-leaders/
• www.christianpost.com/article/20100516/mission-leaders-repent-for-national-sins-seek-reconciliation/

To the delegates of Tokyo 2010 – Global Mission Consultation

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

It is a privilege to be together with you. I see you all as a living picture of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in the last 100 years since 1910! In spite of world wars, colonialism, poverty and financial crises, and in spite of secular megapowers like communism or Hitler’s racism, the church of Jesus Christ and world mission have become global as never before. Not, that we do not have a task left, but never before has the approaching fulfillment of the task of world mission been so visible.

You all probably have read the written greeting by Dr Sang-Bok David Kim, the Chairman of the International Council of the World Evangelical Alliance. I bring you personal greetings from Geoff Tunnicliffe, the International Director of WEA, as well as greetings from our Mission Commission (of course several of its members are here anyway), its Religious Liberty Commission and its International Institute for Religious Freedom (as persecution is a pressing reality in world mission today), and its Theological Commission, which I am privileged to chair. As the WEA, we know that a large part of our constituency of approximately 420 million is the fruit of your efforts, the missionaries and mission societies that have dedicated their lives to spreading the good news everywhere.

At 20 years of age, I head the privilege of being involved together with the late Dr Ralph Winter in the planing and organisation of the conference in Edinburgh 1980. This gave my life a new direction. Planting a vibrant church in every people, language, and culture became a central focus. I studied missiology, world religions and cultural anthropology just as my mentor Winter had done. But all this wonderful knowledge about the many cultures in the world only makes sense, if world mission and reaching the peoples that have no church becomes the very heart of theology itself. Theology, that lives for itself, as does much of academic theology in the country where I come from, theology, that does not see itself as an ongoing argument for God’s mission in the world, no longer is a theo-logy, a teaching centered on God, but has become a medium just for the exchanged of human arguments.

I am thrilled that Tokyo 2010 will be the real follow up of Edinburgh 1910: a meeting of mission agencies! And I am thrilled that Tokyo 2010 will overcome the biggest problem that Edinburgh 1910 had – the lack of non-Western involvement. This time, the Global South will lead the way and we definitely need this in the West (at least in Europe).

The more the World Council of Churches is overcoming the idea, invented 50 years ago, of a moratorium of missions, and the more it stresses that mission is an integral part of the  nature of the church, the more it can get back to its roots and claim to be a heir of Edinburgh 1910. And of course Lausanne III or Cape Town 2010 sees itself in the footsteps of Edinburgh 1910 too, and Tokyo 2010 shares the spiritual DNA with the Lausanne Movement and the World Evangelical Alliance.

But I think Tokyo 2010 is the real heir of Edinburgh 1910. Why? First of all for a very simple reason. Edinburgh 1910 was a meeting of those doing mission, of the mission societies and groups helping them, like student volunteer movements and prayer networks. The idea was not just bridging between the churches, but bridging for a clear purpose, namely the mission of the church, and this can only done by the practitioners.

The second reason is: Edinburgh 1910 was about reaching the whole world, but it did not represent the whole world. In Edinburgh 1910 even those parts of the non-Western church, that had vital churches already, were missing and not represented, not to mention other “mission fields”. At Tokyo 2010 it is no longer necessery for Western mission societies to invite representatives from churches in the Global South. Nowadays there are many, many mission agencies from the Global South, and when mission societies are meeting, as they do in Tokyo 2010, the Global South will dominate by numbers. And even the largest older mission agencies today owe their large size to their many members from the Global South. A timely example of this development is WEC International, founded by C T Studd in the heydays of colonialism, which is currently moving its international headquarter from Bulstrode near London to Singapore.

As a European I want to add the last step: Mission agencies from the Global South should bring the gospel back to the secularized countries in the West and help to revive dying churches: “Come over and help us!” Thus the dynamics started by the movement that led to Edinburgh 1910 finally would come full circle!

I pray that we all will be filled by the Spirit. According to Jesus’ words he alone can and will “convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment“. But he has chosen to use us as his messengers. So we can become witnesses to others, yet even more have the privilege to witness his mighty acts before our eyes.

Thomas Schirrmacher

On the stage with the international board

On the stage, with my speech in hand

Ralph Winter (1924-2009) – Rest in Peace

On May 21, 2009, at 9:05 am, my teacher Ralph Winter died at the age of 84 years and went to eternal rest with the Lord to whom he had dedicated his life.

The first time I worked with him was in 1980 at a missions conference in Edinburgh. As a freshly baked student I joined in on the new international missions movement. This was a movement which originated at the 1974 Lausanne Congress and was meant to be a renewal of efforts toward unreached peoples. We founded the German Center for World Mission, following the US Center for World Mission and in affiliation with the European Hidden People Study Group of the Center for World Mission Network. At the same time, we leapt into ethnology, cultural anthropology and linguistics. The German Center later led to the Martin Bucer Seminary.

It was from Winter that I was shaped for missiology, my interest in a comprehensive study of cultural anthropology, but also for his specialty, alternative theological training.

The times spent cooperating with his US Center for World Mission, my time as a doctoral advisor at his William Carey International University, and working together on the International Journal for Frontier Mission which he initiated, are all unforgettable. The visits to Pasadena were always far too short to take in all the stimulation that this tireless spirit uninterruptedly spewed forth. One had the feeling that the older Winter became, the more innovative he also became. It is amazing to think about what he started. And he was continually in the process of rethinking everything and seeking improvement. Who will be his successor?

Additional links:

• http://www.christianpost.com/
• http://www.uscwm.org/about/rdw.html
• http://www.ralphwinter.org/
• http://www.uscwm.org/
• http://www.wciu.edu/