“sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association”
When
Promise Keepers restructured during the late 1990s, the new PK strategy was to
place a primary focus on pastors. In line with this decision, staff from
Promise Keepers, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Campus Crusade for
Christ and AD 2000 & Beyond staged TOPIC
[Trainers of Pastors International Consultation] at Wheaton, IL 1997. TOPIC
is a plan to “internationalize” the training of pastors, especially “in the
world’s economically weaker regions.”
TOPIC Leadership:
√ Ramesh Richards ––RREACH
Int’l. = Ramesh Richard Evangelism and Church Helps International; faculty Dallas
Theological Seminary – ATS member; speaker at Promise Keepers]
√ Stuart Briscoe–– Honorary Advisory Committee
for Mission America/ Lighthouse Movement [requires
signing the Lausanne Covenant];
speaker at Promise Keepers. See
Biblical Discernment Ministries exposé on Stuart
and Jill Briscoe.
√ Paul Landrey ––president of Christ for
the City International; international
coordinator of the Cities Network for the AD2000 & Beyond Movement; previously
with OC International in
Brazil and Colombia [World
Evangelical Fellowship associate member]. From 1980 to 1986, he served as a member of the senior
leadership team of World Vision
International. From 1990 until 1995, he was president of the Latin
America Mission/LAM. LAM is associated with the Billy Graham Crusades, World Vision, Fuller Theological Seminary, the
US Center for World Mission, Campus Crusade for Christ, among others. LAM founded Christ for the City Int’l. [read more about LAM below]
√ Dale Schlafer–– Serves as Director of Mission America’s (Billy Graham, Bill
Bright [CNP], Paul Cedar) World Center for Revival and Spiritual Awakening
which is presently issuing An Urgent Appeal to Christian Leaders in
America for Consensus and Collaboration on the Biblical Hope of Corporate Revival; previously with Promise Keepers as Vice-President
for Revival and Awakening (1996-1998) and Vice-President of Church
Relations (1994-1996).
The following traces the
development of TOPIC from its inception in 1997 to today, 2001.
TOPIC is an associate
member of the World Evangelical
Fellowship/WEF.
Edited for purposes of this
report; emphasis added.
Trainers
of Pastors International Coalition (TOPIC)
“Every church
with at least one equipped and maturing pastoral leader”
HISTORICAL BRIEF
Trainers
of Pastors International Coalition (TOPIC) seeks to explore the possibilities
for concerted, co-active connection
among pastoral training agencies to significantly reduce the great (and
ever increasing) number of virtually untrained pastors in Africa, Asia, the
former Soviet Union, and Latin America (currently estimated at some 2
million!). TOPIC was born out of the heightening realization among pastoral
trainers that a task of this magnitude cannot
and will not be accomplished if we
all continue to “go it alone” on an organization-by-organization basis…
The
role of TOPIC is to find and multiply pastoral training opportunities, network pastoral trainers, locate
training tools and materials, stimulate
training strategies, and to serve
pastoral training organizations ministering in the world’s economically weaker
regions. TOPIC does not compete with pastoral training organizations.
Instead, the Coalition believes that the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus
Christ, honors ministries intentionally and invisibly working together with
clear and common biblical purpose toward a common task.
TOPIC Wheaton ~ December 1997
Leaders
of 99 Western-based Christian organizations involved in the non-formal training
of pastors worldwide gathered in
Wheaton, Illinois for the first-ever Trainers of Pastors International
Consultation (TOPIC). The meeting was called by RREACH International and
co-hosted by the Billy Graham Institute of Evangelism. Missions historians
may look back on this event as
critically decisive in the Church Age, as the locus of missions shifted from Western and indigenous missionaries
to the local pastor. Many of the participants were convicted of “the sin of
doing one’s own thing,” when it was clear that more would and could be
accomplished with an organized, cooperative
effort. Twenty four organizations declared “coalition-level” commitment to the
TOPIC vision. Others chose an “affiliate-level” status, while yet others
wanted to stay in an information loop.
