Is it possible to recreate great impulses? The World Missionary Conference in 1910, the first of its kind, had a major influence on church history in the 20th century. Many see it as an important milestone in the ecumenical movement, it certainly had greatly facilitated the coordination of the work of mission organizations. It made strong impact with the idea that the churches have to stand to together in order to witness Christ to the world.

2010 marks the 100th anniversary of that event. It is already clear that there will be another conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, to celebrate the first conference. However, it should be more than just a polite and somewhat boring history event. It should give again a strong impulse to global Christianity to witness Christ together in ways that are appropriate for today. The group that has come together to do that is already quite impressive. All the participating organizations have sent their representative to the “General Council” of that process. It started meeting yesterday in Edinburgh and I am there on behalf of the LWF.

The process has two major aspects: 

• Study process working on nine study themes
• Global Conference in Edinburgh in June 2010

It is great to know that is already clear that 25% of the participants are supposed to be youth at the conference but a lot of details are not yet so clear. That is what we are working on in St. Colms a very nice old building that used to host the College for Women Missionaries.