During 2008, both in the regional meetings of the EMS, and the national meetings, Missions Initiatives from Majority World Churches will be the focus. We would like to invite missiologists and other scholars who’ve researched the phenomenon, or practitioner-scholars with extensive first-hand experience, to prepare papers for these conferences. The regional vice presidents of the EMS will welcome volunteers to present such papers. Papers which regional VP’s deem particularly promising will be passed on to the program coordinators of the national EMS gathering, and the authors will be invited to present at that gathering and/or invited to revise for submission in the theme issue on Majority World Mission Initiatives to be published by William Carey Press in the annual EMS series.

Our goal is to publish a book which is solidly grounded in research, which is informed by wise and practically oriented missiological insights, which covers a wide range of topics and issues that have arisen in regard to what were earlier called “Non-Western Missions” but which more appropriately have come to be known as “Majority World Missions”. We hope to receive papers from professors, reflective practitioners, mission and church agency personnel, representing both Western and Majority World thinking.

Possible topics to explore:

What is the current status of global mission deployments from majority world churches?

What is the extent of regional deployment from, and within Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America?

Case studies of individual majority world agencies.

What have been the accomplishments of missions launched from the majority world?

How do western agencies, churches and missionaries relate to the efforts of majority world missions?

What are the benefits and challenges of partnerships between western and majority world missions.

Should missionaries work in homogeneous teams or is there evidence that international teams have greater positive impact?

What intercultural training programs exist for majority world missionaries?

How can majority world missions overcome financial challenges when based in countries with limited economic resources?

Are majority world missionaries receiving adequate pastoral care and oversight?

What can western agencies and missionaries learn from majority world missionaries and agencies?

What do majority world missionaries, agencies and churches say are their major obstacles and how do they anticipate overcoming them?

What is the role of major global diaspora movements as vehicles of mission or objects of missions?

Who should be a presenter?

Missiologists, youth ministries specialists, mission administrators and mission pastors with missiological training, anthropologists, sociologists, We would particularly like to hear from African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Christian leaders from other parts of the world (Africa, India, Latin America, etc.). We want a strong representation of women as presenters.

Questions to consider as you prepare your paper:

Does your paper engage a broad audience of mission pastors, missionaries, seminary students, youth pastors, etc.?

Does your paper have a section that deals with practical implications?

Does your paper demonstrate that you’re familiar with what others have written on the topic as it relates to your own focus?

Is your paper grounded either in extensive first-hand experience or in solid research?

Is your paper so broad that it covers the same themes everyone else will cover, or does it make a unique focused contribution?

Anyone wishing to explore various possible writing projects is invited to correspond with Enoch Wan ewan@westernseminary.edu or Mike Pocock mpocock@dts.edu who are the co-editors of the EMS volume for 2008.

Submission Guidelines

Papers submitted with expectation of publication should follow Turabian guidelines for bibliographic reference placed at the conclusion of each paper. To see examples of the approach used in the EMS annual volumes, see other annual volumes or Keith E. Eitel, ed. Missions in the Context of Violence (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2007.

Deadlines for submission.

Papers deemed relevant for reading at the National EMS conference and/or for the annual EMS series volume, should be forwarded by regional vice presidents in electronic format to Enoch Wan and Mike Pocock as soon after the regional meetings as possible, but in any case prior to June 1, 2008.