Wheaton
participants voted a continuation committee to consider the next steps for
TOPIC. This past year (1998) has been dedicated to praying, discussing, and
beginning the ministry of the next phase of the TOPIC vision…
The
TOPIC Organizing Committee became convinced that TOPIC ought to be a truly international movement, in both
leadership and implementation, rather
than following a “West-to-the-rest” model. Indeed, the movement and its
executive director are yet to be named, issues awaiting the next Consultation in March 1999 in Manila,
Philippines.
TOPIC Manila ~ March 1999
The
TOPIC Manila Consultation has been called
to internationalize the Coalition. This Consultation will provide a forum
for non-Western, non-formal pastoral training agencies to meet each other and
their Western resource-providers. A truly international consultation of select
leaders of pastoral training agencies based all over the world will also think
through the best way to implement
strategies for the over-arching objective of increasing the number and
effectiveness of pastoral trainers.
The
Organizing Committee hoped for two
leading pastoral training organizations from each of the 125 target
(economically impoverished) countries to attend TOPIC Manila…However, the
number of non-Western organizations that primarily focus on non-formal training
of pastoral leaders is both surprising and saddening not more than 50 in number have been identified!
This
somber development not only reinforces fears of an infantile church worldwide,
but confirms the need for the vision and
strategy of TOPIC. The Coalition sincerely rejoices over the results of
wide-ranging evangelistic and missionary efforts through media and church
planting strategies. Yet the post-evangelistic, church-health question demands
the urgent attention of TOPIC…
Given the proliferation of
Western pastoral training organizations (cf. TOPIC Wheaton), the paucity of
non-Western organizational counterparts, and the need to internationalize the
endeavor,
TOPIC will also pay the airfare for 50 select leaders of non-Western
organizations who meet the Participant status criteria (above). These fifty
leaders will pay for their participation by intense, pre-consultation
preparation on strategic questions on non-formal pastoral training…
For
Immediate Distribution For More Information please contact:
Dale
Schlafer (303) 252-4516
Ramesh
Richard (972) 702-0303
Stuart
Briscoe (414) 786-7051
Paul
Landrey (402) 592-8332
Trainers of Pastors
International Consultation, (TOPIC) Manila, March 22-25, 1999
The
leaders of ninety-six, like-missioned organizations met at an unprecedented
gathering in the Philippines, March 22-25, 1999. Representing forty-nine
countries, they launched a “church
health” movement to bring essential ministry skills and tools to two million
pastoral leaders in the weaker economies of the world.
All
of these ministries train pastors non-formally--training not leading to an
academic degree. They also carry a geographical focus toward weaker economies
of the world-areas where church health has not kept pace with church growth. The purpose of TOPIC Manila was to
internationalize a coalition of pastoral training agencies toward the vision of
“every church with a trained pastor.”
This
strategy was the vision of Dr. Ramesh
Richard, who in 1997 wrote to a dozen ministries to accelerate non-formal
pastoral training worldwide. His organization,
RREACH International, hosted TOPIC Wheaton in December 1997. It was co-sponsored by the Billy Graham Institute for Evangelism. There, ninety-nine West-based organizations agreed to take steps to
internationalize the coalition so that TOPIC would not be just another
“West-to-the-Rest” approach. TOPIC
Manila planned and accomplished the internationalization process…
Dr.
Richard declared, “The task is bigger then any one group can possibly handle.
Further, formal education simply cannot keep up with the explosive growth of
the Church worldwide. By coming together
intentionally and invisibly, it is our hope to minimize effort duplication,
eliminate waste of resources, and thereby enhance missions impact. Indeed, an entirely new architecture for global missions
is needed for the new millennium, beyond the traditional and indigenous
missionary paradigms. The new design of missions locates God's program in
healthier local churches and effective pastoral leaders in an everyone-to-everyone and
everywhere-to-everywhere model.”[see
below]
After
three and one half days of prayer, discussion and presentations the
participants determined to form an
international coalition. A steering committee, chaired
by Ramesh Richard, will handle the
formalization process. J. Paul Landrey, president
of Christ for the City International, will serve as
international coordinator. Landrey said: “This is an
historic day. For the first time, we who train pastors non-formally, have
decided to work together to see the task accomplished.”
