wfn.org | Evangelism conference will draw young people from around globe

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 7, 1998      Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{398}

By United Methodist News Service
 
Young people from all over the world will learn about evangelism under
some of the same trees that shaded Methodism founder John Wesley as they
gather for an international conference at St. Simons Island, Ga., this
summer.

"The world is coming," said the Rev. H. Eddie Fox, world director of
evangelism for the World Methodist Council in Nashville, Tenn.

More than 400 people from 40 countries have registered for the Sixth
International Youth Conference on Evangelism, which will be held Aug.
6-13.

The conference, with the theme "Christ Jesus: The Light for the New
Millenium," will be at Epworth By The Sea, a United Methodist Christian
retreat center operated by the denomination's South Georgia Annual
(regional) Conference. John Wesley, the Anglican clergyman who founded
Methodism, along with his brother, Charles, visited Epworth during the
1730s.

"Two hundred sixty years ago, John Wesley left St. Simons Island to
return to England," Fox said. "Within a year after his return, a revival
was birthed at Aldersgate. That has now grown to a movement of 70
million people in 108 countries around the world."

Fox wants the young people at the conference to come away with the same
kind of evangelical spirit and world vision of ministry work.

"What happened in the beginning of the movement could happen now," he
said.

He wants the young people to experience Jesus Christ as the light for
the new millenium as well as the light for their own lives, and to make
a commitment to spread that light in their communities.

The event will include training and seminars, Bible study, music and
fellowship. The participants will have the opportunity to work on
projects related to the ministries in which they are interested.
Workshops will focus on four areas: faith sharing, a Christian world
view, worship and Christian spirituality, and youth ministry: living in
mission.

"It's not just a youth conference," Fox said. It's a conference on
missions and evangelism with young people, he said.

Many of them will become ordained ministers, missionaries and "faithful
witnesses as lay people," he said. "We know of more than a hundred
people who have committed to be ordained in ministry.

"Relationships are formed that people keep for a lifetime," he added.

Frances M. Alguire, president of the World Methodist Council and a
United Methodist laywoman from Michigan, will welcome the participants
on Aug. 7. She will be followed by the keynote speaker, Bishop John
Bryant of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Other speakers during the week will include the Rev. Grace Imathiu of
Kenya; Mariella Mihailova, a physician from Bulgaria; Wilson Bonfin, a
physician from Brazil; the Rev. Taavi Holmann, a youth minister from
Estonia; and the Rev. Joe Hale, general secretary of the World Methodist
Council.

The event is sponsored by World Evangelism, a program of the World
Methodist Council, in cooperation with the World Methodist Youth
Committee and the host committee of the South Georgia conference. 

This is the first time the conference will have been held in the United
States. Previous gatherings, starting in 1980, have been in England, the
Bahamas, Australia, Mexico and Germany. The conferences have occurred
every four years or so.

The event is open to people ages 17 to 30, although 16-year-olds who are
seniors in high school can also participate, Fox said. People can still
register for the event by contacting him immediately by phone, (615)
340-7541, or fax, (615) 340-7549.

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