I just returned from the European Conference of the Church of God held in Fritzlar, Germany. It followed our first ever Three-Worlds staff retreat (which I will write about in my next post).
I was amazed to see the unity and support that the leaders of this region have for one another. Unity is something that the CHOG is often lacking. But here, there is an abundance of mature leaders, some very solid young leadership emerging, and a real desire to take it to a new level of inner-connectivity.
This is perfect for our Three-Worlds approach. The region seems to be ready to join us in our top three priorities:
1) Engaging young people and getting them involved in cross-cultural ministry
2) Supporting empowered leaders under the age of 45
3) Creating healthy inner-connectivity in our region--and to the other 5 continents.
From England, to Hungary, to Egypt (and many places in between), we are in the process now of actively beginning works that will do all 3 things at once in a variety of countries.
*Imagine young people from the post-Christendom Germany joining youth from the UK to tackle a post-Christendom project?
*Imagine a church of young Hungarians reaching out to an established church in Northern England to help them reach their youth!
*Imagine a post-Christendom church in Holland joining an African non-Western Christian church to do a mission trip to the Congo.
*Imagine a church in Russia being healthy enough to start a new church plant and become a leader in our region moving out of their start-up phase.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in what is coming our way. These are not only doable things, the foundations have been laid.
But in all that we do at Three-Worlds you will always see:
1) A commitment to health for our missionaries and our field.
2) Well thought-out ministry and mission endeavors.
3) An expectation that all we work with will be committed to accountability (instead of running from it).
4) Preparing our churches and countries for long-term survival and success.
These are non-negotiable.