The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held June 14 to 23, 1910. Some^[who?] have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Protestant Christian ecumenical movement.

Major Protestant denominations and missionary societies, predominantly from North America and Northern Europe, sent 1,200 representatives to Edinburgh, Scotland. Delegation was based on the annual expenditure of the missionary societies; one hundred additional special delegates were appointed by the British, Continental, and American Executive Committees. No Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic missionary organizations were invited.

Briton Lord Balfour of Burleigh, a former Conservative Cabinet Minister, was the President of the World Missionary Conference. American John R. Mott, a American Methodist layperson and leader of both the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions and the World Student Christian Federation, chaired its proceedings. The main organiser was Joseph Oldham a leader in the British Student Christian Movement. The conference was held in the Assembly Hall of the United Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Before the conference convened, eight assigned commissions, each with twenty members, conducted two years of research on their assigned topic. Each commission produced a single volume report, which was distributed to all of the delegates before they headed to Scotland and discussed at the assembly during the Conference.

The Eight Commissions and their date of presentation at the Conference are as follows:

1. Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World (June 15, 1910)
2. The Church in the Mission Field (June 16, 1910)
3. Education in Relation to the Christianization of National Life (Jun 17, 1910)
4. Missionary Message in Relation to the Non-Christian World (June 18, 1910)
5. The Preparation of Missionaries (June 22, 1910)
6. The Home Base of Missions (June 23, 1910)
7. Missions and Governments (June 20, 1910)
8. Co-Operation and the Promotion of Unity (June 21, 1910)

A ninth volume, containing the proceedings and major speeches, was published after the conclusion of the Conference.

The spirit of the Conference was driven by the watchword of the Protestant Christian Missionary community at the time: "The Evangelization of the World in This Generation." Thus, sentiments of obligation and urgency drove many of the commission reports, discussions and speeches at the Conference. A call to unity among Protestant missionaries was also a common desire expressed at the Conference, although no common liturgy was celebrated among the delegates while in Edinburgh.

Although the World Missionary Conference convened as a discursive enterprise, a vote was carried to establish a Continuation Committee when Commission VIII's report was presented. In the next few years, members of this committee, under the direction of John Mott, headed to India, Burma, Malaysia, China, Korea, and Japan to gather information. The work of the Continuation Committee was interrupted by World War I, but formed the foundation for the establishment of the International Missionary Council, established in 1921. Later, in 1948, the World Council of Churches formed.

In celebration of its 100-year anniversary, a new World Missionary Conference is slated for Edinburgh, 2010. Like the 1910 original, it will consist of discussions on reports written by nine appointed commissions.

[edit] See also

• Timeline of Christian missions
• Category:Christian missionary societies

[edit] External links

• [1] "Protestant Christian Missions, Race and Empire: The World Missionary Conference of 1910, Edinburgh, Scotland," by Kim Sanecki (A Master's Thesis on the Conference).

• The World Missionary Conference by C.C. Morrison (a first hand account of the conference from an editor of Christian Century)

• [2] and [3] for information about the 2010 Centenary World Missionary Conference.