• • Vol. 24, No.4 nternatlona October 2000 etln• Mission and the Mystery of the "Not Yet" or the last decade or more, December 31, 2000, has sands of people groups remain unreached. With December 31 F loomed for a good manyChristians as the date bywhich looming, someleadersin theforefront of the AD 2000 movement they hoped to see the completion of world evangelization. They have moderated their forecasts, acknowledging that maybe we will very likely be disappointed-and they are not the first. don'treallyknowwhetheror notreachingthelastunevangelized In April of 1900the challenge and hope of world evangeliza­ people group on earth constitutes completion of world evange­ tion converged, at leastfor NorthAmericans, in New York City's lization. So how will we know when we have fulfilled the terms Carnegie Hall. Thomas A. Askew, in the opening pages of this of the Great Commission? Can Matthew 24:14 continue to be issue, provides a "you-were-there" account of the Ecumenical used-as evangelicals have used it for more than a century-as Missionary Conference-ten days of missionary reports, testi­ a key to the timing of Jesus' promised return and glorious mony from young, articulate non-Western converts, debates kingdom? over mission issues and strategies by world-renowned leaders, We willcontinue to rely on Jesus' promise to be withus in the and the emergence of young visionaries like John R. Mott and "now," until the very end of the age, as we seek to be faithful to Robert E.Speer. In these pages we breathe the atmosphere of our the Great Commission. But we will also confess that there re­ forebears' hopes and ideals. Clearly, they felt that the evangeli­ mains a mystery as to why the "not yet" is not yet! zation of the world could be done, and ought to be done, within their own generation. David G. Dawson analyzes the financing of missionary expansion in the early twentieth century, and how the men of the church-particularlythose in the business world-wereenlisted in the cause of mission. Over a period of just a few years, North On Page American financial support for world mission increased in some 146 The New York 1900 Ecumenical Missionary denominations by 200 percent or more. Conference: A Centennial Reflection RobertT.Cooteevaluatesa morerecentbutsimilarfervor for Thomas A. Askew world evangelization-the AD 2000 movement and its concern 155 Funding Mission in the Early Twentieth for the 2,000 to 10,000 remaining unreached people groups. A Century central preoccupation of the movement is the concentration of David G. Dawson least-evangelized peoples occupying a large swath across Asia 160 IIAD 2000" and the JJ10/40 Window": and Africa dubbed the 10/40Window. Some of our readers may A Preliminary Assessment think this AD 2000 campaign sounds like the undertaking of a Robert T. Coote few fringe evangelicals. But as Coote notes, linking newefforts in 168 Xhosa Missionaries to Malawi: Black world evangelization with the date of December 31, 2000, cap­ Europeans or African Christians? tured the attention and energies of significant numbers of main­ T. Jack Thompson line Protestants and Roman Catholics as well as evangelicals. 172 My Pilgrimage in Mission But closure-the "not yet"of our title-continues to elude PeterP. J. Beyerhaus us. John R. Mott died in 1955 at the age of ninety without seeing 164 Noteworthy the world evangelized in his generation. And now, as the twen­ 175 Book Reviews tieth century draws to a close, we find that Christians (defined in 181 Dissertation Notices the broadest sense) constitute a slightly diminished proportion 182 Index 1997-2000 of global population as compared to the year 1900. And thou­ 192 Book Notes of issionary Research The New York 1900 Ecumenical Missionary Conference: A Centennial Reflection Thomas A. Askew 'J'en years ago, New York's Carnegie Hall celebrated its senseNewYork 1900mustbe viewed as a public media event, ..l. grand opening, which took place a century earlier, in one of the most extensive attempted in American religious 1890. The 1990 centenary program highlighted memorable past history. events in that famous venue: concerts, recitals, premieres, hon­ 2. To provide an international forum for missionaries and mis­ oredgatherings-everytype of distinguished achievement. Glar­ sion executives to assess experiences, strategies, and issues. In ingly omitted from the list, however, was one of the most this regard the conference sought to foster professional con­ ambitious, well-attended, and internationally significant con­ sultation within a broader popular program. Yet it must be claves in the auditorium's history: the New York Ecumenical remembered thatNew York 1900,like previoustrans-Atlantic Missionary Conference, held from April 21 to May 1, 1900. gatherings, was not a