EMS Annual Conference and Regional Meetings 2025 

Call for papers – Ecclesiology and Mission

The church is the Body of Christ in the world. It is the embodiment of the gospel and commissioned to reproduce itself among all nations. Its expression is diverse and continually evolving as it interfaces with the changing world it is sent into. The church came into being as the community of Jesus’ witnesses who were commanded to go out to their neighbors, towns, cities, and the ends of the earth. It is dynamic, creative, reproducing, and courageous as its members seek to nurture life in locally reproducing ways, wherever they find themselves. 

The church is a mission community dedicated to proclaiming and teaching God’s word. It cares for and extends God’s family. Demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit, the church brings God’s light to dark places, being a relevant societal example of holy living. It pursues God’s concerns for the world it inhabits and the communities its members are a part of. The church honors God as it affirms and encourages the diversity of all he has created. However, churches also often become institutions which struggle to retain their life-giving mission orientation.

Papers are invited on any aspect of ecclesiology and mission. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Theological explorations of mission and the church

• The church’s specific role in mission

• Any aspect of church planting

• Models of church as they relate to mission

• How the church mobilizes for mission

• Church and parachurch roles in training for mission

• Issues relating to churches in mission contexts

• Diaspora churches 

• Intergenerational church planting

• Church planting and evangelism in the context of violence

• The role of community in the church’s mission

• The role of the sacraments in mission

• The role of Bible translation in church planting 

Preliminary papers –  Regional meetings March/April 2025

To encourage research on ecclesiology and mission, preliminary papers (2000 words) are invited for presentation at regional meetings. These preliminary papers will be reviewed by regional teams and, according to their quality, recommended for full paper (4500-7000 words) presentation at the annual conference.

All papers must adhere to the Submission Guidelines of the Journal of the Evangelical Missiological Society.

Special Interest Groups 

If you have a special interest in a particular topic and can gather at least four presenters around that topic, you can apply to the Annual Conference Committee to have a Special Interest Group. Please provide:

1. Topic

2. A brief outline of its relevance to the conference theme

3. The names of the presenters, their regions, and the titles of their presentations

Papers not specific to the annual conference theme

To encourage conference participation, we invite research-based papers that explore any aspect of mission relevant to the EMS purpose. These papers will follow the same process as for the conference theme papers. Preliminary papers (2000 words) must first be presented to the regional meetings.

Annual conference format 2025

The 2025 Annual conference will be hybrid with online and face-to-face presentation possible. For presenters outside the US and Canada, fully online conference presentations will be scheduled in a track that suits Europe-Africa-Asia-Oceania timezones. Global Region members and people located outside the American continents are encouraged to participate! The format for this fully online track will be the same as in the Global Region meetings: presentation videos and the papers will be available for viewing and comments prior to the conference so that online time can be focused on discussion.