Quote 1: Rev Cheng Ching Yi

“ The Church of Christ is universal not only irrespective of denominations, but also irrespective of nationalities” – Rev. Cheng Ching –Yi

Rev. Cheng Ching Yi (China) was one among the 17 members who represented the younger churches (Global South) in Edinburgh 1910. He was also a member of the all important conference continuation Committee.

The courage to speak your mind

“ I do not plead for returning calls, handshakes, chairs, dinners and teas as such. I do on the other hand plead for all of them and more if they can be expressions of a friendly feeling, if these or anything else can be the outward proofs of a real willingness on the part of the foreign missionary to show that he is in the midst of the people to be to them not a lord and master but a brother and a friend.”

“ Through all the ages to come the Indian Church will rise up in gratitude to attest the heroism and self denying labors of the missionary body. You have given your goods to feed the poor. You have given your bodies to be burned. We ask for love. Give us friends.”

V.S. Azariah is best known for his lines, ” we need friends” at the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh. His passionate plea for friendship on equal terms and the sharing of responsibility with complete equality created quite a stir. However, he had the courage to speak his mind. In fact, V. S Azariah had initially refused to accept Mott’s invitation to speak on the topic: Co-operation between foreign and native workers in younger churches.

V.S Azariah did not want to neither suppress the truth (thus be an hypocrite) nor wanted to hurt the feelings of the gathering (run the risk of being misunderstood). However, he did speak his mind, on the insistence of John Mott.

In a world of political correctness it is easy to play to the galleries. But, that would not help us move forward. V.S Azariah and John Mott show us the way forward (particularly at Edinburgh 2010). We need to have the courage like V.S Azariah to speak our heart and mind.

We need to encourage (like John Mott) and help differing perspectives be heard and resolved. For long, We have heard only ourselves and it would be enriching to listen to the views from the other side. To this end we must commit ourselves. We need friends – to hear and be heard, to feel and be felt, to hold hands in partnership as we seek to engage the the gospel with the contemporary world.

The Calcutta Connection

Calcutta Missionary Conference was an interdenominational body of Protestant missionaries. However, it was drawn mainly from Church Missionary Society (CMS) , Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) and London Missionary Society (LMS). It was first established in 1831 to influence public opinion (both the Indian and British) and government policy.

The Calcutta Missionary Conference published the Calcutta Christian Observer, a monthly journal. It’s primary concern was ‘the advocacy of science, literature and Evangelical Christianity’. Interestingly, the Calcutta Missionary Conference engaged women in missionary work. Women missionaries were enrolled as full members ‘with the same status and rights as men’. The conference also discussed gender issues like the status and condition of Indian women.

However, the landmark achievement of the Calcutta Missionary Conference was The First General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Bengal (4 – 7 September 1855). The General conference was attended by 47 missionaries from various Societies. This was a humble beginning but it ultimately grew into the great World Missionary Conference (Edinburgh, 1910). The First General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Bengal was the first step towards the formation of the later global missionary unity.

Spirituality @ Edinburgh 1910

The heart of Edinburgh was not its speeches but its period of prayer (Hogg). Apparently, long and short periods of prayer were built into the programme as acts of worship as well as for intercession . Spiritual agreement was expressed in the daily periods of prayer and in the fellowship of working groups. The missionary movement was not a campaign of churches but a movement of men and women given to the discipline of prayer, bible study and gripped by the Spirit. Gairdner also refers to the spiritual impact of these sessions: The dominating impression was that the Spirit of God and not man was the dominating personality in the Assembly.

Regional missionary conferences in India (before 1910)

Regional conferences in India set the pattern for the Edinburgh conference. Local conferences were held in Bangalore, Calcutta (now called Kolkotta) and Madras (now called Chennai). The conference of North India and South India were held in 1855, 1857 and 1862. An All India conference was held in 1873 (Allahabad) and Madras in 1900. These regional conferences were precursor to the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910.