World Methodist Evangelism Institute - Day One

I arrived at a retreat center just outside Atlanta, GA today.

I am here for the 8th International Evangelism Institute which is organized by the World Methodist Evangelism Institute. The institute is sponsored by World Methodist Evangelism, a division of the World Methodist Council. The World Methodist Council is an association of the churches in the Methodist and Wesleyan tradition - world wide.

The evangelism seminar brings together people from all over the world. Churches from the Methodist / Wesleyan family from the following countries are here (as of the end of seminar tonight): Costa Rica, Philippines, Nigeria, Australia, Pakistan, Brazil, Barbados, Nepal, England, Germany, Bahamas, Indonesia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Zimbabwe, S. Korea, India, Liberia, S. Africa, Bangladesh, Panama, Ireland, Italy, Colombia, Switzerland, Togo, Benin, Mexico, Grenada, St. Vincent, Malaysia, Senegal, Kenya, Guatemala, Latvia, Norway, Myanmar (former Burma), Congo, Belgium, Poland, Tonga, Angola, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Estonia, Macedonia, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Russia, Uganda, Tanzania, United States of America, Venezuela, Panama, Belize, Honduras, Hungary, Chile, Bulgaria.

My geography is a little rusty so I used the following site to orient myself. (The World Factbook)

I ate supper with four guys. One from Powder Springs, GA, one from Benin (although he is living in Kentucky for Seminary), one from Ghana (though he is pastoring in Italy), and one from Congo. We talked about evangelism to young people and with young people. As we shared ideas it became obvious we were all talking about the same way of reaching people for Christ - incarnational mission, that is living among the people as one of them and watching for opportunities to share the gospel. Incarnation is what God did in Jesus Christ and I believe it is a great example for us in reaching others.

The evening ended with a worship gathering with communion. It was great to see people of so many different nationalities sharing the Lord's Supper. I think that is what the Kingdom of God must look like.I am very encouraged to see so many people of the Methodist/Wesleyan family, from so many countries, eager to worship and learn more about sharing the gospel with others more effectively.

I am a firm believer that God is not finished with the camp of John Wesley. As a matter of fact (according to World Methodist Evangelism statistics): the Methodist / Wesleyan movement consists of 76 million people speaking 500 different languages and this movement is growing at the rate of about 1,000,000 people per year.


Peace and Towels,

Andrew