church council. Bearing no official Carnegie Hall served as the conference headquarters and authority, representatives spoke only for themselves. Proce­ locationof plenaryaddressesfor the morethansixtysessions that dural principles prohibited formal resolutions. Nevertheless, also filled nearby churches and meeting places. Estimates placed exchanges did take place on questions of vital concern, issues attendance numbers at 160,000to 200,000for the ten-day gather­ that would be more systematically unpacked at the World ing. Simply stated, it was the largest sustained formal religious Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910. event in the history of the Republic to that date and the best­ 3. To demonstrate a unified church and manifest the oneness in attended international missionary conference ever. Participants mission of Protestant Christianity, resulting in greater comity included former president Benjamin Harrison, sitting president between the denominations in reaching the world for Christ. William McKinley, New York governor Theodore Roosevelt, as In short, to aid a fragmented Christianity in finding ways to well as globally distinguished clergy and mission leaders. Offi­ collaborate on foreign fields. This quest for cooperation, ex­ cial delegates numbered 2,500, with 162 mission boards repre­ emplified by the annual consultations of mission leaders at sented. The term "ecumenical" was introduced in the title, not various field conferences overseas, was an aspiration carried implying that every branch of the Christian church was cooper­ over from the 1888 London Centenary Conference on the ating, but "because the plan of campaign which it proposes Protestant Missions of the World and before. covers the whole area of the inhabited globe."! The conference drew wide coverage from the secular and religious press. The NewYork 1900organizers tookinto account qualitative The failure of the Carnegie Hall centenary publicity even to changes that had developed in mission efforts during the 1890s. mention the conclave betrays the profound shifts in the religious These included the swelling ranks of female missionaries as well ethos and cultural memory since 1900.Largely forgotten, except as the dynamic mobilization of student volunteers, topics that for a few missiologists and historians, is the challenge that were accorded a "Women's Day" and a "Youth Day" on the Christian foreign missions stimulated in the popular imagina­ agenda. Recognized but assigned less emphasis were two other tion at the opening of the twentieth century. This essay recog­ initiatives of the decade, the interdenominational "faith-mis­ nizes the centennial of the New York Ecumenical Missionary sion" movement and the emerging dialogue among leaders of Conference- and offers selected perspectives on that bygone the globally dominant religions, exemplified by the 1893 Parlia­ epoch of missionary dynamic. ment of the World's Religions at Chicago's Columbia Exposi­ tion.' Any assessment of New York 1900 has to evaluate its Conference Goals and Preparation effectiveness in terms of its three goals, seen in end-of-the­ century context. A survey of press accounts, leaders' testimonials, conference Expectations ran high as invitations for the New York speeches, and official records reveals a composite of objectives Ecumenical Missionary Conference were dispatched. A that could be termed inspiration, consultation, and cooperation. perusal of popular mission publications in the United Kingdom Separately delineated these were: reveals great interest as delegations planned to attend. "The time of the gathering is significant. We are on the dividing line 1. To mobilize congregations and Christian public opinion to­ between two centuries.... Let there be earnest prayer [for the ward greater mission commitment, financial support, and conference] ... inaugurating a new era in the evangelization of increased missionary recruits; to do so by communicating the the world" editorialized the Missionary Record in Scotland.' In advances of the passing nineteenth century and enumerating New York the Missionary ReviewoftheWorld sponsored a "postal the needs of the non-Christian world in the opening twentieth card symposium" requesting that key representatives enumer­ century. There was also an apologetic objective: to meet ate their goals for the conclave.' Memories of the London 1888 antimissions criticism within and without the church. In this Centenary Conference fueled anticipation. At least 120 of those at New York 1900 also had experienced the London 1888 Exeter Hall meetings. Fittingly, New York 1900 was perceived as a Thomas A. Askewis therecently retired Stephen Phillips Professor ofHistory logical continuation of trans-Atlanticmissionconsultationsreach­