March 01, 1984 by by Zane C. Pratt

Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary is another example of the wedding of missions vigor and theological education. Zone C.Pratt. In his third year of Gordon Conwell's Div. program, is chairmen of he Student Missions Committee of GCTS and author of this article, reprinted from Wherever magazine of TEAM. Zane spent last summer in Pakistan with the GCTS Overseas Missions Practicum.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, in the Massachusetts North Shore town of Wenharm, a young man named Adoniram [action grew up in the manse of the Congregational church, Although his lather, the pastor, raised him in the biblical tradition of his Puritan forefathers, Judson rebelled during his college years at Biown University and embraced the Deism which was fashionable at the time. God, however, had great things in store for this wayward New Englander.

Following a dramatic series of events, young Adoniram was converted to the faith 01 his  father. He attended seminary, persuaded the Massachussates sells churches that foreign missions was an imperative, and sailed for Burma in 82 with his wife. Nancy, as the first missionaries to leave the United States.

Their going had a dramatic impact on the new republic. A missionary movement was started, and devout parents named their children after the pioneers. One product of his time was Adoniran Judson Gordon who, like his namesake, was from Masschusetts.

A. J. Gordon grew up to be a minister and evangelist. He founded Gordon College and Cordon Divinity School in Boston to train people to be missionaries in foreign lands. The college has since moved to Wenham, the boyhood hometown of Adoniram

Judson. The divinity school merged with the Conwell School of Theology in 1969 to form Gordon¬Conwell Theological Seminary in the adjoining town of Hamilton.

Gordon Conwell remains strongly committed to the evangelical faith and missionary vision of its founders. A missions track in the Master of Divinity program allows students to concentrate on preparation for overseas service. The missions department is under the leadership of Dr. J. Christy Wilson who served as a missionary in Afghanistan for 22 years.

The Missions Committee, associated with the Student Foreign Missions Fellowship, is entirely student run and coordinates the work of promoting overseas missions among the Gordon Conwell student body.

The goals of the committee are to inform and motivate the seminary community toward an active world vision, Informing spans three areas: the biblical basis for world evangelization, the needs and conditions of the world today, and current trends and events in missionary activity around the globe The task of motivation involves challenging students to translate the information into action.

The committee encourages students to seriously consider going into foreign mission. However, the full objective is to get every Gordon Conwell graduate involved in world evangelization whether at home or or, the foreign field.

The most important means God has given us in reaching these goals is prayer The reconquest of the planet for the kingdom of God is a spiritual battle against spiritual enemies. As students pray for   specific needs around he world, they become informed about these needs and place themselves in an open position before the Holy Spirit regarding their role in meeting these needs.

Thus the backbone of our ministry is a noon prayer meeting held each weekday throughout the school year. Up to SO students attend these ceives attention in these three hour sessions.

Small prayer cells meet weekly (Or using on specific areas such as the Arab world or China. Under the ditection of Jeff Prey, these groups have been upgraded this year to include accountability Structures designed to encourage and maintain a world vision among the members.

In addition to prayer. Gordon Conwell students are directly involved in spreading a world vision through Theological Students for Frontier Missions. TSEM was established at the Edinburgh Conterence in 1080 for the purpose of focusing the attention of seminary students on the onreached people of the world Despite the fact that 2.5 billion or the wend's 4 billion people live in people groups with no indigenous witness to the gospel, less than ten percent of the current Protestant missionary force directed toward these people groups. TSFM encourages students to address that imbalance by committing themselves to the task at hand in missions.

Gordon Conwell has been deeply involved in TSFM since its inception. Gordon ConsvcIl students were in the original group at Edinburdh; and the current president, Jim Beates, is a Gordon Conwell student. Gordon Conwell's TSFM student representative, Nancy Calvert, coordinates efforts to spread this vision to evangelical students in other seminaries in the Boston area.

Each year the week Following Columbus Day is designated Missions Emphasis Week. This event is our most direct challenge to lie seminary community All chapel services are devoted to missions speakers, and mission boards are invited to send representatives to speak to students on an individual basis. This year's theme was "Missions in the local Church," with speakers Norman and Jacquelyn Friberg and Phil Parshall.

Immediately following Missions Emphasis Week, Gordon Conwoll hosted the A. J. Gordon Vision 83 Conference, successor to the Vision '82 Conference held at Princeton. The 83 Conference for students Irons the northeastern United States and the Maritime Provinces 0r Canada featured David Bryant. Ralph Winter, and Ruth Siemens as the main speakers. The Missions Committee also sponsors the International Chapel program, designed to expose students to forms of Christian worship in non Western cultures.

One of the most exciting missions programs at Gordon Conweil is the Overseas Missions Practicum, it began several years ago when students Lynn Belle and Harriet Whitesides spent a summer in Calcutta, India. working with the ministries of ?irther Teresa.

With full backing from the seminary. slits program has expanded into an ongoing outreach involving 30 to 40 students yearly Students participate in a classroom orientation course to prep.sre them for cross cultural minitry then gc in teams to various parts of l f.1 vjorld lot the sum mer, Their Swiss ohiectives are service to the poor and evangelization of unreached peoples Last year teams went to Ecuador, Egypt, India. Pakistan, and lugoslavia Participating students lint only receive a challenge themselves, but also spread their vision to others when they return.

Editor's Note: Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary has also officially endorsed and is pot't cipalinq in the Frontier' Fellowship movement. Recently GCTS  introduced its own customized edition of he Frontier Fellowship Global Player Digest. President Robert E. Cooley hails this step as "a further demonstration of Gordon Conwell's dedication to reaching unreached people for Christ at home and abroad.