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Editorial.

Article Excerpt
On the way from Athens (2005) to Edinburgh (2010) the World Council of Churches (WCC) realized it would be necessary to address specifically the issue of evangelism, or mission, as the proclamation of the gospel. Indeed, during and after the 2005 world mission conference in Athens, critical voices said that the WCC had not given sufficient weight to evangelism in preparatory papers, plenaries and workshops for that global gathering. Whatever one thinks of the validity of such critiques, and they are at least partly justified, the WCC considered it necessary to revisit the matter of an ecumenical approach to evangelism in the follow-up to Athens. This was particularly the case within the context of the approach of the year of the centennial celebration of the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, where evangelism featured directly or indirectly as a central concern.

Bossey seminar on mission as the proclamation of the gospel

Therefore, in June 2006 the Mission and Ecumenical Formation (MEF) team of the WCC organized a week-long seminar in cooperation with the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland. Papers and case studies offered during that seminar make up the bulk of this issue of the International Review of Mission, although not all Bossey contributions eventually became published papers, for various reasons, and that independently of their theological quality and importance.

The Bossey seminar was organized to provide input and discussions on a number of topics. One focused on historical developments in missiology, evangelism or gospel communication seen from various denominational or contextual perspectives. Another concerned reflections on the theological undergirding of choices made in matters of mission and evangelism. The programme also included the presentation of case studies in systematic or storytelling form, and through personal faith stories. There were also Bible studies and common prayer.

A message from the seminar summarized some of the major concerns of the thirty-six participants from most continents and major denominations. (1) Some of the papers included in this issue have been thoroughly revised or even rewritten...

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