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PATTAYA, Thailand — Resolutions tackling religious liberty, creation care, AIDS and the global financial crisis were some of the major topics tackled at the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly, held Oct. 25 to 30 in Thailand.
“The worldwide financial turmoil is, at its root, evidence of what happens when too many are captivated by greed and put their faith in, and entrust their security and future aspirations to, a system animated by the maximization of wealth. Many legitimately feel betrayed,” read the resolution on the global financial crisis.
The resolution also called on Christians to care for the poor during the crisis and live simply and generously.
“While we hope that the painful consequences of the turmoil will be mitigated, our concern is that its impact will continue to permeate into more regions and economies of the world,” the statement read. “We recognize that this economic crisis will have the most painful impact on the poor, who are the most vulnerable.
“We reaffirm our faith in God and acknowledge that He is in control. We repent when we have placed our trust in money, institutions and persons, rather than God. Our security is not found in the things of this world.”
The group also indicated a desire to save children from the ravages of the worldwide financial crisis.
“Yet one child dying of preventable causes every three seconds and 2.7 billion people barely sustained on an income of less than two dollars per day has yet to evoke a similar level of urgent response.
“We believe this to be an affront to God, a shame to governments and civil society, and a massive challenge to the witness and mission of the followers of Christ.”
More than 500 senior evangelical leaders participated in the general assembly, which included five days of intensive discussion to plan the way forward in world evangelization.
AIDS pandemic addressed
In advance of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, the evangelical leaders also broached the church’s role in the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
“The Body of Christ, His Church, is living with HIV,” read the resolution on HIV, a major focus area for the World Evangelical Alliance. “With brokenness we admit that as evangelical Christians we have allowed stigmatization and discrimination to characterize our relationships with people living with HIV. We repent of these sinful attitudes and commit to ensuring that they are changed.”
Other resolutions addressed poverty and peacemaking.
World Evangelical Alliance international director Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe told delegates that they faced additional challenges to fulfilling the Great Commission from radical secularism, postmodernism, declining Christianity at the same time as growing interest in spirituality, trafficking and migration.
He insisted, however, that great challenges also brought great opportunities for evangelical engagement.
“We see this tremendous growth and this seismic shift in the church around the world and we are excited to what God is doing as he raises up women and men around the world in so many different places,” he said.
“As we think about the global reality of the world in which we live, (there are) immense challenges but also immense opportunities.”
He reaffirmed the WEA’s commitment to world evangelization.
“If anyone tells you that we’ve gone soft on world evangelization you can tell them that we are totally committed to world evangelization because it is only Jesus Christ that changes people’s lives,” he said.
Defining evangelicalism
A highlight of the week was an address from the Rev. Joel Edwards, who was commissioned during the assembly as the new director of Christian anti-poverty movement Micah Challenge.
In his address, the former head of the UK Evangelical Alliance told delegates that the power to rehabilitate the word ‘evangelical’ lay in their hands.
“Whatever people think of evangelical Christians, if people are going to think differently about evangelicals the only people who can actually change their minds are evangelicals,” he said.
“We must reinvent, rehabilitate and re-inhabit what evangelical means as good news. We must present Christ credibly to our culture and we should seek to be active citizens working for long-term spiritual and social change.
“Words can change their meaning. If 420 million evangelicals in over 130 nations across the world really wanted it to happen, evangelical could mean good news.”
Tunnicliffe rounded up the assembly with a call to evangelicals to keep in step with God’s work on earth.
“It is my prayer that we in our community will be women and men who live with divine purpose within our lives, that we will be good leaders envisioned by God to make a difference in the world,” he said.
“The most important thing that you can do with your (life) is to integrate it into the never ending story of God’s kingdom. God’s already at work in the world. He’s doing things. We just need to align with what He is doing.”
The World Evangelical Alliance is made up of 128 national evangelical alliances located in seven regions and 104 associate member organizations.
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