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What is Nations?

A missional network of ethnically and linguistically diverse churches in Edinburgh with the aim of building relationships and working alongside one another to reach people in Edinburgh for Jesus and bring them into the beautifully diverse body of Christ.

 

Through prioritising a network approach, we hope to better fulfil the needs of Edinburgh through harnessing the missional fervour which is present among the diverse churches in our city. There are 70 Nations churches in the city, with 5 out of 7 continents represented.

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Why does the Nations network exist in Edinburgh?

Excerpt from The Polyphonic God (p132)

“Edinburgh is a city renowned for its history. Tourists travel from across the globe to wander the cobbled streets and marvel at the architecture, galleries and museums. It also has a rich Christian history that has left an indelible mark on the global church. In 1910, it witnessed the first world missionary conference, which aimed to see ‘The Evangelization of the World in This Generation’ (Ponraj and Devasahayam, 2010). At this conference, there was a recognition of the need to work ecumenically to do mission, but there was little representation of the global church with only 17 out of the 1,200 delegates being from outside Western Europe and North America (Sunquist, 2013). 100 years later, another world missionary conference was held in Edinburgh, and the number of Global South representatives was intended to present the reality of the global church of the time, with 60 nations represented by the delegates (Fox, 2011). This increase in diverse Christianity in the world is now reflected in the church in the city of Edinburgh itself.

A 2024 research report published by the Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC) at the University of Edinburgh states that there are ‘at least 80 global Christian groups’ in Edinburgh (Chow, Wild-Wood and Hatzaw, 2024). We estimate that 29 nations are represented among these churches as majority nationalities (not including all nations represented by individuals within each church). Around 26 languages are being worshipped in regularly as the sole majority language or as an equal majority language with English. The CSWC report breaks down the ‘global Christian groups’ into three helpful categories: autonomous churches, international churches, and sub-congregations (i.e. fellowships within existing mainstream churches) (Chow, Wild-Wood and Hatzaw, 2024). This final category makes it difficult to tell exactly what percentage of Edinburgh churches are ‘global Christian groups’, but we can estimate that minority-ethnic and/or minority-language groups represent roughly 16% of the churches and Christian groups in Edinburgh in 2024. This figure is taken from the assumption that there are 80 groups out of the 500 Christian organizations that are mainly minority ethnic and/or linguistic. These are the statistics used in the Global Christians in Edinburgh report, 2nd edition (Chow, Wild-Wood and Hatzaw, 2024).”

Edinburgh University Research Report.

Get Involved

If you are interested in getting involved, or learning more about Nations, please email partnerships@edinburghcitymission.org.uk

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…there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…

Revelation 7:9

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An Open Hand Referral Application
This form may be used by support workers and other professionals to apply for gifts for families in Edinburgh from An Open Hand (we cannot accept self-referrals).

Our aim is to help the families that need it most. We would be grateful if you could ensure that families fall into an area of need listed below before applying. We won’t be able to accept applications out with the below criteria.

Criteria for application:

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