XIth quadrennial Assembly of the International Association of Mission Studies
Malaysia, July 31 to August 7, 2004
Report to the IAMS prepared by Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Kool, IAMS member and president of the Central and Eastern European Association of Mission Studies (CEEAMS)
REPORT ON THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF MISSION STUDIES (CEEAMS)
History
In November 2002 the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies was inaugurated in the Protestant Institute for Mission Studies in Budapest, Hungary, on the initiative of those in a leadership position at chairs in missiology in Central and Eastern Europe, or Mission Institutes: Dr. Vladimir Fedorov (Orthodox Institute for Missiological Research, St. Petersburg, Russia) Dr. Peter Penner (International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, Czech Republic), Prof. Dr. Jan Gorski, Krakow University, Dr. Sergei Shikorov (Moscow Center for Mission Studies, Moscow, Russia), Drs. Sándor Gaál and Drs. László Gonda (Reformed University of Divinity in Debrecen, Hungary) and Dr. Anne-Marie Kool (Protestant Institute for Mission Studies, Budapest, and the Reformed Theological Academy in Papa, Hungary).
Over the last few years missiologists from Central and Eastern Europe met at various conferences, most recently at the International Association for Mission Studies-Europe conference in Halle and for the last four years or so at the Missiological Research Fellowship meetings of the Protestant Institute for Mission Studies in Budapest, Hungary. Others met recently in Rome at an IAMS conference on "Rescuing the memories of our people".
At these meetings we realized that we all face more or less the same struggles in formulating and addressing the missiological issues of our "post-communist" contexts and in introducing a new discipline in the theological curriculum: missiology. It also became clear, that we hardly know of what each of us is doing in the area of research, teaching and publications.
Since this - pioneering - situation in Central and Eastern Europe differs so much from countries in e.g. Western Europe where missiology has been well established for many years, the need was increasingly felt to establish a special Central and Eastern European international and interdenominational platform to serve and coordinate the small initiatives in this field, linked internationally to the International Association of Mission Studies. The aims of the CEEAMS will be similar to those of IAMS.
The growing significance of the region’s contribution to wider missiological research and discussion is evidenced by the involvement of a number of CEEAMS members in confessional and inter-confessional processes, specifically the European Mission Research Project of the Conference of European Churches, the Leuenberg Fellowship, the International Association of Catholic Missiologists, the Commission for Ecumenical Theological Education of the World Council of Churches, the Council for East European Theological Education, and key Orthodox mission programmes, including a soon to be published biography of Orthodox missionaries.
Activities
From May 12-15, 2004 the first CEEAMS conference was held in Budapest, Hungary, with 20 representatives of a wide range of countries, educational institutions and denominations in the region, including Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, Romania, and Hungary. CEEAMS has an active interest in increasing missiological research activity within the region hence it was logical that this year’s Conference should take a closer look at Missiological Education in Central and Eastern Europe. Participants included those involved in teaching missions, missiology and ecumenics at an academic level and those considered to be “potential” educators.
Membership
Publications
Current research foci
Represented Institutions:
1. Orthodox Institute for Missiological Research, St. Petersburg, Russia
2. Protestant Institute for Mission Studies, Budapest, Hungary
3. Chair of Missiology, University of Krakow, Poland
4. Department of Mission and Evangelism at International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, Czech Republic
5. Department of Missions, Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, Kiev, Ukraine
6. Chair of Missiology, Debrecen Reformed University, Debrecen, Hungary
7. Chair of Missiology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Papa, Hungary
8. Moscow Center for Mission Studies, Moscow, Russia
9. Department of Evangelical Theology and Mission of University Matej Bela, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
10. Department of Missiology of Novisad Theological College
