We need to be informed of what God is doing in his world.
The information will cause us to appreciate the greatness of our God and the certainty of his promises. It will also stimulate us to prayer for many of our brothers and sisters who are paying a high price to follow Christ today. In Europe it is possible to think that as Bible-believing Christians we are part of an ever-decreasing minority, yet we are a protected minority, though the fear is that these protections are fast disappearing.
The reality is that we are part of a rapidly growing global church, with growth as strong today as at any other time in history. But we are also part of a suffering body. Martyrdom, persecution and repression of the church is also reaching levels as serious as at any other time in history.
Global Tour of God’s promises
This story must be told. It is a story that glorifies God. One encouragement for me, when the fiery darts of doubt are aimed in my direction, is to remind myself of God’s promise made to Abraham. It was a promise of outrageous grace. Imagine you are reading your Bible for the first time. You have made your way through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. It’s painful as you read of humankind’s disobedience and rebellion. As you turn the page to chapter 12 you might be expecting to read of God’s punishment on humanity, even its destruction. But God promises global blessing – no people will miss out.
A hundred years ago the fulfilment of that promise seemed an impossible dream. But not today, as we witness the astonishing spread of the church through Africa, south of the Sahara, Asia and Latin America. And in countries such as South Korea, where from just a few thousand believers in 1900 the church has now gone past the 20 million mark. In large areas of Latin America, Africa – south of the Sahara desert – and Asia, these are days of unprecedented harvest. Even in the Middle East we hear remarkable stories of God’s blessing, even though the pressure on the church grows, it would seem, to bursting point. We believe God’s people need to know about this.
Unstoppable God
We need to hear this information. Our God is unstoppable, the future of his church secure, his promises 100% reliable. But we need to know the battle we are in. This remarkable growth, as we should expect, is not happening without opposition. Lord Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi writes: ‘The ethnic cleansing of Christians throughout the Middle East is one of the crimes against humanity of our times and I am appalled that there has been little international protest.’ We must be informed of the struggles our brothers and sisters are facing. But this is only one aspect of the opposition. We have seen close to hand increasing intellectual opposition and, possibly most dangerous of all, the values of a secular materialistic age overwhelming those of us who should be living by ‘kingdom’ values.
Global mission
The three priorities of the Convention are ‘Hearing God’s Word, Becoming like God’s Son and Serving God’s Mission’. There is no question that the Convention has served God’s mission over the last 140 years.
Thousands of missionaries look back to the Convention as the place where they heard the call of God to deeper involvement in his mission. Missionary societies have been formed as God’s people have responded to ministry at the Convention.
12 missionary societies
This year the life-changing information of God at work in his world will be communicated as part of what we are calling The Global Tour, with 12 missionary societies working together to deliver a series of four seminars to report on the work of God in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. At future Conventions we hope to cover other areas of the world with the help of more missionary societies. Pray that this will result in a fresh surge of commitment by God’s people to his mission in his world.
