Archives

  • Acta Missiologiae 2022
    Vol. 10 (2022)

    “Mission Online-Offline: Divergence, Ambivalence, and Renewal” was the topic of the annual conference of the Central and Eastern Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS). CEEAMS held the conference fully online, between the 22nd and the 24th of February 2022. The conference invited presentations that sought to address the various aspects of mission’s online-offline entanglement. I offer this rich volume to the reader with the invitation to critically and constructively join the theological-missiological conversations also within the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS), and by doing so to experience what theology-missiology done in association with CEE Christians might look like or might sound like, but even more to reflect upon embodiments of the theological conversations both online and offline.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2021
    Vol. 9 (2021)

    It is a well-established praxis that the yearly published journal of our Association draws on material presented and discussed at our annual conferences. This year’s conference, “Mission Matters: Trends, Challenges, and New Perspectives in Christian Mission in Central and Eastern Europe” (23–25 February 2021) was fully online. The conference reflected upon the mission-experiences related to the pandemic. These special times continue to challenge those engaged in mission in all its dimensions (at the level of communities/churches, organization, academia) to revisit theologies of mission and identify some of the core questions: how to be present in the world, on this planet as disciples of Jesus Christ, as communities called and sent? How to be present in the midst of suffering and pain, hopelessness and sin, unjust structures and corruption? How do God’s healing, comfort, truth, love, compassion, and peace relate to mission praxis in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond?

    The peer-reviewed contributions to this issue are each examples of components of public missiology: theological education, environmental concerns, politics, mission beyond the western-non-western dichotomy, and migration. In the non-peer reviewed section of this issue, we publish the re-edited text of an earlier publication by Corneliu Constantineanu. By doing so we wish to signal the impact and importance of his work and invite the reader to “listen” to his always friendly and engaging voice. He reminds of the importance of reconciliation as a missiological task in and for the societies in CEE.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2020
    Vol. 8 (2020)

    While there is remarkable research on youth in general in Central and Eastern Europe, little attention has been given to the so-called Generation Z, which are people born from the mid-nineties. Yet this is the generation targeted by ideologies of different governmental and non-governmental organizations. It is also the generation most exposed to the consequences of changes in education and world politics and the generation most affected by globalization and the cosmopolitan condition. Generation Z plays an important role when it comes to Christian missionary activities, missionary self-awareness, mission organizations and programs as well as theological education in Central and Eastern Europe. Generation Z is both agent and target of missionary enterprises. Nevertheless, the knowledge about who Generation Z is and what their role, vision, way of thinking and feeling, and way of practicing Christianity is, remain undiscovered areas of missiological-theological research and reflection.
    The present volume seeks to deepen the theological-missiological conversations on the issues sketched above. It does so by first offering four blind peer reviewed articles on different aspects of youth research in the region. The academic articles then are complemented by two articles written from a more reflective practitioners’ point of view.
    In his contribution as one of the key-note speakers of the conference, František Štĕch creates a broad framework for conversations on youth and mission in Central and Eastern Europe. He does so by identifying different levels of the conversation where youth are not only research objects and “missionary targets” but active agents who engage and shape understandings and practices of Christian mission in the region. Árpád Fosztó’s article calls attention to the importance of cultivating “youth” through the means of character formation. Fosztó relates youth ministry and the Christian education of the youth to the broader and historical cultural heritage of character formation and invites the reader to draw lessons from a parallel reading of Stoic philosophers and Christian theology in order to cultivate virtuous lives. Fosztó’s article is a call to go beyond egocentrism and the need to educate youth for loving and serving the neighbor and thus achieve a “happy life.”

  • Acta Missiologiae 2019
    Vol. 7 (2019)

    The articles of this issue were presented and discussed during the conference. “Spirituality matters” implies that we as trained theologians, missiologists, and reflective practitioners address the issue of spirituality with awareness; we acknowledge that our own spirituality matters when it comes to our functioning as theologians, researchers, missiologists, and re-flective practitioners. Spirituality has much to do with the method, the way we choose to function as academics, ministers, leaders, and reflective practitioners. Spirituality has much to do with one’s biography. It is in this way that CEEAMS embraces autobiographical the-ology-missiology. At the same time, we deal with spiritual matters and by doing so we find ourselves in the field of spirituality studies.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2018
    Vol. 6 (2018)

    The present issue of ACTA MISSIOLOGIAE offers the readers some of those papers presented at that conference which made further steps into the form of a written theology. We have consciously sought to include the contributions of different voices both in terms of academic and ministerial experience. Voices of theological educators and PhD students can be read together.

