1910 World Missionary Conference - Edinburgh 1910

Edinburgh 1910

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.

Lord Balfour of the Church of Scotland, a former Unionist cabinet minister, was the President of the World Missionary Conference. American John R. Mott, an 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.

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.