The World Missionary Conference, held at Edinburgh in 1910, ranks among the most influential and widely remembered events in Christian history. Though the outcomes of the Conference have differed in many ways from the expectations of its participants, after a century its momentous significance is clearer than ever. While the missionary movement went into decline, from its work emerged a world church, with deep roots and vigorous expression on every continent. As the centenary of the Conference approaches, The time is ripe to examine its meaning in light of the past century And The questions facing Christian witness today. This book is the first to systematically examine the eight Commissions which reported to Edinburgh 1910 and gave the conference much of its substance and enduring value. it will deepen and extend the reflection being stimulated by the upcoming centenary and will kindle the missionary imagination for 2010 and beyond.

Studies in the History of Christian Missions/R. E. Frykenberg and Brian Stanley, series editors/ The World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 has come down in history as a unique event in the history of the Protestant missionary movement. Brian Stanley s book gives us a full and comprehensive account of the conference, doing so from the perspective of developments in the hundred years since the conference. His study should serve not only as a work of history but also as a work of theological reflection about mission as an ongoing international movement. I welcome this book as an important resource in the church s self-understanding and in its engagement with the world. Lamin Sanneh/Yale University/ Edinburgh 1910 laid the foundations of interdenominational understanding for the ecumenical movement of the twentieth century. . . . With impeccable scholarship, Brian Stanley has written a thorough and revealing analysis of this epoch-making conference. David Bebbington/University of Stirling/ An accomplished study revealing Stanley s deep scholarship and wide knowledge of the modern missionary movement. This book will surely become both a missionary and an ecumenical classic. David M. Thompson/Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge/ This long-awaited book is the definitive history of the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910. Stanley s thorough scholarship and elegant prose bring the conference to life and make a case for its enduring importance to the history of world Christianity. Scholars of missions, ecumenism, world religions, education, and Christian internationalism will find this superb study essential for their work. Dana L. Robert/Boston University School of Theology