    While the editors may not always agree with the theological arguments of the specific authors, we wish that ACTA (in the same way as the annual CEEAMS conferences) serves as a forum where different theological-missiological views can enter into conversation with each other and where written forms of theologising-missiologising can be practiced.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2017
    Vol. 5 (2017)

    Nine contributors with nine different mother tongues, belonging to nine different Christian communities, living in nine different countries, serving ten different academic institutions or/and missionary organizations authored ten documents relevant for present day missiological discussions. They point to the inherent complexity of societies in which missiology seeks to be present, both as a listening discipline and one with a distinguishable voice.

    All but one of the contributions originated in presentations given at the annual conference of the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies, May 10-13, 2016, in Osijek, Croatia, which placed the issue of human mobility on the agenda of missiological research and Christian praxis in and related to Central and Eastern Europe. These contributions challenge academics to further reflect on the methodologies implied in their engagement with migration studies; they call missionary organizations with programs designed to help refugees and migrants to think more deeply on the theologies which lay behind their missionary activities; they encourage pastors and ministers to revisit the relationship between church and state when it comes to human mobility, migration, and war; and they invite all those who do theology to pause for a moment and listen to other voices, less familiar in their own environment.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2015
    Vol. 4 (2015)

    In this issue we offer a very interesting range of articles. The first two are of a more general missiological interest.

    Peter Penner shares some research from his Habilitation, outlining the developing field of missional hermeneutics. Pavol Bargár discusses and evaluates the phenomenon of the emerging church movement, which is not yet particularly widespread in our region, but whose influence seems to be growing. The next several articles pertain more specifically to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). I’m particularly pleased with the geographic breadth represented. Valentin Kozhuharov offers an overview of mission in Russia and Eastern Europe. Then follow articles describing specific aspects of theological concern and practice in the region. First, Olga Zaprometova examines the intersection between ecclesiology and pneumatolgy in Russian Pentecostalism through the lens of the Lord’s Supper.

    Gill Kimber suggests trinitarian theology as the basis for improved cooperation in mission between Romanian Orthodox and Baptist churches. Peggy McPhee shares from her research on perceptions of mission theology on the part of Bulgarian evangelical missionaries. And finally, Dorottya Nagy offers a fascinating look at the Chinese diaspora community in Budapest as they transition from being migrants to rooted members of Hungarian society, and how the church plays an important role in that process. Our Chronicle in this issue is a compilation describing a number of developments related to CEEAMS and missiology in the region.

    We conclude with several book reviews.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2011
    Vol. 3 (2011)

    There seems to be a growing consensus that mission is something crucial to the life of the church, and not some peripheral option for the few, extra-adventurous people who are willing to travel and cross cultural barriers. In a variety of church situations, and increasingly in theological education, mission is moving to the center. Christopher Wright, during a recent symposium on the missional church, held at Denver Seminary and co-sponsored by WorldVenture and Denver Seminary, quoted a Danish friend who expressed frustration about the missional church movement. Quoting him (loosely!), „to speak of the missional church is like speaking of a female woman‖. What other kind can there be? A church that doesn‘t have mission at its core has ceased to be the church. It‘s encouraging to see that churches around CEE, after years of looking inward and being concerned primarily about survival, are also catching this conviction. We see this growing interest reflected in several of the articles in this issue.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2009
    Vol. 2 (2009)

    Because of the participation of representatives from these two great faith blocs, as well as from Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, the issue of the relationship between various denominations comes to the forefront, particilarly in the Edinburgh conference. To what extent will the other churches be recognized as legitimate expressions of Christianity, and with what degree of respect will those churches be greeted?
    This question has given rise to a number of reflections in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly as it relates to the relationship between Orthodox and non-Orthodox churches. The 2009 conference of the Central and Eastern European Association of Mission Studies (CEEAMS) in Moldova took as its theme the issue of „Dialogue and the Mission of the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.” Several of our authors in this second issue of Acta Missiologiae treat the whole question of dialogue, both between denominations as well as between Christianity and other religions.

  • Acta Missiologiae 2008
    Vol. 1 (2008)

    Welcome to the premiere issue of “Acta Missiologiae: The Journal for Reflection on Missiological Issues and Mission Practice in Central and Eastern Europe”. Acta Missiologiae is the journal of CIMS in close cooperation with CEEAMS. That’s a lot of letters to describe who we are! As basic information, CIMS is the Central and Eastern European Institute for Mission Studies of the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Budapest, Hungary and CEEAMS is the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies.
    Anne-Marie Kool will introduce those two organizations to us in the following article.
    Our name is Acta Missiologiae. This is intended to carry meaning on multiple levels. On the one hand it refers to acts or proceedings of missiology, or missiological acta, documents. Some of the articles we offer here are documents intended to expose us to the results of consultations, conferences, symposia, and other gatherings where missiological topics are discussed. On the other hand, the word acta has a reflection and action element. We want to encourage the thinking and praxis of reflective practioners. Academic research is sterile if it does not ultimately help us to fulfill the mandate given by our Lord to be a blessing to the nations of the world.