1910년 에든버러 세계선교사대회 주제 “이 세대 안에 세계의 복음화”에 대한 선교학적 성찰

Missiological Reflection on the Theme of the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, “the Evangelization of the World in This Generation”

The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 discussed the “Evangelization of the World in This Generation”, and it attracted lots of interest thanks to its publicaton by John Raleigh Mott. However this theme was also criticised by Gustav Warneck who doubted the possibility of evangelization within a generation; he argued that the world evangelization cannot be bound to time, and this shows that ‘enthusiastic support’ and ‘harsh criticism’ were competing each other at that time. This article examines the significance of the slogan “Evangelization of the World in This Generation” by dealing with John Mott's monograph, and reconsiders the issues that it brought up from a missiological perspective. It by so doing asks a question whether this slogan can be realized today. John Mott's monograph consists of 9 chapters, which begins with the concept of this slogan. The second chapter deals with the question of responsibility of the world evangelization, and it is followed by the discussion of hinderances that block this goal for the world evangelization. Chapters from four to seven argues for its possiblity within this generation, which gives the achievement of the first century Christians, modern missionaries, the power of Church to support it, and its leaders as examples. Chapter eight discusses the core element in the world evangelization in this generation. The world Christian church has made an outstanding achievement after the Edinburgh Conference of 1910 as Mott predicted; the number of churches and Christians has increased significantly. However the Christian church has failed to cope with the upcoming global issues, and was often found to be an outsider. Furthermore many churches often weakened their power by conflicting with each other, and it made many Christians feel frustated, especially through the two World Wars, which resulted in the minus growth of church.This article questions whether the "evangelization of the world in this generation' is possible through this reflection of the last century. A positive answer to this question is possible when the church correctly interpretes the gospel and successfully applies it to the daily life in the world, because to live like Christ surpasses the material, financial and skillful mission strategies of the church in making fruits of mission.