KS.IAMS.Minutes99.doc Uncomplete
draft
International Association for Mission Studies
(IAMS)
Present: Chun Chae Ok (President), Paulo Suess,
Andrew Kirk, Tim Huffman, Teresa Okure, Jerjes Ruiz, Graham Kings, Stephen B.
Bevans, Joy Thomas, Klaus Schäfer
1. Welcome and
„warming up“
The meeting started on Wednesday, January 27,
in the evening. - The President, Prof. Chun Chae Ok, welcomed the members of
the Executive Committee who all had been able to come to the meeting.This time
only the Executive members proper were invited to the meeting.
2. Finalizing the
agenda
The agenda was basically accepted as prepared
by the secretary. The sequence of items may differ according to the
availability of time. The minutes will be recorded in sequence of the
discussions and resolutions.
As additional item was included a meeting with
Prof. Sebastian Karotemprel of the Urbaniana University and current President
of the International Association of Catholic Missiologists (IACM). This meeting
and a visit in the Urbaniana University was scheduled for 28th,
afternoon.
3. Minutes of the last
Executive meeting (28.1.-2.2.98 in Hamburg)
The minutes were received with appreciation for
their completeness. However, there were various typing mistakes, particularly
as names are concerned. The secretary took note of the corrections and will do
a fresh print-out of the minutes for the files.
Regarding matters arising it was noted that all
relevant items will appear again in the agenda of the present Executive
meeting.
Klaus reported on his participation on the
Regional European Missiological Conference which had taken place from August
14-17 in the School for Mission and Theology in Stavanger, Norway.
The idea of such a regional missiological
conference had sprung up from the European Regional meeting of the IAMS Buenos
Aires conference where Europeans responded to the proposal of Jan Jongeneel.
NIME now functioned as host for the conference and provided a platform for
missiological reflection on a European level.
The main thematic focus on the conference was
on the challenge of religious pluralism in Europe. Besides the theme there was
also discussion on further networking of missiologists in Europe, particularly
also with Eastern Europe. Already existing links between Universities - for
example regarding common research programmes - need to be strengthend and, if
possible, being expanded. As a further step for such networking and moving into
the realisation of the new European reality also for mission studies it was
suggested to compile a Directory of missiological institutions in Europe for
which Jan Jongeneel will take responsibility.
It was also suggested to have a regional European
missiological conference every four years, that is between the international
conferences of IAMS. A secretariat or any administrative structure, however,
should not be established. Rather one regional/national body concerned with
missiological studies - such as NIME - should take responsibility and invite
the others - and the European IAMS members - to such a conference. The venue
for the next conference of this type might be Leipzig, Germany, on the
invitation of the German Society for Mission Studies (DGMW). Further discussion
and then a final decision should be taken during the regional European meeting
of the forthcoming IAMS Conference in South Africa.
A report on the Stavanger conference for
MISSION STUDIES is supposed to be written by Miika Ruokanen from Helsinki.
Klaus reports about the ongoing restructuring
process in EMW. The reduction of staff in the EMW office, along with a still
growing work load for the staff people and the necessity of EMW to respond to
new challenges for the churches in Germany, make it very difficult for EMW to
continue to host the Secretariat in Hamburg. As yet, the EMW Board has only
reflected on the emergence of the necessary determination of hosting the IAMS
Secretariat in Hamburg; a decision has not been taken yet.
Meanwhile, various Executive members have made
inquiries with possible partner organisations which might be able to take up
the responsibility for the IAMS Secretariat.
Klaus reports about informal discussions of this
matter with representatives of NIMO during the Stavanger Conference and with
representatives of SAMS in South Africa. Steve reported about informal talks
with SEDOS in Rome as well as with Anne Reiser of Maryknoll and the Chicago
Centre for Global Ministries.
In these discussions it emerged that SEDOS
would definitely not be ready to take any responsibility for the IAMS
Secretariat at this time. The Chicago Centre also reacted rather reluctant and
raised particularly the issues of financial commitment and time factor going
along with the responsibility for the Secretariat. In South Africa there is
actually a great interest, but also a heavy involvement in restructuring
processes at the Universities which don´t seem to leave space for taking up the
responsibility for IAMS. While one can explore further the chances to locate
the Secretariat in one of the Scandinavian countries, the best option seems to
be to engage in further negotiations with Maryknoll. The aim must be an attempt
to professionalize the running of the office and also the distribution of the
journal.
