Edinburgh 1910/2010 - "Lily's Room"

UCAN (http://www.ucanews.com)
1. Asia looms large at UK missionary meeting, 3 June 2010
(URL to article: http://www.ucanews.com/2010/06/03/asia-looms-large-at-uk-missionary-meeting/)

Delegates from Asia are prominent at a major missionary conference that got down to work today in the Scottish city of Edinburgh.
There are 29 delegates from the continent among about 300 from more than 60 countries and 50 Christian denominations. Ten are from Korea and others from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
“Asia will be an important topic in many of the sessions,” said Jasmin Adam, spokeswoman for the conference. “One of our keynote speakers is Dr Lee Young-hoon of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul.”
Lee, a video of whom appears below, was expected to speak on June 3 about the activities and mission of his Church during a session on Mission Worldwide, which will consist of case studies of various aspects of missionary work.
The first plenary session, Mission in Long Perspective, to be addressed by Dana Robert of Boston University School of Theology [1], was also scheduled for June 3.
The conference marks the centenary of one held in Edinburgh in 1910 which gave birth to, among other things, the National Missionary Council in India, which in turn became the National Christian Council, which is still the ecumenical forum for Protestant and Orthodox churches in the country.
The 1910 conference was also the inspiration for the merging of Protestant denominations in South India, now, along with the Anglicans, the Church of South India.
This year’s conference will concentrate on the changes in the 100 years since 1910, when missionary work was almost entirely Northern-based. One discussion this year will be on South-North missionary activity.
Also among the themes are to:
• Create a new vision and spirituality
• Encourage networks and alliances across regions
• Give guidelines on mission practice and identify priorities
One significant change since 1910 is that while that conference was entirely Protestant, this year’s delegates also include representatives of the Orthodox, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Catholic Churches, including Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity [2].
URLs in this post:
[1] Boston University School of Theology: http://www.bu.edu/sth/
[2] Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/index.htm

2. Edinburgh conference looks at Asian progress，7 June 2010

(URL to article: http://www.ucanews.com/2010/06/07/christian-conference-concerned-for-christianity-in-asia/)

China in particular and Asia in general were the major focus of a missionary conference held 100 years ago with the aim of Christianizing the whole world “in a few years’ time.”
But throughout Asia today, Christianity remains a minority religion, its members under pressure from governments and other faiths, according to a paper presented at a conference marking the centenary of that meeting.
In some countries, said the paper presented to the Edinburgh 2010 conference by the Reverend Rudolf H. Pasaribu of Indonesia, Christianity even faces the threat of extinction.
Pasaribu who as well as being pastor of the Batak Protestant Christian Church in Medan, north Sumatra, teaches Christian religious education at the state university there said there is increasing pressure on Christians in Indonesia as shari’a law becomes more widely practiced.
Burning, destruction and closure of churches is not uncommon, but is “usual all year round,” he said and new regulations mean house churches are not allowed, and it is increasingly difficult to get permission to build new churches.
Under shari’a law, Pasaribu said, Christians and other minorities “will find it difficult to get a job, conduct business or enter government schools or universities.”
A different aspect of Christianity in Asia was revealed by keynote speaker, Dr Lee Young-hoon, pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church english.fgtv.com/ in Seoul.
Pentecostals – of which his church is a member – were often criticized for “triumphalism,” he said.
He acknowledged: “The growing success in missionary work and exponential spread of the Pentecostal movement may have contributed to this perception.”
Lee was speaking on one of the three main themes of the conference, Missionary Power. The others were:
• Ecumenical charity – “care, concern and affection of one Church for another.”
• Budding ecumenism and missing mission – conveying ecumenical dialogue to children.
• Mission to the North – the spread of indigenous churches from the south in Europe.
The conference closed June 6 with a service at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, at which the preacher, Anglican Archbishop John Sentamu of York, pleaded for Christian unity, saying: “The unity of the spiritual house is vitally important.”