The Leading Ecumenical Organizations of the First Half of the 20th Century

Статья преподавателя кафедры церковной истории священника Ильи Николаевича Письменюка посвящена начальному этапу развития современного экуменического движения после окончания Международной миссионерской конференции в Эдинбурге в 1910 г. На этом этапе экуменизм разделился на три основных направления: богословское, социально-практическое и миссионерское. Все они постепенно нашли институциональное воплощение в первых экуменических организациях, среди которых наиболее заметными стали конференции «Вера и церковное устройство» и «Жизнь и деятельность», а также Международный миссионерский совет и Всемирный альянс для содействия международной дружбе через церкви. Развитие перечисленных организаций положило основу для будущего создания крупнейшего в истории межхристианского института - Всемирного совета церквей. An article by Priest Ilya Nikolayevich Pismenyuk, Professor at the Department of Church History, dwells on the initial stage of development of the modern ecumenical movement after the end of the International Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910. At this stage, ecumenism was divided into three main directions: theological, socio-practical and missionary ones. All of them gradually found institutionalization in the first ecumenical organizations, among which the most notable were the conferences «Faith and Church Order» and «Life and Work», along with the International Missionary Council and World Alliance for the Promotion of International Friendship through the Churches. The development of these organizations made the basis of the future creation of the largest inter-Christian institution in history - the World Council of Churches.

Mission and Evangelism

From its inception, the modern ecumenical movement has entailed the twin pursuits of realizing both the unity and the mission of the church. Moreover, mission and evangelism were closely related in twentieth-century ecumenical thought. The main ecumenical institutional structure that advanced the churches’ understanding of mission and evangelism for much of the century was the International Missionary Council, which in 1961 became the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism within the World Council of Churches. By the end of the 1960s, Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants were also making major contributions to the broader ecumenical understanding of mission and evangelism. Enduring theological achievements including the concept of the missio Dei and the contextualization of theology remain a part of the overall legacy of the ecumenical movement.

The Goodhall-Nielsen Report and the Formation of the United Church of Zambia Theological College

Following resolutions of the World Missionary Conference of May 1948, Norman Goodhall and E. W. Nielsen were assigned by the International Missionary Council to conduct a survey of theological education in southern Africa. The present article discusses the Goodhall-Nielsen report and its recommendations for theological education in Africa. It reflects on how the Goodhall-Nielsen report inspired the formation of the United Church of Zambia Theological College at Mindolo mission station in Zambia. The article traces the development of this college and its search for a paradigm shift in theological education and ministerial formation.

A View from the Muslim Arabic Press, 1928: The International Missionary Conference in Jerusalem

This essay situates the 1928 meeting of the International Missionary Council (imc) in Jerusalem in the historical context of British Mandate Palestine. Mission historians represent this conference as a turning point in the ecumenical missionary movement because delegates rejected Euro-centrism and demonstrated openness to partnerships with members of other faiths. Beyond the gates of the conference grounds where British soldiers stood guard, however, Palestinian Muslims and Christians expressed a different view of this gathering in the city of God. Arabic newspapers covered the widespread protests against the meeting, but imc publications gave little attention to this local response. Blinded by the inspiring Biblical scenery below, John Mott and other imc leaders failed to exhibit the sort of cultural sensitivity many delegates advocated behind the closed doors of their hilltop conference.