Why was this theme chosen for the general council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Seoul? The obvious answer is that the question of the missionary task arises with particular urgency for the Reformed churches. How do we understand the church's apostolic mission? What is mission? What is evangelism? It is a long time since these questions appeared on the agenda of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Great changes have meanwhile taken place. It is high time to raise the question once more, therefore, and to ask ourselves how we can together obey Christ's call to mission and unity today.

It is not simply a matter of producing a theologically correct concept of mission. A still more important question is how the Reformed churches can become a missionary fellowship in the world today. The missionary witness is not simply the verbal communication of a message but consists in sharing with others the life we ourselves have received from Jesus Christ. The proclamation of the word of God is undoubtedly central but the question of the quality of our life as witness to the truth of that word is no less central and decisive. The Acts of the Apostles is the biblical book which, more than any other perhaps, shows us most clearly how the first Christians went about their missionary task. This New Testament book shows us again and again how closely and indissolubly the proclamation of the gospel and the new life in the power of the Holy Spirit are knit together.

The theme of this section, therefore, is not simply "mission" but "mission and unity". The unity of the Christian community is an integral part of its living testimony. The missionary task is betrayed when the church abandons God's gift of unity and becomes fragmented. The fulfilment of the missionary task presupposes unity. In the last analysis, our theme should really be "mission in unity". Divided as we are in many countries into a multiplicity of churches, we Reformed have special cause to reflect on the connection between mission and unity. How is this anomalous situation to be remedied?

We are also confronted with the question of our role and commitment in the ecumenical movement today. A large number of Reformed churches have long been engaged in the ecumenical movement, seeking fellowship with other churches and participating in the life and work of the World Council of Churches. In recent years the World Alliance of Reformed Churches has sought in various ways to encourage and deepen the ecumenical commitment of its member churches. In particular, it has conducted a series of dialogues with other confessional traditions. What is our understanding of this commitment? The theme "mission and unity" will also provide an opportunity to reflect on this ecumenical role.

This booklet includes, firstly, a number of questions to be raised at the general council in Seoul. Next there are four documents introducing us to the various aspects of the theme. These emerged from conferences organized by the World Alliance in preparation for the Seoul general council. The first document is the report and findings of a consultation on "mission and unity" held in the John Knox Centre in Geneva from August 21st to 27th, 1988. The other three are the fruits of a conference organized by the Alliance's department of theology in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, near Geneva, from July 11th to 15th 1988.

The executive committee's report on the work of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches since the Ottawa general council (1982) contains much information bearing on the theme "mission and unity". This will not be reproduced here, therefore. You are referred in particular to the two chapters in that report dealing respectively with the Called to Witness study and the work of the department of theology, particularly on the bilateral dialogues.