It was resolved then that there should be a
priority list for further negotiations with suitable institutions:
1. Option: Maryknoll,
2. Option: NIMO,
3. Option: A Catholic institute in India.
Involved in further negotiations should be the
President of IAMS, Steve, and Klaus. A decision for moving the Secretariat
ought to be prepared by this group and then proposed by the Executive and
finally sanctioned by the membership of IAMS assembled at the Conference.
Klaus reported on the amount of IAMS files
which have accumulated during the years and are currently being kept at the
IAMS Secretariat in Hamburg. In view of shifting the Secretariat it was
suggested to locate the IAMS files as an IAMS Archive in one central place
where the material is easily accessible for students.
It was resolved that the archivist of EMW
should make an assessment of the amount of files, and that the material, which
is not needed for the running of the Secretariat, should be moved to the
library of Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham.
......
The
discussion on the forthcoming conference started off with a report by Klaus of
the recent SAMS Conference last week in Pretoria. Klaus participated in this
Conference and presented a paper on the theme of the IAMS Conference and also
had a discussion with representatives of the local organising committee.
Then the
discussion focused on various areas of the conference programme.
Worship life of the
Conference:
The
responsibility for the worship life during the Conference should rest with the
Worship Committee. Chairperson of the Worship Committee: Sr. Madge Kareki,
Pretoria.
Other
people from among the participants of the conference should additionally be
invited to the Worship Committee; one has to observe denominational (for
example also orthodox) as well as regional/continental balance and input.
There are
certain areas of work for the Worship Committee and also some guidelines for
the worship life:
Opening Worship: The
Secretary should issue an invitation to Dr. Frank Chikane to give a
sermon in the opening worship and also to welcome the participants to South
Africa.
The
preparation for the worship rests with the Worship Committee.
Closing Worship: Since the representatives from SAMS raised
some concern regarding the celebration of the Holy Communion it was felt that
there are still some sentiments which have to be clarified. The Executive would
certainly like to have a Eucharist according to the tradition of IAMS. It was
suggested that John Pobee, now an Anglican Bishop in Ghana, is going to preside
over the Eucharist; one of the former IAMS Presidents, who will be present -
for instance Arnulf Camps, Joan Shettfield - should be invited to deliver the sermon.
Morning Devotions: The Worship Committee should design the
character and type of morning devotions. There should certainly be a special
African flavour, but also contributions from other continents. - The scripture
readings might be taken from Jesus-Stories of the Gospels, portraying various
“Images of Jesus”.
Celebration:
The
organisation of the Celebration on the concluding evening of the conference
should be left to the local committee in South Africa. The Celebration should
certainly have an African flavour. This Celebration may also be the occasion to
invite local church representatives to join the conference.
It would be
wonderful if Nelson Mandela will be able to greet the conference during that
stage (invitation through the Secretary in cooperation with Willem). According
to the convenience of Nelson Mandela the Celebration may be shifted to some
other time during the conference.
Plenary Speakers:
The plenary
speakers have not been contacted yet. The Executive made some readjustment regarding
the preference of possible speakers:
1.
Presentation: Ft. Chandrakanthan, Sir Lanka/Canada - Asian perspective;
2.
presentation: Dr. Eleazar Lopes, Mexico - Latin American (indigenous)
perspective;
3.
presentation: Dr. Isabel Phiri, South Africa/Malawi - African perspective.
All three
speakers should take up the overall theme, but then concentrate on a special
focus which is regional (see above) as well as thematic; the first presentation
is supposed to dwell on “the broken world” and “Christ crucified”, the second
one on “the broken world” and “Christ living”, the third one on the overall
emphasis of “Reflecting Jesus Christ”.
Reflector: The first choice for the task of a reflector
ist Prof. Walter Wink, the second choice is Prof. Miroslav Volf. The reflector
is supposed to prepare and present the conference document at the end of the
conference and may also give interventions during the conference.
Mission Study Groups:
Klaus
reports on the preparation for the “Mission Study Groups”. Not many have as yet
given their consent to serve as a facilitator of a Mission Study Group. The
list of Mission Study Groups and facilitators looks as follows:
1.
