“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” Jesus in Matthew 28:19,20.
Our founder, AB Simpson, had a strong desire to take these verses seriously and led like minded people to prioritize evangelism both at home and overseas. He said: “I cannot understand how any man or woman can believe in the Lord’s coming and not be a missionary, or at least committed to the work of missions with every power of his being.”
As a denomination in North America, we are not that big. About 500,000 attenders in 2000 churches in the US; and about 90,000 attenders in 400 churches in Canda. But overseas we are much larger, and in 1975 a convocation of many of these maturing foreign fields met and formed the Alliance World Fellowship to facilitate cooperation among members to fulfil the Great Commission.
There are ten aims for this fellowship, some of the key ones being: commitment to the bible as complete and authoritative; to bear testimony to the Fourfold gospel (Christ as saviour, sanctifier, healer and coming king); to support and encourage each other in the task of mission and evangelism which is the special calling of the Church; and to uphold each other in prayer as well as offering relief in times of crisis. The current president of the AWF is Rev. Dr. Jura Yanagihara, who has planted a number of churches in Japan and is now in Sao Paulo Brazil.
In addition to the two North American members, there are 16 member countries from Asia and the Pacific; 11 from Africa; 14 from Latin America and 10 from Europe and the Middle East. In all this represents over 6 million Alliance people meeting in 25,000 churches in 88 countries. Our missions work has paid off!
I had opportunity to visit and speak at one of these countries a few years ago. Martha Rogers was from our church and had served as a missionary nurse to Mali West Africa. In this country where only 1% are evangelicals, almost all of them are Alliance with 112,000 people meeting in 700 churches. It was a highlight to be with them! As you can see above, I preached in 40-degree weather under a thatched roof – quite an experience!
Outreach is in our Alliance DNA – we are always thinking of others. Can you personally pray our Canadian Alliance prayer: “O God, with all our hearts we long for you to come, transform us to be Christ-centred, Spirit-empowered, Mission-focused people, multiplying disciples everywhere.”
What could this look like in your own life as a disciple? What is God saying to you about a global outlook?
Pastor Leon Throness
-I just got word today that our guest blogger earlier this year, John Jasper, passed away this morning. He was an earnest disciple, invested in the local church – a great brother in Christ.
-This Sunday morning at 9am in the Coffee Connection is our Bible Book Club. We are discussing four questions from our times in the bible: what am I learning from God’s character; how am I seeing Jesus through my reading; how is my reading helping me to understand the grand narrative of scripture, and what is my time in the Word doing in my life to change me? Plan to join us for this 45-minute time before the main service. Discussion will be rich.
