MISSION ’90

It was well past midnight and George Verwer was still going strong as he led over 9000 Europeans in a Concert of Prayer on the last night of Mission ’90--the student mission conference hosted by The European Missionary Association (TEMA) every three years. The four days preceding had been filled morning till night with stirring calls of commitment to Christ and His Great Commission. Small groups had hammered out, on personal levels, the obstacles to a “no-holds-barred” commitment to that commission; there were Bible studies, mission agencies exhibitions, “how-to” workshops and more than just a little praise and worship.

Urbana, but Different

This Mission ’90 held outside of Amsterdam in Utrecht was much like the U.S. Urbana student mission meetings, but with important distinctives. Though the average age was 27, the music, emcees and overall feel of the conference was younger, less conservative than Urbanas of the past (organizers of Urbana who were present promised that Urbana ’90 would be up-dated with a similar style).

Sleeping 1000-plus to a room in five separate men's or women's dormitories, eating and meeting under the one roof of Jaarbeus Convention Center made for more togetherness than Urbana gives. But the most obvious difference was language. Sessions were in English with simultaneous translation into more than a dozen other languages. Best represented were the Swiss, Germans and Dutch, but many also attended from the UK, Scandinavia, and Southern Europe. More than 600 from Eastern Europe participated.

What a magnificent milieu this mix of languages and peoples made for a mission conference! Pleas for Yugoslavs to plant churches among the Albanians and Russians to share Christ with Uzbeck Muslims within their borders rang crisp and compelling.

European Advantages

With Europeans’ multicultural up-bringing, it seems they are in many ways better equipped to work cross-culturally than Americans. Another "advantage" is the resistant soil of Europe. Even in Western Europe, being a Christian still puts at least a question mark in friends’ minds if not in the personnel file. Of course, the resistance in Eastern Europe is stronger yet. For the most part, this pressure seems to have produced a stronger breed of Christian than in the U.S. However, the picture of the Eastern European church being chock full of “super Christians,” most of them imprisoned or tortured for their faith, is simply not true. Some have been persecuted, to be sure, but the pressure, while still quite difficult, was generally more subtle.

E. European Mandate

What does this mean for missions in Eastern Europe in particular? These believers seem to need some time to catch their breath, to breathe the fresh air of freedom. They need time to develop strong leadership, and the Western ministries that have been working there can be of great service in that endeavor. The question is: ‘Can these ministries see our Eastern European brothers and sisters for what they will become in this new day--more of a missions force than a mission field ?’ History would suggest that such a perspective will be difficult; relatively few mission organizations have been able to make that transition. It is hoped these will.

Most Mission ’90 participants felt that the Eastern Europe contingent will have a more vital role in completing the Great Commission than in the past. But the seeds of their missionary accountability must be planted in Eastern Europe now; it will be more difficult to inject them later.

W. European Awareness

And what should be the American posture towards the mission movement in Western Europe? There is obvious need for greater collaboration and cooperation, of course. But most Americans, European believers felt, need something more basic--awareness. Many church planters are still struggling to maintain a beachhead, but many others are developing staging areas for great offensives. Last year's “Love Europe” conference and outreach, (there are plans for two more this year) is only one example!

Stanley Davies, head of the Evangelical Missionary Alliance in Britain (like the U.S. IFMA and EFMA), is helping to launch a British-ized “Perspectives” course; German theological students are translating the material into German. The house-church movement in Britain is launching church-planting teams throughout the continent. YWAM outreaches are meeting with success! In short there is much happening in Europe, and we in North America need to stay informed.

An overview of Mission ’90? Even the secular press is cautioning the world with this advice that might be well-taken in the mission enterprise: concentration on the Pacific Rim has caused us to overlook the possibilities and power of Europe in the ’90s. Any plans failing to factor in this reality are short-sighted. Or worse.

Attention: Mission Executives
Dear Mission Executive:

We at the U. S. Center want to be of help to mission agencies in every way possible. You and your concerns are therefore the first priority of our ministry.

Our main purpose, like yours, is to see all the people groups of the world reached with the Gospel of Christ. Our part is to find ways that we can represent your interests and handle your materials, by opening up our regional offices in collaboration with organizations involved in similar mobilization work.

We now have staff and offices, affiliated or autonomous, in eleven areas in the U.S. and three in Canada (see back cover), with more being planned. We would like to see reginoal offices of this sort in every major city in North America. The staff people will need to have a good handle on the spiritual temperature of their area and can tailor the available resources and materials to the needs. They will be active in church mission conferences and can promote your work, using your materials and other information you share with them.

To be of help, we want to be a clearing-house of educational resources and up-to-date information for people and organizations interested in frontier missions. The opportunities for discipleship in mission vision are also multiplied wherever our staff work and live in a local area, making personal contact more feasible and probable. From a ministry standpoint, we hope your efforts and resources can be multiplied wherever USCWM people are throughout North America.

Think of the regional office as a travel agent who sells tickets for the airlines. The agent services the airlines by being an extension office, yet also services the customer by having access to many airlines to fit individual needs, saving both the airline and the customer time. Tapping into this network will be like having additional representatives.

Perhaps the major way you can take advantage of such regional staff is to use their offices as an avenue of publicity for events in which you are involved. For example, Jim Nielsen, Upper Midwest Region, has an area calendar that churches and agencies use as an effective bulletin board for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, a region of great mission interest.

You may also want to use our regional offices as distribution centers for books or videos; you might make a consignment agreement with them. Or if you have people near one of our centers, there is the possibility of sharing office space. The Rocky Mountain Center is a working example of this situation. Tom Craig reports how encouraging it is to work alongside organizations in the common task of mobilization. This follows the model of the Pasadena USCWM in having collaborating agencies physically nearby, sharing space, equipment and ideas for strategy.

The bottom line objective is to enlist everyone in every possible strategic aspect of the mission cause, from mobilization to overseas service. To accomplish this we want to link up with you to mobilize every section of our country!

If you would, please share this idea with the person in your own mission agency office who could determine what frontier vision materials our regional offices could distribute for you.