Locally
based, pastoral-training organizations began to work together in Manila, many
meeting each other for the first time. Numerous
regional action plans will be pilot tested in ten regions of the world during the
rest of 1999. Dr. Richard reminded the delegates: “for us to reach our goal
of ‘every church with a trained pastoral leader,’ the Head of the Church will
have to do something great for His Body. It appears that the Lord Jesus Christ
has launched a powerful capacity-building strategy across the world to nurture
the health of His Bride.”
TOPIC Organizing Committee:
• Dr. Ramesh Richard, Chairman (President, RREACH Int'l & Professor, Dallas
Theological Seminary [ATS member])
•
Dr. Chris DeWet (Africa Ministries Network)
•
Dr. Dennis Mock (Bible Training Centre for Pastors, Inc.)
•
Rev. Celestin Musekura (Africa Leadership & Reconciliation Ministries)
• Rev. Dale Schlafer (until
recently with Promise Keepers)
•
Dr. David Shibley (Global Advance)
•
Pastor Mel Sumrall (Denton Bible Church)
•
Dr. Henry Tan (Campus Crusade for Christ)
•
Pastor Meredith Wheeler (Calvary Church, Souderton, PA)
• Paul Landrey (CFCI/ Christ for the City
International)
For
a detailed report on TOPIC Manila, please contact:
J.
Paul Landrey, Christ for the City International (CFCI)PO Box 241827 Omaha, NE
68124 …Web site: www.trainersofpastors.org
Ed. note: “everyone-to-everyone and
everywhere-to-everywhere model”
The model
referred to are other names for the Delphi Technique. The Delphi is a
scientifically designed technique for achieving a pre-determined outcome; otherwise known as dialoguing to consensus.
The World Future Society meeting in
Atlanta, Georgia [July1995] featured Richard and Jim Spady of the Seattle-based
Forum Foundation with their presentation entitled “Many-to-Many
Communications.” The Final Program reads: “The speakers will present the
theory of many-to-many-communications and its implications for the future of administering systems democratically,
from families to nations…The process generates data useful for diagnosis (the
first step in the administrative process), helps inform citizens about problems
and indicates their preferences for solutions, and leads toward peace by
enabling citizens to pursue their own happiness.”
The
Spady's Fast-Forum Technique, aka People-to-People Communication, is styled
similarly to the Delphi Technique.
According
to a Spady/Forum Foundation Opinionaire: “Participants are assisted in becoming aware of their own beliefs as
well as of those intellectual and moral beliefs of others at a point in
time––the ‘Zeitgeist,’ or ‘Spirit of the Time’…Nor will the views expressed
necessarily represent those of the same participants at a later period of time;
as humans we each have the ability to receive new information, consider it, and
change.” The brochure goes on to describe the Fast Forum Technique as “an informed, theological approach…in
community and civilization building.” By participating in the Forum’s
questionnaire one is helping to contribute “guidelines for the future.”
Trainers
of Pastors International Consultation (TOPIC) Manila ~ March 22-25, 1999
TOPIC Manila has been called
to internationalize the coalition to provide essential ministry training to
large numbers of pastoral leaders world.
This
Consultation will provide a forum for non-Western, non-formal pastoral training
agencies to meet Western resource-providers. Select leaders of pastoral
training agencies based all over the world will think through the best ways to implement strategies for the
over-arching objective of increasing the number and effectiveness of pastoral
trainers…
The
following is found on the Lausanne’s AD
2000 web site.
We
discover that J.Paul Landrey worked formerly with World Vision and is presently
coordinator of AD 2000's Cities Network:
A Church for
Every People and the Gospel for Every Person by AD 2000
Biographical Information
Sheet
J. Paul Landrey is president
of Christ for the City International (CFCI), an evangelical agency with more than 100
missionaries serving in major cities of the Latin world. He assumed the post on
November 1, 1995, becoming the first president of this newly autonomous
ministry organization.
The
son of missionaries to India, where he was born and raised, Landrey served 15 years with OC International in Brazil and
Colombia. From 1980 to 1986, he served
as a member of the senior leadership team of World Vision
International in California. During that
time, he founded and directed World Vision's U.S. Ministry
Division,
which launched and enabled urban, rural and refugee ministries in key areas of
the United States.
