The theme of the conference is “RETHINKING ‘’THE GREAT COMMISSION’’: EMERGING AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES.”
CONFERENCE RATIONALE
Kenneth Scott Latourette has described the period 1800-1900 as “the Great Century”; this period in ecclesiastical history witnessed a massive thrust of missionary activity into Africa and the rest of the two thirds world. Two major mission conferences that occurred in the 20th century following the Great century are significant for students of missiology, particularly those on the African continent. Edinburgh 1910 has gone down in history as the mission conference that reinforced the misconceptions and stereotypes that many in the western world held about Africa. The Le Zoute Conference of 1926 struck a more positive note; it was more affirming of African religions, culture and heritage. Several other mission conferences have taken place ever since; to what extent was the African dimension a prime concern in these conferences? In other words, to what extent was the agenda in those conferences informed by the realities of the African situation? When Jesus said his disciples should go and make disciples of all nations, he must be understood to mean that the nations, apart from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, include those in Africa as well. After all the baby Jesus sojourned in Africa for a brief period of his infancy, and we are aware that Christianity made inroads into Africa in the 4th century, precisely in the Ethiopian Kingdom of Axum, a couple of centuries before it got to Europe. Unfortunately much of the modern history of the church, south of the Sahara, beginning from the 19th century is lost to us; what this conference aims to do is draw awareness to this hiatus and encourage students of missiology to turn attention more to this aspect of our history. A lot needs to be told of the exploits of local natives, many of them catechists, evangelists and lay people, who blazed the trail in the spread of the gospel to their own kith and kin. The other objective of the conference, which derives from the primary aim, is to explore and discuss the sources in which most of these stories lie buried.
DATE: October 19 & 20, 2016
VENUE: Trinity Theological Seminary
RESEARCH AREAS:
Local Histories of Churches
Academic Biographies of Evangelists, Catechists, Pastors, Lay Leaders
Issues of Missiological Importance Relevant for Our Contemporary Period
Surveying
the Broad Spectrum of the Nexus Between Missiology and Other Fields of
Human Endeavor such as Music, Literature, Economics, Politics, Science,
Migration, and Culture in their Manifold Dimensions.
A Critique of Missiology as Mediated to us from Sources Relevant for Mission Studies.
Annotation of Bibliographies and Archival Sources Relevant for Mission Studies
Exploiting the African Dimension in the Great Commission.
PRESENTATIONS:
Possibly,
about 14 Full Quality Papers received will be presented at One
Conference Hall. These include an International one from Prof. Enoch
Wan, the Immediate Past President of the Evangelical Missiological
Society (EMS), North America (USA & Canada).
CONFERENCE FEE: GHC100.00
BANK DETAILS
BANKERS: ECOBANK
BRANCH: A & C Mall
ACCOUNT NAME: Missiological Society of Ghana
ACCOUNT #: 0153074492812001
