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The idea that would evolve into what is now the Canadian Churches'
Forum for Global Ministries took shape during discussions on mission
and mission training following the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of
1910. This was a seminal event in the history of twentieth century
Christian mission and ecumenism. In 1917 representatives from several
protestant mission boards and several theological colleges which were
part of the University of Toronto began an extended conversation which
resulted in the founding of the Canadian School of Missions. The
founding denominations were Anglican, Baptist, Congregational,
Methodist and Presbyterian. The chief contributors were Canon S. Gould
(Anglican), Rev. J.G. Brown (Baptist), Dr. James Endicott (Methodist),
Dr. R.P. Mackay (Presbyterian, Chancellor Richard Bowles and Dean
Edward Wallace (Victoria College), Professor F.H. Cosgrave (Trinity
College) and Principal Alfred Gandier (Knox College). After a great
deal of planning, it opened with a gala celebration at Knox College in
1921.
The school's first director was Dr. J. Lowell Murray, a former
missionary and participant in the Student Volunteer Movement. His
hiring began a long connection with students which continues even
today. The school's first home was a desk in the corner of the office
of the Rev. H.C. Priest, Secretary of the Missionary Education
Movement, in the old Confederation Life Building. It soon
"outgrew" the desk and began a ten year nomadic existence in
which it "outgrew" place after place until finally it was
decided to buy a building. As is still the case, much of the School's
work was funded by donations from churches and individuals and in
1928-29, a campaign committee raised $55,000 which was matched by the
Rockefeller Foundation to purchase its first property at 97
St. George Street. The building still bears the stone
inscription, "Canadian School of Mission".
In the early days of the School, the Student Volunteer Movement and
student mission study groups of the arts and medical colleges made
time for courses in mission. Many university and theological college
professors gave voluntary assistance in instruction. In the 1930s, the
first of many lecture series, the N.A. Powell Lectures, began which
attracted prominent international church personalities such as Dr.
John R. Mott and Professor K.S. Latourette to speak on different
aspects of Christian missionary service. Interest in mission amongst
the laity was high and the lectures were well attended and reported on
in each of Toronto's daily papers.
The school ran a number of programs designed to raise awareness of
the work of missionaries as well as to prepare those offering to
become missionaries. Alongside the lectures, ongoing courses were
prepared for missionaries on furlough. In the 1930's, the pursuit of
higher degrees to satisfy the requirements of educational and medical
instruction resulted in the development of elective courses for
theological and training college students and the establishment of the
Missionary Orientation Courses. The school also functioned in those
early days as a sort of club and activity centre for returned
missionaries.
In 1947, Dr. Murray retired and was succeeded by Canon T.W.
Isherwood and a year later by Dr. L.S. Albright. One of Dr. Albright's
first projects was the co-founding of the Toronto Institute of
Linguistics with Dr. Eugene Nida of the American Bible Society. This
was a huge program which by the late 1960s had an annual registration
of between eighty and one hundred students and in which twenty-nine
mission agencies participated. In fact, it was so successful that it
became an institute in its own right.
During the 1950s, the Canadian School of Missions' building was a
very busy place. It served as a meeting hall and a home for the
missionary groups of its participating churches as well as numerous
other bodies. The Women's Inter-Church Council was housed at the
School for many years. Their presence was important to the life of the
School because it added a specifically ecumenical development to what
had already been an unofficial ecumenical centre.
By the late 1950s, the Canadian School of Mission was running
several programs: courses on Christian mission for university
students; courses for missionaries on furlough; the Toronto Institute
of Linguistics; an expanded version of the Missionary Orientation
Conference, memorial lectures; customized tutoring programs; not to
mention maintaining a very specialized missions library. The J. Lowell
Murray Memorial Lecture Series was inaugurated which over the years
would attract such eminent international personalities as Dr. Frank W.
Price, Dr. M.M. Thomas and Dr. Jose Miguez Bonino.
