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Verbum et Ecclesia
versión On-line ISSN 2074-7705
versión impresa ISSN 1609-9982
Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.30 no.3 Pretoria 2009
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v30.i3.175
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
doi: 10.4102/ve.v30.i3.175
The role of the Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research in the past and present
Attie van Niekerk
Institute for Missional and Ecumenical Research, University of Pretoria, South Africa
ABSTRACT
IMER, the Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research, was initiated in 1979, when the 20th century missionary movement in the Dutch Reformed Church had already started to unravel. IMER's history gives us insight into these events. IMER has focused on the missionary calling of the church and on guiding the church in its broad responsibility to Southern African society. IMER conducted a comprehensive study on the unfinished task in the eighties, from which a variety of other projects followed. The understanding of the task of mission has gradually broadened to include the church's responsibility to the whole of life, with faith in Christ at the centre. However, as funding for the missionary movement diminished and the university had to cut down on expenses, funding for IMER dried up. IMER is now in the same position as mission itself, and even many congregations: it has to be innovative and find new structures and new sources of funding to respond to the challenges of a new century.
Keywords: IMER; missiological research; ecumenical research; University of Pretoria; missionary calling of the church
Full text available only in PDF format.
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Correspondence:
Attie van Niekerk
PO Box 38465
Garsfontein -Oos
Gauteng, 0060
South Africa
E-mail: asn@xsinet.co.za
Received: 11 July 2008
Accepted: 20 Aug. 2008
Published: 17 Dec. 2009