The first of four global consultations celebrating the centennial of
Edinburgh 1910, the Tokyo 2010 Global Mission Consultation brought together around 1,000 Christian mission leaders from 140 countries in May 2010. Another 1,000 attendees came to Tokyo 2010 as observers. The theme and
watchword
A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
of the consultation was "Making disciples of every people in our generation." This watchword built on the previous two watchwords of Edinburgh 1910 and Edinburgh 1980, which were “the evangelization of the world in this generation” and “a church for every people by the year 2000.” The watchword of Tokyo 2010 thus took the “generation” time frame of Edinburgh 1910, and the
social group
In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties ...
emphasis of Edinburgh 1980, and added the discipling aspect of Matthew 28:19-20.
Task Forces
Tokyo 2010 was organized into 18 task forces, covering such areas as research, training, crisis response, technology and mission, global
discipleship
In Christianity, disciple primarily refers to a dedicated follower of Jesus. This term is found in the New Testament only in the Gospels and Acts. In the ancient world, a disciple is a follower or adherent of a teacher. Discipleship is not the ...
assessment and global mission coordination. Each task force made assessments in three areas, relative to their particular focus: What is the current need and what is being done about it? What remains to be done? and How can mission agencies help to bridge the gap between present efforts and the projected need over the next ten years?
Finishing the Task
A special listing called the Finishing the Task List was distributed at Tokyo 2010, which documented the existence of 632
unreached peoples
In Christianity, an unreached people group refers to an ethnic group without an indigenous, self-propagating Christianity, Christian church movement. Any ethnic or ethnolinguistic nation without enough Christians to evangelize the rest of the natio ...
over 50,000 in population without any long-term missionary engagement. Specific commitments were made by agency representatives at Tokyo 2010 to engage 171 of these in the next three years with missionary work. Delegates also signed up to send out 1,244 oral Bible teams, which will dub Bible stories for priority language groups which have a high percentage of oral-learners. Eighty-five mission agencies also volunteered to help with national surveys to identify communities without access to a local church.
Historical Significance
Special emphasis was given at Tokyo 2010 to the growth of the
non-Western
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. missions movement. At Edinburgh 1910 there was no representation from
non-Western mission agencies. At Edinburgh 1980, roughly 30 percent of the delegates were from the non-Western world. At Tokyo 2010, over 65% of the delegates were from non-Western mission agencies.
See also
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Timeline of Christian missions
This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a listing of the most significant missionary outreach events.
Apostolic Age
Earliest dates must all be considered approximate
* 33 – Great Commissi ...
*
1910 World Missionary Conference
The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Prot ...
References
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21st-century Protestantism
Protestant ecumenism
Christian missions in Asia
2010 in Christianity
2010 in Japan