From
1986 until 1989, Landrey served in Tyler, Texas as senior pastor of Grace
Community Church, a nondenominational community congregation of 700. From 1990 until 1995, he was president of
the Latin America Mission [see below], which began Christ for the City in the mid 1980s as a major urban
evangelization program.
Under
Landrey's leadership, CFCI ministry has grown from the kernel of an idea into a
dynamic program impacting 33 major cities in 10 countries of the Latin world
with the Gospel. Forty percent of its staff is Latin American. He also serves as international coordinator
of the Cities Network for the
AD2000 & Beyond Movement.
Landrey
speaks extensively across the U.S. and internationally on the issues of personal growth, leadership formation
and cross-cultural mission mobilization. Paul and his wife, Carol, live in
Miami, Florida, where CFCI's international office is located…
Christ
for the City International is committed to fulfilling Christ's commission by
helping churches in their pursuit of qualitative and quantitative church
growth. It concentrates on the least evangelized cities of the world that are
disporportionately untouched by the Gospel. Founded as a separate autononomous
organization in 1995, CFCI is a ministry
partner of the Latin America Mission, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (EFMA, an
affiliate of the National Association of
Evangelicals/ NAE) and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA, founded by Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association and World Vision). 1/96
Back to the
AD2000 home page
05/15/96
Christ for the City Newsletter
[CFCI
president J. Paul Landrey announces that he will leave
CIFI to take over the leadership of TOPIC––June
2000.]
…As
you may have heard, Carol and I have a clear sense of God’s new call upon
our lives (see Dr. Paul Pierson’s June 2000 letter [Pierson is a Dean, Fuller
Theological Seminar, Pasadena, CA]). Beginning July 1st, we will concentrate more and more on
something we relish—equipping and
nurturing pastors in the two-thirds world. God has been burdening us with
the two million (or more) pastoral leaders in the world, who lack basic
formation and adequate tools. TOPIC (Trainers of Pastors International
Coalition) is emerging as an important global alliance of pastoral training
organizations. Through my role as International Coordinator, CFCI has
played an important part in launching this strategic undertaking. Together with over ninety other
organizations, we are committed to a compelling vision:
“That
every church—in the weaker economies—will have at least one equipped and
maturing pastoral leader, by the year 2010.”
As I
embrace this new responsibility, it is a delight to affirm my good friend and
colleague, Dr. Duane (Chip) Anderson, as the next President of CFCI. I have
seen people thrive under his leadership in Costa Rica…
J. Paul Landrey
[in
same newsletter…]
37 COLOMBIAN
PASTORS KILLED IN PAST 24 MONTHS
Just
under 600 pastors from all over Colombia
gathered April 24-28, 2000 in Girardot (at a resort hotel about 3 hours
from Bogota, the capital). This was the site for the National Encounter of Colombian Pastors. It was co-sponsored by the
Evangelical Confederation of Colombia (CEDECOL), World Vision [Colombia] and Christ for the City [Paul Landrey]…
[in
same newsletter…]
TOPIC 2000 CONSULTATION HELD
IN COSTA RICA
A
total of 96 individuals representing 92 pastoral training organizations and 17
countries met in San José, Costa Rica May 25 – 28, 2000 for "La Consulta
Iberoamerica TOPIC 2000" (the TOPIC 2000 Iberoamerican Consultation). Among other things, the
participants affirmed:
Our
Vision: That every church will have at least one equipped and maturing pastoral
leader.
Our
Mission: To form an international
coalition of pastoral training organizations committed to intentionally
accelerate the number and effectiveness of trainers of pastoral trainers,
pastoral trainers and pastoral leaders…
Desired
Result: By the year 2010, two million
pastoral leaders with Bible knowledge and ministry skills who, under the
Holy Spirit’s direction and power, biblically shepherd congregations of
believers in the fulfillment of the Great Commission, for the glory of God…
Latin
American Mission web site
LAM’s
primary emphasis has always been evangelism.
