The Seventh-day Adventist Church contributed to the Centenary of the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, 2 - 6 June. The event marked 100 years since the last Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, when more than 1,200 Christians representing numerous faiths and countries gathered to discuss the future of mission.

One hundred years later, the 1910 conference is still recognized as a significant event in modern mission.

Seventh-day Adventist missiologist, Ganoune Diop, co-chaired the "Foundations for Mission" session. Also among the 250 delegates attending the conference were Cheryl Doss, director of the Church's Institute of World Mission in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and John McVay, New Testament scholar and President of Walla Walla University in Washington.

Andrew Anderson, chair of the 2010 conference, said Adventists had been invited to participate because "it has been recognized that Adventist missionaries have been making a very significant contribution to missionary work worldwide."

"Adventists can bring to the event their reflections on how their own movement has been influenced by the success of its missionary outreach worldwide - the diversity of nationality, race, and language," Anderson said. "The Adventist vision for the future shape of mission will be particularly valued at Edinburgh 2010."

The Adventist Church "holds in high esteem other Christians who are also engaged in sharing God's love with the world," said Gary Krause, director of the Office of Adventist Mission. "It's a privilege to contribute our distinctive approach to the agenda of this historic mission event, and help place a higher emphasis on the commission He has given us."

The aim of the conference was to explore the best ways to share the gospel in the twenty-first century. Nine study themes including post-modernity, relating to other faiths, unity, spirituality, discipleship, and mission and power were on the agenda. Diop, a theologian who focuses on the integration of theology and mission, said, "I'm grateful to be part of a venue that explores ways to present Christ to our contemporaries."

A "Common Call" to renewed commitment, affirmed by this year’s conference, was addressed to the Christians of this era and affirmed at the climax of the closing celebration. The conference delegates agreed that, "hearing the call of Jesus to make disciples of all people - poor, wealthy, marginalised, ignored, powerful, living with disability, young, and old - we are called as communities of faith to mission from everywhere to everywhere. In joy we hear the call to receive from one another in our witness by word and action, in streets, fields, offices, homes, and schools, offering reconciliation, showing love, demonstrating grace and speaking out truth."

At the original Edinburgh conference in 1910, three Adventist church leaders attended the 1910 meeting, including L.R. Conradi, vice president of the General Conference and president of the European Division, representing the Advent Mission as Mission director, and two Adventist pastors from North America.

One frustrating part of the conference for Edinburgh residents was that it was a 'closed event' only for experts in the field - unlike its predecessor 100 years previously. Local Adventist pastor, Jimmy Botha, along with other clergy in Scotland's capital city, made enquiries about attending the conference. He says, "I felt it was an opportunity missed by all denominations, not so much for what we didn't do, but for which this organisation didn't allow us to do through their secrecy." The contrast has been made with the plans for the 59th World Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be held in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) starting 23 June. There, while the business sessions are in full swing, Community Impact and Outreach programmes will also be running across the city with the aim that the programme benefits not just delegates and the World Church, but makes a real difference to the host city.