Christology: Contextual Theologies in Dialogues - Kwame Bediako;
2. Healing:
Reflecting the Healing and Reconciling Christ - Godelievé Prové;
3. Women:
The Crucified Christ: Living in the Gifts of Women in Mission - Kang Sun Lee;
4.
Communication: Reflecting Christ Comtemporary Communication and Media -
John Roxborogh;
5. Church
and State: Reflecting Christ in the Encounter with the Nation State - Jerjes
Ruiz;
6.
Ethnic/Racial Conflicts: Christ Crucified and Living in the Contexts of Ethnic
and Racial Conflict - Jean Marc Ela;
7. Bible in
Mission: Rediscovering Christ Crucified and Living: Biblical Hermeneutics -
Teresa Okure;
8.
Modernity and Christian Faith: Modernity and Christian Mission: The Mutual
Challenge - Miikka Ruokanen;
9.
Spirituality: Christ and the Quests for Spiritual Fulfillment - Paulo Suess;
10.
History: Christ Crucified and Living in the History of Christian Mission: The
First Millenium - Graham Kings;
11.
History: Christ Crucified and Living in the History of Christian Mission: The
Second Millenium - Dana Robert;
12.
Economics and Justice: Christ Crucified and Living in Oppressed and
Dispossessed People - Molefe Tsele;
13. Other
Faiths: Reflecting Christ with Neighbors of Other Faiths - Andreas D´Souza;
14. African
Indigenous Churches: African Indigenous Churches and Pentecostalism - Allan
Anderson;
15.
Ecology: The Greening of Christian Mission - Jacklyn Cock/W. Saayman/I. Daneel
16.
Eschatology: Reflecting Christ at the Turn of the Millenium - Robert J.
Schreiter.
There are
three things which are expected of the facilitator of a Mission Study Group:
1. The
person should write a short text of appoximately 300 words (1 page) to
stimulate reflection about the theme of the workshop; this brief text is meant
for publication in the IAMS journal MISSION STUDIES and should be sent to the
Editor of Mission Studies as soon as possible, but not later than 1. Juni 1999.
2. The
facilitator of a Mission Study Group should then make available for the work in
the group about three to four short texts which again stimulate reflection and
discussion in the sessons of the Mission Study Groups; any longer papers should
not be presented in Mission Study Groups.
3. To
compile during or shortly after the Conference a report on the work of the
Mission Study Group, to be published in the first issue of MISSION STUDIES in
the year 2000; this report has to be sent to the Editor not later than 1. March
2000.
Exposure Programme:
The local
committee is going to identify programmes, projects, churches, etc. which can
be visited during the Exposure Programme. It will be important to identify also
local people who serve as contact persons and dialogue partners for the various
groups who are going on an Exposure. The local committee in South Africa is
requested to categorize areas of exposure so that people already, when they
receive the confirmation letter, may be able to reflect on their particular
choice or even sign up for a specific area of exposure
It was
stressed that the Exposure Programme is a very essential aspect for the success
of the Conference.
Bible Study:
As resolved
already last year, the Bible Studies will not be conducted by a Bible Study
leader in the plenary. Bible Studies take place in small groups of 10 to 12
people. The biblical passages for the two sessions are Mt. 17 and 2. Cor. 3 and
4.
However, it
was resolved to invite Anselm Prior, South Africa, to give some orientation for
the discussion in the Bible Study groups and provide some material for the
group study. This material should help to stimulate a lively and interactive
way of study.
Research Projects:
It was
reaffirmed that the South Africa Conference will not have separate sessions on
Forum Papers. It was decided to work on following guidelines to deal with the
wish to present research projects:
Major Research Projects: The time slot allotted to oral
presentations on “Research Projects” should be confined to major research project and not to research projects of individuals.
Individual Research Projects/Papers: Nevertheless, many participants may
want to and even need to - because of travel grants from Universities - present
individual research papers. This should actually be encouraged. It was felt
that there are various ways of receiving those research papers:
1. The research papers, which give an account
of a persons current or recent research, will be received in paper (and also on
a disc) during the Conference and actually be displayed on a table for people
who are interested. Some of those papers may also be published in MISSION
STUDIES, and perhaps it is possible to present everything we receive on the
IAMS Web Side for further distribution.