Before
the Christ for the City efforts, there were three identifiable periods of
extensive campaigns in the Spanish-speaking world:
1. Harry Strachan’s [LAM founder] 1921-1939 citywide crusades, providing a
tremendous boost to the struggling, underdeveloped Protestant church.
2. The post-World War II campaigns under
Kenneth Strachan, 1950-58, climaxed by the Caribbean
Crusade of Billy Graham and his team…
Fenton
continued leading the LAM (USA) until it was again restructured and in 1976
Clayton L. (“Mike”) Berg, Jr. became president. J. Paul
Landrey assumed
the presidency in 1990 and on November 1, 1995
moved sideways to become president of an LAM
project partner, Christ for the City, while former missionary and trustee David M. Howard [see below] became LAM’s president.
Ed.
Note:
LAM is an associate
member of the World Evangelical
Fellowship/WEF
√
Former Missions Director of Inter-Varsity
Christian Fellowship.
√
Director of the Inter-Varsity Christian
Fellowship's Urbana Conventions (1973 & 1976).
√
Director of the Lausanne Consultation on
World Evangelization [Thailand, 1980].
√
Contributor to Ralph Winter/USCWM's Perspectives on the World
Christian Movement the curriculum for 90% of all U.S. Christian
missionaries.
√
Senior Vice President of the David C. Cook Foundation [publisher of the Alpha
Course]
√ World Evangelical
Fellowship/
WEF based in Singapore; serving for ten years as WEF International Director
mid-1980s.
√
Author of The Dream that Wouldn’t Die,
© 1986, which tells the history of WEF from the years 1846 - 1986, Paternoster
Press, U.K.
[Paternoster also publishes the Perspectives textbook.]
Research from Public Eye about the Latin
American Mission
Latin
America Mission (LAM), founded by Harry and Susan Strachan, was established and
began operations in Central America in 1921. (3,4) While it began as a
fundamentalist faith mission, LAM has always been on the innovative edge of evangelism. It
was the first of the North American mission groups to use pentecostal methods
and also was the first protestant group to make conciliatory
moves toward working with the Catholic church in the 1960s.
(4) LAM is an independent, interdenominational mission that both establishes
its own missions and works with existing organizations and churches. (6)..
LAM
is affiliated with the School of World Missions [US Center For World Mission/USCWM] which conducts two-week
intensive training courses for Latin American pastors from a variety of
evangelical and charismatic denominations. (3)…
Private
Connections:
Kenneth Strachan worked as
coordinator of the Billy Graham Crusade in Latin America and the Caribbean. (3) He also taught at the
Bible Institute in Costa Rica and was a lecturer
at the Fuller Theological Seminary. (14)
LAM is a member of the
Evangelical Foreign Missions Association (EFMA) [affiliate of
the National Association of Evangelicals/NAE]. Other members include:
Assemblies of God, Bible Literature International, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Christian and Missionary Alliance,
the Church of God (Cleveland Tennessee),
Compassion International, Foursquare Missions, International, Luis Palau Evangelistic Team, Mission Aviation Fellowship, Nazarene
Division of World Missions, OMS International, Overseas Crusades, Trans World Radio, World Concern, World Vision, and Youth for Christ
International.
(4)
Cliff
Holland, director of the School of World Missions in Costa Rica, maintains a research center in Pasadena,
California [USCWM] where he strategizes on new ways to evangelize Hispanic communities
within the U. S. (3)
Templo Biblico in Costa Rica,
a LAM affiliate, has a number of members who are associated with the rightwing Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship and
the World Vision, a private evangelical aid organization. (3)…
TOPIC’s Himalayan Pastoral
Leaders Conference 2001
1334 PASTORS AT HISTORIC CONFERENCE
Written by: J. Paul Landrey
A
total of 1334 pastoral leaders gathered
in Kathmandu, capital of the storied Kingdom of Nepal for four days. This
was one of the most significant meetings in the history of Christianity in
Nepal, stated Pastor Phalgun Sunwar, a leader of the Nepal Fellowship of
Christian Churches…
The
excitement of being on the cutting edge of an emerging global strategy to train
leaders for Asia's rapidly growing Christian church, more than made up for any
inconveniences. The opening keynote
address called participants to Faithfully Feed the Flock of God. It was given by Dr. Ramesh Richard…
The Himalayan Pastoral Leaders Conference 2001 was
held Feb. 19 to 22. 45 percent of the 1343 participants were pastors or
emerging pastors. 40 percent were congregational leaders (lay elders and/or
deacons). Another 15 percent were trainers of pastors. This latter group
included cross-cultural missionaries (Koreans serving in Nepal, Nepalis serving
in Bhutan and etc.) About 30 percent of
all participants were women.
