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Welcome
to the International Mission and Ecumenism Program (IME)
of the Boston Theological Institute. IME is a resource
for BTI students, faculty, and friends who care about
mission, the nature of Christian unity, issues that
arise in inter-religious dialogue (sometimes called
the “wider ecumenism”) and other cross-cultural, interdenominational,
and international aspects of Christian faith. IME works
to build bridges among BTI member schools, as well as
their respective faith traditions, by celebrating the
love of God in Jesus Christ at home and abroad. The
IME program works to provide an entry into the Global
Church through the following ways.
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The IME Faculty Committee
is made up of representatives from each of the BTI schools.
• The Costas
Consultation in Global Mission highlights a dimension
of global mission each year through special speakers, panels,
and opportunities for students to engage mission studies through
a variety of means.
• The IME program works closely with Mission
Studies Partners such as the American Society of
Missiology, particularly the Eastern Fellowship of ASM. A mission
conference is sponsored each Fall Term. Faculty, students and
friends are encouraged to attend. Special mission courses are
sponsored each year by the Overseas Ministries Studies Center
(OMSC). These are occasionally available for academic credit for
BTI students. The International Bulletin of Missionary Research
is published by OMSC.
• The IME faculty promote special programs and courses in mission
and ecumenism in the BTI schools with the idea that mission in
the 21st century must be done in relation to ecumenical considerations
– and ecumenism is emptied of meaning without the commitment and
understanding that characterizes mission. See the annual BTI Catalogue
(also online) for current information on courses offered.
• The Trustees of the BTI have promoted a program in Focused
Ecumenical Theological Education (FÊTE) for
the past several years. This program fosters a rota of courses
entitled “Comparative Christianity” that focuses upon particular
sets of issues that confront the churches. Currently, the BTI
is pursuing the question of what it means to be a church and religious
community in the Middle East.
• Mission is defined in several ways, as evangelization, church
planting, social justice and liberation. One of the emphases in
the IME committee has been on Mission
as Reconciliation. This has been developed in terms
of Building Cultures of Reconciliation, through the International
Reconciliation Network (IreNe), and through programming in Restorative
Justice. The latter has often been together with the Center for
Restorative Justice, Suffolk University, as well as with JUSTPEACE,
a program of the United Methodist Church.
• The Trustees of the Boston Theological Institute have authorized
the IME faculty to offer a Certificate
in International Mission and Ecumenism. This is an
award of the faculty and functions much like a “minor” through
the course of one’s studies. It is available to special and matriculated
students of BTI schools.
• Annual Reports
are written by Student Coordinators covering the work of the year.
A sampling of reports may be found at this location.
• Occasional programming is done in cooperation with the Walker
Center, a Boston-area ecumenical conference and resource center,
in Newton, Mass. Contact the Walker Center, (617) 969-3919, for
information on their periodic programs: walkercenter@rcn.com.
• ECUDOCS: Ecumenical Documents On-Line. A project of the BTI
and the International Mission and Ecumenism Committee.
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See
papers by Professor Darrell L. Guder (Dean, Princeton
Theological Seminary) and Monsignor John B. Kauta (Manhattan
College) from the 2005 Costas Consultation in Global Mission,
“Is North America a Mission Field? What Does the World
Church Say?”