2. For creating an opportunity to network with
other colleagues about specific areas of research it was suggested to establish
a major “Research Exchange Notice Board” somewhere in the Conference Centre
where short notes are displayed on various topics of interest. The confirmation
letter should already have a form where people might provide some information
about their current research or interest, and these forms may be pinned at the
Notice Board.
It was
resolved to have two people in charge of the Research Reporting: Graham Kings
and Joy Thomas; Steve Bevans will be in conversation with those persons who
would like to have their paper published in MISSION STUDIES.
Regional Meetings:
The
conference schedule has provisions for two regional meetings. The programme
sheets says that the first regional meeting should focus on sharing on the
conference theme from a regional perspective, and the second one should be
assigned to regional business matters (regarding elections, strengthening of
mission studies in the region, future cooperation, identity of IAMS etc.).
However, these two areas of discussion should not be divided so strictuly. The
first regional meeting must already take up issues related to the election
process (see below top “elections” on the agenda).
The
regional meetings will be facilitated by the IAMS Executive members.
Optional sessions:
There are
two suggestions for additional sessions, and the Executive resolved to add them
to the conference agenda:
Panel of Editors of Missiological Journals:
Such a
panel, which had already taken place during earlier IAMS conference, was
suggested by Gerald Anderson. The aim is to bring together editors of various
journals, to discuss the identity of each journal, to reflect on the scope of
cooperation between journals and of specific character and contribution of each
of the journals, help young scholars to find contacts for publishing their
articles etc. Gerald Anderson is going to prepare the panel and will also
moderate it.
Missiology in the Theological Faculty:
During the
SAMS conference it was suggested to have a special meeting of missiological
scholars involved in teaching, development of curricula etc. at Universities.
The aim is to have some exchange and try to enhance the significance - and also
the cooperation - of teaching missiology in the Theological Faculties. The
friends from SAMS who suggested this topic will be requested to prepare such a
session and also moderate it.
These
additional, optinal sessions will be scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday
evening, after dinner. If the celebration needs to be moved ahead in the
programme, we will have one of the optional sessions on Thursday.
Conference Budget:
Andrew
presented the figures of the Conference Budget for the South Africa Conference.
According to grants - already received or in form of pledges - the income for
the Conference shows the following figures:
Donations
and grants in GBP: 49850.00
(for
comparison: for the Buenos Aires Conference: GBP 80038,28);
payments in
US $: 14794.00 (= 9132.00 GBP)
(for
comparison: for the Buenos Aires Conference: US $ 20700.00).
The figures
show a decrease of income for the organisation of the Conference, compared with
the situation of the Buenos Aires Conference. Even though there was some amount
remaining from the Buenos Aires Conference, which the donors permitted to use
for the general work of IAMS (investments held by the end of 1998 amount to GBP
40.000,-), one has to monitor the financial situation closely.
Regarding
the expected expenses for the Conference the following figures were given:
Accomodation (including meals) for seven
days: US $ 324,-
(break-up: accomodation per day
per person SA Rand: 253,-;
daily fee: SA R. 155,- = US $ 26,-
breakfast: SA R. 19,95
= US $ 3,33;
dinner: SA R.
78,- = US $ 13,-
This
calculation reckons with 200 people, an exchange rate of 1 US $ = 6 Rand and
also with 10 % inflation. It would then amount to a daily rate of US $ 42,33 (+
10 % = 46,56); the total costs for accomodation would amount to US $ 376,- per
person.
In addition
there are some expenses for the exposure programme, for translation facilities
etc.
In the
light of these figures it was resolved to fix the charges for participants at
the following rate:
Total amount: US $ 480,-
(break-up: US $ 100,- for Conference
fee, US $ 380,- for accomodation).
The
allotment of subsidy for travel and accomodation will be finalized by the
office bearers of IAMS. Special attention has to be paid to the participants
from South Africa. The following guidelines should be observed:
- IAMS is
sponsoring the full participation (accomodation, conference fee) of 15 members
of the local organising committee of SAMS;
- all
members of SAMS should be encouraged to participate in the Conference;
- we should
identify some key people of African Instituted Churches whose participation is
being sponsored by IAMS;
- if people
come to the Conference and want to have daily meals we charge them US $ 25,-;
- we expect
people, if possible, to attend the whole Conference; some concessions have to
be made for people from South Africa, particularly if they look for
possibilities to stay outside the Conference Centre (the charge of US $ 150,-
was suggested).
