ABOUT 700 people are gathered in Orlando, USA, to seek God’s vision for evangelism in the next decade.
Fueled by the momentum of Cape Town 2010, the Lausanne Movement gathering of 4,000 leaders from 198 countries last Fall, the US Lausanne Committee / Mission America Coalition (MAC) has convened hundreds of U.S. leaders, and some from other countries.
Twenty-eight separate ‘affinity consultation’ groups are discussing the issues the Church faces in carrying out the Great Commission and will submit practical next steps following the Consultation. Their topics span every arena of evangelism and missions from global justice to creation care to Islam to mobilizing congregations in missions.
The event opened Monday with a prayer focus – participants around 110 tables prayed for humble Christ-like hearts.
“You could feel the vibe in the whole room as people from table to table began to pray for each other. It was really exciting for me. A great evening,” said Glenda Washington, of Jacksonville, Fla..
“This is what the Mission America Coalition is all about,” says Paul Cedar, chairman, “bringing together leaders from all sectors of the body of Christ – denominations, ministry networks, city movements, churches, evangelism and mission organizations – to humbly carry out the Great Commission together. That’s why we began with an evening devoted to prayer.”
Lon Allison, executive director, Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, gave the morning plenary address, ‘A Larger Evangelism.’
Allison said many Christians fall into three camps of ‘Words, Works, and Wonders’, but we need them all.
“Both the Church and the world are blessed by this fullness of God in action through us…in a tired American world where modernity hopes have grown…disappointed,” he said.
R. York Moore, evangelist for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, delivered one of the responses to the plenary.
“The long history of our evangelical heritage placed too much emphasis on the wrath of God and far too little on the wonder working power of God to re-create the nations – to transform not only soul, but society as well,” he said. “Our hope is not in the destruction of the world but in its re-creation.”
The event ended on April 6. For the affinity consultation findings and ongoing dialog on the topics, go to their website.
