October 01, 1989 by Mike Pollard

More than 800 delegates representing 350 churches and organizations met at Wheaton College, July 26-29, 1989, for ACMC ’89. Tokunboh Adeyemo of the Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar in Nairobi, Kenya; Stuart and Jill Briscoe of Elmbrook Church inWaukesha, Wisconsin; Josef Tson of the Romanian Missionary Society in Wheaton were among those beckoning the North American church to strategic missions involvement in the 1990s.

This conference marked the fifteenth anniversary of the 1974 National Institute for Missions Committee Chairmen held at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, when delegates called for forming what became the Association of Church Missions Committees (ACMC).

Rationing and Re-Tooling

In his opening address, ACMC Executive Director Bill Waldrop recalled the mobilization of the United States for World War II: “Millions of young men and women were recruited into the military forces. American industry re-tooled to produce weapons, supplies, and equipment for war. Everyone paid higher taxes and bought war bonds. People gave up sugar, gasoline and rubber; they were a mobilized nation,” he said.

Though the American church faces in world evangelization a more significant battle than any in World War II, it is failing to mobilize. Conservative estimates place the number of American evangelicals at 30 million—with some polls setting the number at 69 million. And these evangelicals possess 80% of the world’s Christian wealth. “Yet today only one in every ten American churches is involved in missions in the New Testament sense of that term,” said Waldrop, exhorting churches to awaken neighboring churches to enlistment in the battle for the 12,000 unreached people groups of the world.

Waldrop likened the American church to the Corinthian church of the New Testament. Wealthy and seduced by its surrounding culture, the American church seems prepared to suffocate in its materialism, he asserted. He introduced plenary speaker Josef Tson as a representative of the modern day suffering Macedonian church. Tson reminded delegates of Christ’s call to die to self and exhorted them to obey II Timothy 1:8: “Join with me in suffering for the gospel.”

In Christ—No East or West

ACMC annually invites at least one plenary speaker to bring an update from the church in another part of the world. This year Tokunboh Adeyemo presented his perceptions of the African church and its increasing involvement in sending missionaries. Adeyemo serves in Nairobi, Kenya as the General Secretary of the Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar. He described the advantages and difficulties of African missionaries, and encouraged the western church to be partners in the Two-Thirds World missionary enterprise. “No single nation’s church can reach the world alone,” said Adeyemo. “North and south must embrace; east and west must join hands.”

On the occasion of ACMC’s fifteenth anniversary, board chairman Forrest Schwalm recognized ACMC original incorporators Steve Tavilla, Don Hamilton, and Ralph Winter at a celebration breakfast. Dr. Winter also led a seminar entitled “Unreached Peoples: God’s Priority,” where he highlighted current strategy for unreached peoples. “The purpose of missions is not merely to plant churches, set up schools and hospitals and do good,” asserted Winter. “You can plant a thousand churches but reach only one people group. The ultimate global strategy of missions is to penetrate people groups.”

In addition to plenary addresses, ACMC ’89 featured workshops in two distinct tracks. “Mobilizing the Local Church” included workshops on missions education, missionary preparation, pastoral leadership, and local church missions conferences and committees. “Strategies For the Nation” covered field strategies such as tentmaking, Bible translation, urban evangelism, and church planting.

The Meaning of Mobilization

During one plenary address, Waldrop unveiled ACMC’s new definition of a “mobilized church.” To gauge the success of its goal to mobilize 6,000 churches for missions by AD2000, ACMC will define such a church by the following criteria: 10% of the members are regularly and systematically praying for missions;

• 10% of the members are regularly and systematically sharing their faith;
• 10% of the church’s budget is spent on cross-cultural outreach;
• 1% of the church’s members are en- tering cross-cultural service;
• the church is working to involve one neighbor church in missions.

Conference attendant Wesley Tullis, chairman of the USCWM Mobilization Division is encouraging ACMC to add one more standard: A mobilized church should also have adopted an unreached people group.

Waldrop said, “We’ve been praying this conference would be a watershed event for the mobilizing movement in the upcoming decade. At this conference, I believe we turned that corner.”

Contact your regional ACMC representative for mission resources and training materials. Write for information to ACMC, P.O. Box ACMC, Wheaton IL 60189-8000 USA or call 312/260-1660.