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Technorati“Because we have sinned, we have failed in our stewardship of creation. Therefore we repent of the way we have polluted, distorted, or destroyed so much of the Creator’s work,” it added.
Aware that some have been critical of WEA’s increasing engagement in social issues traditionally the focus of more liberal Christian groups, Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, the international director of the WEA, insisted that such engagement would not compromise the WEA’s commitment to bringing people to Christ.
“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 in an address Wednesday.
The evangelical leader said the WEA’s forward strategy would be undergirded by an understanding of integral mission or “holistic transformation – a proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel."
“It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are done alongside of each other but rather in integral mission proclamation has social consequences,” he said. “We call people to love and repentance in all areas of life.”
Echoing the thoughts of Christian leaders such as megachurch pastor Rick Warren, Tunnicliffe pointed to the immense opportunities that exist amid the immense challenges facing the world and urged believers to “integrate [their lives] into the never-ending story of God’s Kingdom.”
“God’s already at work in the world,” Tunncliffe said. “He’s doing things. We just need to align with what He is doing.
“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 stated.
This year’s WEA general assembly – the first in six years – boasted a diverse array of organizations and denominational church bodies that include representatives of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, the Mennonite community, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Charismatic stream, the state-sanctioned China Christian Council, and historic mainline Churches.
Other organizations represented at the WEA General Assembly included Campus Crusade for Christ, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, and the U.S. Center for World Mission.
Christian Today reporter Maria Mackay in Pattaya, Thailand, contributed to this article.
