PATTAYA, Thailand – A solemn atmosphere descended upon a room full of culturally diverse evangelical leaders on Wednesday as disturbing accounts of religious persecution poured forth from those living in anti-Christian hotspots.

One by one, panelists shared stories of attacks against Christians in their country that included atrocious acts such as beheadings, gang rape, and genocide.

Stories were especially poignant because of the speakers’ closeness to the actual persecution, of which some were personally experienced. more >>

PATTAYA, Thailand – Though evangelicalism has emerged as a prominent voice and a powerhouse among today's major Christian movements, it was not long ago that the Bible-based movement was a small persecuted minority.

"Even in a place like the U.K. 40 years ago, evangelicals were despised. They were quite small and the liberals really set the agenda," says John Langlois, an executive council member with the World Evangelical Alliance.

Today, the evangelical community has grown to a global constituency of 420 million Christians and has become one of the most influential faith groups, often invited by public officials to lend an ethical voice or by the international community to lend a hand. more >>

PATTAYA, Thailand – The World Evangelical Alliance has excelled in the last six years in presenting the world with a credible and faithful witness of the Gospel, says its international director.

Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe told delegates at the WEA’s General Assembly in Thailand this week that the challenges for evangelicals in the world are great, pointing to radical secularism, postmodernism, and declining Christianity. At the same time, there is growing interest in spirituality, climate change, HIV and AIDS, the global financial crisis, trafficking and migration.

Yet the opportunities are also great, Tunnicliffe insisted, noting the rapid spread of Christianity in the Global South. more >>

PATTAYA, Thailand – The end task of evangelists and mission leaders is not just winning people to Christ, contends the co-founder of a ministry that trains church leaders.

Too often Christians think that evangelism is simply going into all the world and proclaiming the Gospel and then baptizing new believers, said Bob Moffitt, co-founder and chairman of Disciple Nations Alliance (DNA), at the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly on Monday.

But true evangelism goes beyond just teaching Scripture knowledge but combines knowledge with obedience leading to transformed lives. more >>

PATTAYA, Thailand - The highly-anticipated, upcoming third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization will be addressing emerging threats and concerns to Christian missions, informed the head of the Lausanne Congress on Monday at a major evangelical conference.

With new forms of hostility towards Christianity emerging, S. Douglas Birdsall, the executive chair of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, said the 2010 gathering in Cape Town, South Africa, is needed to bring together the best minds in the evangelical world to develop unified responses to challenges to the faith.

“You might ask is there a need for an international congress that deals with world evangelization,” said Birdsall at the 2008 World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Thailand. more >>

PATTAYA, Thailand – In a world where secularism and mysticism are the new religion, the Christian faith must always challenge rather than be challenged by other faiths, world views and ideologies, says the head of the Asia Evangelical Alliance.

Addressing the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Pattaya, Thailand, on Monday, the Rev. Dr. Richard Howell said that belief in the supreme, universal and trans-cultural Triune God and an identity rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ were evangelical non-negotiables in an age of pluralism.

“We have but one agenda – obedience to the Triune God revealed in Jesus Christ,” said Howell. more >>