By 1960, the global ecumenical scene was changing and a special
conference was held to try to decide what the school's focus should be
in the future. One of the conference's recommendations was that the
Canadian School of Missions should join the Canadian Council of
Churches (CCC) in creating an ecumenical centre. In 1962, the School
was reborn as the Canadian School of Missions and Ecumenical
Institute. The reorganized school continued to carry on the programs
of the Canadian School of Missions but added to its mandate other
study interests and concerns of the ecumenical effort.
Upon Dr. Albright's retirement in 1963, Canon H.L. James Puxley was
appointed the School's new director. Canon Puxley had previously been
working as Secretary to the CCC's Departments of Overseas Missions and
Evangelism. Mrs. H.C. Priest was also hired as the first full-time
librarian. The following year Dr. Katharine Hockin was appointed the
first Dean of Studies. She organized several courses in Ecumenics
which attracted both Protestant and Catholic students and was to
become one of Canada's leading missiologists and ecumenists.
At roughly the same time, the Canadian Theological Students'
Conference, which had been run by the Student Christian Movement for
ten years, was transferred to the School at the request of the
students. For the first time, the conference was able to include Roman
Catholic students in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. A
visiting scholarship, the Kaufman Fellowship, for students in
mid-career with proven competence in missiology and ecumenics was
funded. This began what later became known as the International
Visitor Program. Another program, "Open Evenings" featuring
World Council of Churches (WCC) visitors was also sponsored. The
nationally acclaimed bible study program sponsored by the School was
also undertaken. This program consisted of church based ecumenical
bible studies on a wide variety of topics. This was truly the zenith
of the School's activity.
In 1965, the Canadian School of Mission and Ecumenical Institute
underwent another major reorganization. The phoenix arising from the
ashes was renamed the Ecumenical Institute of Canada and offered
programs under four major headings: Academic, Consultative, Research
and Reference. A visiting professor program was established to bring
world scholars to the Institute.
This was also a particularly fruitful time for guest lecturers;
both the Cody Memorial Lecture Series and the Gallagher Lecture Series
were undertaken which brought to Canada such well known speakers as
Dr. Raymond Panikkar, Rev. R.M.C. Jeffrey, Bishop Stephen Neill, Dr.
Vissr 't Hooft, Brother Thomas of the Taize community, Bishop R.
McAdoo and Dr. Philip Potter. |
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In the late 1960s, the Institute took on several special research
projects such as the "Sexuality and Family Life Study", a
national conference on the meaning of "Ecumenical," and a
joint study with Roman Catholics on religion in education. Other key
projects forwarded by the Priorities and Development Committee of the
CCC were "Salvation Today" and "Faith and Order"
Commissions.
In 1969, the University of Toronto succeeded in expropriating the
Institute's building at 97 St. George Street and it moved to  11 Madison Avenue (see picture). That
same year the new Toronto School of Theology (TST) was born and the
new graduate faculty made arrangements to take over all courses
previously taught by the Canadian School of Missions with the
exception of those in the area of missiology. An invitation was issued
to the Institute by TST to provide instructors for two courses under
its aegis, one in general missiology and the other in methodology.
Shortly after this move, confusion between the Ecumenical Institute
and the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago, located at 17 Madison Avenue,
necessitated a name change. It became the Ecumenical Forum of Canada
but continued to focus on missionary training programs and lecture
series. In October, 1974, the first issue of the bi-monthly "Fish
Eye Lens" newsletter was published to help disseminate the
growing amount of information on mission and ecumenism accumulating at
the Institute.
In 1973, it was decided to stop and take stock of the churches'
present ecumenical needs. Outside consultants, Janet Somerville and
Charles Hendry, were hired to analyze which programs existed in the
Toronto area for preparation for ministries other than that of Word
and Sacraments. They were also to gauge how willing people were to
work ecumenically and, whether it was feasible to create some sort of
united effort in this field. Their report, "An Affection for
Diversity", was published with the recommendation that the Forum
should focus on its heritage as a school of mission. It should become
a centre for understanding world mission, for teaching missiology and
to help end ethnocentric pride and narcissism, racial bigotry and
mono-cultural blindness. Finally, it should be a centre for
inter-faith encounter, study and reflection. Also part of their
recommendations was the suggestion that once again the Forum's name
should be changed to reflect its intercultural and Christian focus.
