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Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary
Edinburgh Centenary Series Resources for Ministry
1-1-2013
Foundations for Mission
Emma Wild-Wood
University of Edinburgh, [email protected]
Peniel Rajkumar
University of Edinburgh, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at:http://scholar.csl.edu/edinburghcentenary
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Recommended Citation
Wild-Wood, Emma and Rajkumar, Peniel, "Foundations for Mission" (2013).Edinburgh Centenary Series.Book 7.
http://scholar.csl.edu/edinburghcentenary/7
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REGNUM EDINBURGH CENTENARY SERIES
Volume 13
Foundations for Mission
REGNUM EDINBURGH CENTENARY SERIES
The Centenary of the World Missionary Conference of 1910, held in
Edinburgh, was a suggestive moment for many people seeking direction for
Christian mission in the twenty-first century. Several different constituencies
within world Christianity held significant events around 2010. From 2005, an
international group worked collaboratively to develop an intercontinental and
multi-denominational project, known as Edinburgh 2010, and based at New
College, University of Edinburgh. This initiative brought together
representatives of twenty different global Christian bodies, representing all
major Christian denominations and confessions, and many different strands of
mission and church life, to mark the Centenary.
Essential to the work of the Edinburgh 1910 Conference, and of abiding
value, were the findings of the eight think-tanks or ‘commissions’. These
inspired the idea of a new round of collaborative reflection on Christian
mission – but now focused on nine themes identified as being key to mission in
the twenty-first century. The study process was polycentric, open-ended, and as
inclusive as possible of the different genders, regions of the world, and
theological and confessional perspectives in today’s church. It was overseen by
the Study Process Monitoring Group: Miss Maria Aranzazu Aguado (Spain,
The Vatican), Dr Daryl Balia (South Africa, Edinburgh 2010), Mrs Rosemary
Dowsett (UK, World Evangelical Alliance), Dr Knud Jørgensen (Norway,
Areopagos), Rev. John Kafwanka (Zambia, Anglican Communion), Rev. Dr
Jooseop Keum (Korea, World Council of Churches), Dr Wonsuk Ma (Korea,
Oxford Centre for Mission Studies), Rev. Dr Kenneth R. Ross (UK, Church of
Scotland), Dr Petros Vassiliadis (Greece, Aristotle University of
Thessalonikki), and coordinated by Dr Kirsteen Kim (UK, Edinburgh 2010).
These publications reflect the ethos of Edinburgh 2010 and will make a
significant contribution to ongoing studies in mission. It should be clear that
material published in this series will inevitably reflect a diverse range of views
and positions. These will not necessarily represent those of the series’ editors or
of the Edinburgh 2010 General Council, but in publishing them the leadership
of Edinburgh 2010 hopes to encourage conversation between Christians and
collaboration in mission. All the series’ volumes are commended for study and
reflection in both church and academy.
Series Editors
Knud Jørgensen Areopagos, Norway, MF Norwegian School of Theology &
the Lutheran School of Theology, Hong Kong. Former
Chair of Edinburgh 2010 Study Process Monitoring Group
Kirsteen Kim Leeds Trinity University College and former
Edinburgh 2010 Research Coordinator, UK
Wonsuk Ma Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, UK
Tony Gray Words by Design, Bicester, UK
REGNUM EDINBURGH CENTENARY SERIES
Volume 13
Foundations for Mission
Edited by Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar
Copyright © Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar, 2013
First published 2013 by Regnum Books International
Regnum is an imprint of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies
St. Philip and St. James Church
Woodstock Road
Oxford OX2 6HR, UK
www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The right of Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar to be identified as the
Editors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electric,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the UK such
licences are issued by the Copyright Licencing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London W1P 9HE.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-908355-12-6
Typeset by Words by Design
Printed and bound in Great Britain
for Regnum Books International
by TJ International LTD, Padstow, Cornwall
The publication of this title is made possible through the generous financial
assistance of The Commission on Theological Education of Evangelisches
Missionswerk in Deutschland (EMW, Dr. Verena Grüter), Hamburg, Germany
