Asian and African leadership in mission

“The evangelisation of the world…is not chiefly a European and American
enterprise, but an Asiatic or African enterprise.” Increasingly it is the task, the Report
continued, of “the Church in the Mission-field…[by] well-qualified native
evangelists and leaders.”

World Missionary Conference proposal in Commission one: “Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World”

The call for reciprocal relationship

The commission addressed the reciprocal relationship between the Church in Christian countries and the Church in Mission-fields. “[T]he most crucial problem in relation to evangelising the world is the state of the Church in Christian countries. We are frank to concede that it is futile to talk about making Christ known in the world in this generation or any generation unless there be a great expansion of vitality in the member of the Churches of Christendom.” Luxury and materialism in the West are identified as “imminent perils” from which the Church itself must be saved.

Proposals in Commission one: “Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World”,
World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910

Reaching educated Indian Youth

The most urgent need in India was a four-foldincrease of missionaries to meet the target set at the Madras Decennial Conference (1902) – one missionary to every 25,000 native Indians; and it was emphasised that missionaries needed to be intellectually trained – on par with the Indian Civil Service – to evangelise the educated Indian youth.

World Missionary Conference proposal in Commission one: “Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World”

Commission 1: Carrying the gospel to the Non Christian World

Of the Eight Commissions at Edinburgh 1910, Commission One dealth with “Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World”. The Commission was chaired by John R Mott, General Secretary of the World’s Student Christian Federation, New York.

The Report of the comission was divided into four parts.

1. The opportunity and urgency of carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian world.
2. Survey of the non-Christian world.
3. Factors in carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian world;
4. Findings.

Study Commissions and Edinburgh 1910

About eight study commissions were organized for Edinburgh 1910. Among the eight, three commissions of the Edinburgh conference had a special bearing on the growth of the ecumenical movement in the global South.

• The first Commission was carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian world.
• The second commission, “ The Church in the Mission field” stressed the development of what later were called the younger churches. The purpose was clearly to bring self-governing, self supporting churches in every field.
• The eighth commission directly dealt with “ Co-operation and promotion of Unity”.

It would be well worth to read the commission reports