In
conclusion it was stressed that further appeals for grants from various
agencies should be made (for example Missio/Aachen, SVD/St. Augustin, CSM
etc.).
Organisational
Matters:
Translation:
There
should be translation into French and Spanish. Since hiring of professional
translaters is a too costly affair, it was resolved to request friends from
South Africa to engage some young people with the translation business and pay
them some money. The issue of translation equipment has to be checked; the
equipment which was taken from Buenos Aires to Birmingham is probably not suitable
for South Africa.
Book Display:
It is expected that again book
publishers would like to display their publications and also sell them during
the Conference. This should be encouraged, but the scope of publishers has to
be widened beyond Orbis Books. It may be helpful to invite additional
publishers, for example also from India and particularly from Africa (Clusters
Publication, Pauline Press). - Addresses of publishing houses should be given
to the Secretary to issue an invitation.
Information Board:
There
should be a big board in the lobby or at some central place to share
information amoung the Conference participants. It also would be good to have
every day a conference bulletin.
Informations about South Africa:
The letter
of confirming the participation in the Conference should also provide
information about the expected weather condition in South Africa for end of
January, about medication, about a contact address in South Africa, about Visa
problems, about the way to get to the Conference Centre etc. - Also the timings
of the arrival of people should be given to the local committee.
10. Election process
......
11. Revision of the IAMS Constitution
........
12. Reports from the IAMS Interest Groups
........
13. IAMS Finances
.......
14. Membership issues
Applications for
Membership
The following persons were accepted as new individual members of IAMS:
Dr.
Allan H. Anderson, Birmingham, U.K.;
Dr.
Thomas J. Ascheman, SVD, Rome, Italy;
Mr.
Ioan N. Balaj, Malawi;
Ft.
Stuart Clifton Bate, Hilton, South Africa;
Rev. Klaus J. Burckhardt, Braunschweig, Germany;
Mr. John Casson, Birmingham, U.K.;
Rev.
Dr. Keith Davies, Manchester, U.K.;
Joseph
Denge Galgalo, Cambridge, U.K.;
Dr.
Roland Gierth, Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany;
Dr.
Gudrun Löwner, New Delhi, India;
Mrs.
Kirsten Kim, Cambridge, U.K.;
Rev.
Sebastian Kim, Cambridge, U.K.;
Mr.
Joseph Tse Hei Lee, London, U.K. (on condition of receiving recommendations);
Sr. Daphne Norden, London, U.K.;
Dr. Joern Henrik Olsen, Copenhagen,
Denmark;
Rev. Dr. John Malowyn Parry, Manchester,
U.K.;
Rev. Jeremy Pemberton, Cambridge, U.K.;
Ft.
Anselm Prior, Delmenville, South Africa;
Sr.
Sue Rakoczy, Pretoria, South Africa;
Mrs.
Catherine Rae Ross, Auckland, New Zealand;
Rev.
Prof. Kenneth R. Ross, Edinburgh, U.K.;
Ft.
Lazar Stanslaus SVD, Pune, India;
The following applications are still pending due to lack of information or
documentation:
Rev.
Carlos Ribeiro Caldas Filho, Brazil;
Rev.
Stanley Davies, London, U.K.;
Rev. Celestine Ik. Odogwu, Gambia;
Rev. Thilenga Kabala Emmanuel, Congo/South
Africa;
The following persons were not accepted as IAMS members:
Canon
John Francis Edge, Oswestry, U.K.;
Rev.
Emmanuel Kwabena Frimpong, London, U.K.;
The following institution was accepted as corporate member of IAMS:
School
of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway;
15. Dates of Executive Committee Meetings
There will
be no full Executive meeting before the Conference. However, regarding matters
of acceptance of new members there should be a telefone conference of Executive
members. The best date for it would be some time between 19.-23. July.
The
allocation of travel grants for the conference should be done through e-mail
correspondence - for comments from Executive members - and then through the
decision of Chun Chae Ok, Andrew and Klaus.
Then, there
should be an Executive meeting just before the conference. Executive members
are supposed to arrive in South Africa on Wednesday, 19th January; a
meeting, along with representatives of the local committee, is then scheduled
for the morning of 20th January 2000 in the Conference Centre.
Executive
members should also be aware of a short meeting of the old and newly elected
Executive committee towards the end of the Conference.
Klaus
Schäfer