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24-September-1998 
98308 
 
    2,000 Presbyterians Gather 
    For Global Evangelism Conference 
 
    by Emett Barfield Jr. 
 
ATLANTA- More than 2,000 Presbyterians gathered at Peachtree Presbyterian 
Church here Sept. 10-12 for a global mission conference titled "Christ for 
the World: The Urgent Challenge of the 21st Century."  The conference was 
co-sponsored by The Outreach Foundation and the Presbyterian Frontier 
Fellowship, in cooperation with the Worldwide Ministries Division of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other mission-minded organizations. 
 
    At the opening service, the crowd gave a standing ovation to 155 active 
and retired Presbyterian missionaries, who were honored guests at the 
conference.  The group's active service to the church totals 2,800 years. 
 
    The Rev. J. Howard Edington, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in 
Orlando, Fla., and chair of the board of The Outreach Foundation, presented 
the theme of the conference.  He challenged conferees to move beyond 
spiritual isolation to dedication to world mission.  Using the biblical 
parable of the wheat and the tares, Edington emphasized that "the field is 
the world" and called to modern-day disciples to carry the gospel to the 
whole world. 
 
    Keynote speaker Leighton Ford, president of Leighton Ford Ministries 
and a former top official in Billy Graham's organization, turned to the old 
English root of the word "gospel" - "good spell."  Suggesting that 
Christians may have forgotten both the message of the gospel and the power 
it possesses, Ford said, "We have both a good `spiel," or story, to tell 
and a good journey to undertake under the `charm' of Jesus Christ." 
 
    In her Sept. 11 address, featured speaker the Rev. Sherron George, 
assistant professor of evangelism and mission at Austin Presbyterian 
Theological Seminary, addressed the topic "The Transforming Power of the 
Gospel Across Culture." 
 
    Citing the proclamation of the angel Gabriel in Luke - "The Holy Spirit 
will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you" - 
George said that "the transforming power of the gospel begins with God's 
initiative and grace and crosses the boundary of mortality in search of 
obedient human response."  She surveyed the Luke/Acts narrative, 
underscoring the writer's contention that the gospel is universal, crossing 
all cultures and breaking all boundaries. 
 
    Mission, George continued, must always be a two-way effort: giving as 
well as receiving, listening as well as talking.  The church is for every 
people and the gospel for every person, making it universally 
cross-cultural.  And so, she concluded, the church must learn "mission in 
reverse." 
 
    To begin with, George said, affluent Christians must learn from the 
poor.  "The dispossessed can teach us more than we can teach them," she 
insisted.  Citing Jesus' teaching that no one or no thing that God created 
is unclean and the example he set by inviting all to dine with him, George 
said that traditional charity is not the most effective evangelism. 
"Handouts are not cross-cultural evangelism," she said.  "Cross-cultural 
evangelism is when they enter the temple, praise God with us, and are 
welcomed around the table." 
 
    After a full day of workshops (participants had more than 70 to choose 
from), the group gathered again in the evening for worship featuring 
mission in Brazil, led by missionaries to that country and representatives 
from the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil.  Presbyterian 
missionary Beverly Swayze spoke about her work with street children in 
Brazil.  The Brazilanta Band, a group of Brazilian musicians living in 
Atlanta, presented a program of Brazilian praise music. 
 
    Plenary speaker for the evening was the Rev. Luis Bush, director of 
AD2000 and Beyond, a global evangelism organization that focuses on 
international partnerships. 
 
    Bush, who was born in Argentina and raised in Brazil, outlined the 
plight of the "10-40 Window People," so named because they live between the 
10th and 40th parallels.  These people, he said, are the least evangelized, 
have the world's lowest standard of living and have the greatest number of 
Christians killed because of their faith. 
 
    It is imperative, Bush said, that all Christians recognize their mutual 
interdependence.  Quoting Eph. 4:16 -  "... from whom the whole body, 
joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when 
each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in 
love" - Bush called for those present to push Presbyterian mission further 
into the world.  Specifically, he cited Arab and Hindu regions as "great 
unmet areas of mission opportunity." 
 
    The closing session Sept. 12 featured speakers well known to 
Presbyterian mission advocates.  Marj Carpenter, former director of the 
Presbyterian News Service and moderator of the 207th General Assembly 
(1995), read her favorite biblical text - the Great Commission from Matthew 
28 - and reiterated her longtime refrain, "Mission, mission, mission." 
 
    Longtime Presbyterian missionaries in Africa, Bill and Nancy Warlick, 
shared stories about their work with street children in Harare, Zimbabwe. 
 
    Worldwide Ministries Division director the Rev. Marian McClure spoke 
about "Presbyterians in Global Evangelism."  The role of the church in 
evangelism, she said, "is to imitate Christ." 
 
    Denominational leadership in evangelism, McClure said, should have a 
two-fold focus: transformation and knowledge.  Transformation implies a 
greater involvement in the life of  local congregations in commitment to 
mission.  And such transformation comes as denominational offices and 
mission organizations work with congregations to inform and motivate them 
to greater mission commitments. 
 
    Concluding the conference, the Rev. David Bryant, founder and president 
of Concerts of Prayer International, charged conference participants to 
pray. "I call upon each of you to pray daily for the mission enterprise of 
the Christian church in the world," he said.  The crowd then broke up into 
groups of three or four to complete their time together. 
 
Emmet Barfield is executive presbyter for Mississippi Presbytery and a 
regular contributor in the General Assembly Newsroom each year. 

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