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Exploring Foundations for Mission
Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar 3
PART ONE: EXPLORING EXPERIENCE AS A FOUNDATION FOR MISSION
The Restless Result Between ‘Is’ and ‘Ought’
Janice Price and Anne Richards 17
When Margins Inform and Re-form Mission
Deenabandhu Manchala, Peniel Rajkumar and
Dayam Joseph Prabhakar 30
The Importance of Historical Inquiry in Mission
Beverly Eileen Mitchell 43
Mission as Testifying to the Experience of Meeting with God
Zlatina Karavaltcheva 55
PART TWO: EXPLORING THE BIBLE AS A FOUNDATION FOR MISSION
Towards a Missiology Inspired by the Book of Proverbs
Jacques Matthey 69
Biblical Foundations for Liberative Mission from Latin America
Néstor Míguez 85
The Bible in and through Mission and Mission in the Bible in
Postcolonial Africa
R. Simangaliso Kumalo 96
The Biblical Foundation for Mission from a Middle Eastern
Experience
Mary Mikhael 111
PART THREE: EXPLORING THEOLOGY AS A FOUNDATION FOR MISSION
Christology and Trinity in Mission
Damon W K So 123
The Spirit in Mission
Christina Manohar 138
vi Foundations for Mission
A Theology of Mission from an Orthodox Perspective
Petros Vassiliadis 154
Creation and Kingdom-Centered Theology
for Missio Inter-Gentes
Edmund Kee-Fook Chia 163
PART FOUR: THE BIBLE, THEOLOGY AND EXPERIENCE TOGETHER
Roman Catholic Perspectives on Foundations for Mission
Robert Schreiter 179
A Missiology of Listening for a Folk Church
in a Postmodern Context
Mogens Mogensen 190
Foundations for Mission in a Movement of World Evangelization
Harold Segura and Valdir Steuernagel 205
The Theological Motivations for Pentecostal Mission
Wonsuk Ma 220
CONCLUSION
Setting Sail for the Future
Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar 239
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: ‘Theme 1: Foundations for Mission’
in Daryl Balia and Kirsteen Kim (eds),
Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing Today (Oxford: Regnum, 2010) 255
Appendix 2: ‘Theme 1: Foundations for Mission,’
in Kirsteen Kim and Andrew Anderson (eds),
Edinburgh 2010: Mission Today and Tomorrow
(Oxford: Regnum, 2011) 283
Bibliography 291
List of Contributors 305
I
NTRODUCTION
EXPLORING FOUNDATIONS FOR MISSION
Emma Wild-Wood and Peniel Rajkumar
Foundations for this Book
The loving, relational nature of God and the outpouring of God’s
Trinitarian self into the world are the source of mission. The calling of
God’s creatures to participate in God’s love and care for the world is our
mandate. Such is the comprehension of the foundation for mission that
gained prominence in the twentieth century. It places mission at the centre
of the being and activity of Father, Son and Spirit – God’s heartbeat.1 Thus
mission is at the centre of theology and of Christian action. The
development of such an understanding can be traced, in part, to a trend for
missionary research, reflection, structures and organisations that arose from
the World Missionary Conference of 1910 and its antecedents.2 As part of a
centennial commemoration of that conference, a worldwide appraisal of
mission theology and practice has been undertaken focussing upon nine
main themes and culminating in a conference in Edinburgh in 2010. This
book is part of that venture: it presents the work of those involved in the
study process which examined the first theme, ‘Foundations for Mission’
and contributes to a series that re-examines Christian mission at the
beginning of the twenty-first century. Drawing from many Christian
traditions across the globe this volume asks: What is foundational for our
participation in the missio dei? What elements do we discern as the basis
for mission involvement? How do we understand and use those elements?
The 1910 conference marked a transition between missionary eras.3 The
hope and optimism which had grown in the missionary movement during
the nineteenth century and was articulated in the conference watchword,
‘The Evangelisation of the World in this Generation’ was to be challenged
by the brutality and destruction of the First World War (1914-1918) and the
subsequent waning confidence in western civilisation. The conference also
set a trend for greater missionary collaboration, ecumenical endeavour and
increased study of Christian mission by consulting, gathering together and
1 ‘Theme 1: Foundations for Mission’, in Kirsteen Kim and Andrew Anderson
(eds), Edinburgh 2010: Mission Today and Tomorrow (Oxford: Regnum, 2011),
120.
2 For more details see, Brian Stanley, The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh
1910 (Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 2009).
3 Emma Wild-Wood, ‘Worldwide Shifts in Mission from 1910-2010 – A Sketch’,
Theology (SPCK), May-June 2010, CXIII, 873.