It would take six years and the interim staff team of Sister
Veronica O'Reilly and Arturo Chacon to shepherd the Forum through the
massive changes suggested by the "Affection for Diversity"
report. At the end of this challenging period, Lois Wilson and Michael
Cooke came on board as Co-Directors of the Forum. The new Forum was a
streamlined entity with a smaller Board of Management and a narrower
focus of activities. The Forum's program emphasis began to shift in
the 1980's from academic courses on mission to cross-cultural mission
education, especially with the growth of the International Visitors
Program and participation in the Canadian Theological Students' Study
Tours. International visitors included Dale Bisnauth from Guyana, Sun
Ai Park from Korea, Mercy and Modupe Oduyoye from Nigeria and Karl
Gaspar from the Philippines. The Forum also initiated the Canadian
Theological Reflection Project which told the stories of the Canadian
ecumenical coalitions and eventually led to the publication of
Coalitions for Justice in 1994.
In October 1989, after another extensive re-visioning process, the
current structure of the Forum was approved and the name was changed
to the Canadian Churches Forum for Global Ministries. The "Fish
Eye Lens" was discontinued and the new semi-annual publication,
"Forum Focus" was born. The system of Co-Directors continued
with Patricia Talbot and Tim Ryan until 1994 when a new staff
configuration of three coordinators was put in place.
Programs continue to shift and change to meet the needs of member
churches and other participants and to respond to the challenges of
living in a global church. The current Missionary Personnel Programs,
Orientation, Furlough and Reentry, help to support those who are
involved in international cross-cultural ministry. Alongside these
programs, there is a companion program for the children of overseas
staff. Among the participants in the orientation program are an
increasing number of people coming from other countries to work in
Canadian churches. The Forum also offers more intensive orientation
programs for short term visitors to Canada and for Canadians engaging
in shorter term cross-cultural ministry. A new and successful program
is the mission discernment weekend designed to provide a knowledgeable
and supportive environment for individuals to explore God's call to
mission work. Three important resources, the video "Making
Contact" and the books, "Coming Home" and "On Your
Way" have been well received as important tools in helping those
involved in cross-cultural global ministry. The Forum continues to
sponsor and staff the Canadian Theological Student's Conference and
the International Visitor Program.
In the 1990's, there has been an increased networking with other
ecumenical organizations and participation in shared projects. The
Forum was a lead organizer in the Ecumenical Presence Project in 1992
which enabled Canadians to be a part of ecumenical gatherings in the
Dominican Republic at the time of the Fourth Latin American Bishop's
Conference there on the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus
in the Americas. Currently, the Forum is working with several other
organizations in the Faith and Justice Training Project, a series of
twenty workshops being held across Canada to promote economic literacy
and theological reflection on the current economic situation. The
Forum has also participated in the Canadian committee engaging in the
WCC study on "Gospel and Culture".
In 1996, the Forum celebrated its 75th anniversary with the theme
"Mission Impossible?". In a very different context from
1921, it attempted to engage its members and friends in the Canadian
churches to reflect on the nature of mission and global ministry. In a
speaker series in the winter and spring and later in two days of
celebration and reflection in September, the focus was "Voices
Raised". Hopefully part of the response to new challenges in
creative ways is hearing from previously unheard voices. These voices
have been there all along and they continue to call all of us to new
life and new possibilities. They come from the marginalized in all
cultures in our global community. We are only now finally beginning to
hear them and understand that they have much to teach us. What should
our mission be today? How do we continue to respond to God's Word
today in a way in which we can truly continue to be leaven, salt and
light for the world? |