A
workshop on how to equip and empower pastoral leaders was led by Rev. J. Paul Landrey, the international
director of TOPIC, which stands for: Trainers of Pastors International
Coalition - a global coalition of pastoral training agencies. TOPIC grew
out of a December 1997 meeting in Wheaton, IL, of 99 Western-based Christian
organizations involved in training local church leaders. This event was hosted by the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism and
sponsored by RREACH Intl. [Ramesh Richard]…
Four thousand new Christian
churches are born somewhere in the world each week, Landrey said. Those numbers could triple within three
years. In addition, he said, 2 million present pastoral leaders lack in
some aspect of essential pastoral training.
The typical Nepali pastor, for example, became
a believer in Christ within the past 18 to 24 months, states Rev. Devendra
Rai (a missionary with ACTION Intl…Landrey said,…"The great challenge is
to equip Nepali leaders in basic biblical understanding and ministry
skills."…
The
Nepali conference is a good example of this local leadership at work. It was
organized by two national Nepali
pastoral networks, which represent about 90 percent of Christian denominations
and associations in Nepal. They sent out 4,000 applications and accepted 1,200.
Participants came from all over - some journeying up to 10 days by bus or seven
days on foot…
For
more information, telephone: Dr. Ramesh
Richard / Rev. J. Paul Landrey
TOPIC, Inc. - (Trainers of
Pastors International Coalition)
P.
O. Box 965, Elkhorn, NE 68022 USA
Website:
www.trainersofpastors.org
Ed. Note: At the bottom of this same web page is
found the following info of interest.
http://ipns.hispowerportal.com
<<web
site which carries article on the TOPIC meeting in Nepal]
In His Power Portal is a
partnership ministry of Phil Miglioratti ~ National Pastors’ Prayer Network and Mission America
[Original Mission America
web site found –– http://www.mdalink.com/missionamerica/]
© 2001 Unlimited NeXtwork
Group
Ed. Note:
Web
Master Wolfgang is a member of Che Ahn's Harvest Rock Church which is located
on the campus of US Center for World Mission [USCWM, founder Ralph Winter],
Pasadena, CA. Previously Harvest Rock was a Vineyard Church.
Pastor
Dale
Schlafer has served as Founder and President of the Center for World
Revival and Awakening [a division of Mission America] since December 1998. The
Center is a worldwide ministry dedicated to building the local church by
promoting the revival of the church, the awakening of the lost, and seeing
reformation come to the society.
Prior
to establishing the Center, Pastor Schlafer
served with Promise Keepers as Vice-President for Revival and Awakening
(1996-1998) and Vice-President of Church
Relations (1994-1996). He served 22 years as Senior Pastor of South
Fellowship in Littleton, Colorado and six years as a senior pastor in New
Jersey.
Pastor
Schlafer is a native of Philadelphia
and holds a B.A. from Westminster College of PA and a Masters of Divinity from Princeton
Theological Seminary [ATS member]. He was a contributing author
for the books Seven Promises of a Promise
Keeper [published by Focus on the Family, see below] and The Lighthouse
Movement. He also authored the book A
Revival Primer. He has substantial international experience speaking
and ministering on every continent except Africa and Australia.
Pastor
Schlafer currently lives in
Colorado…
Dale Schlafer and Seven Promises of a
Promise Keeper
(published
by Focus on the Family, 1994)
Eighteen
essays by a variety of Christian leaders on unlocking the power and potential of men — how to become a man of
your word and a man of God’s Word. Includes writings by Randy Phillips, Jack Hayford, Wellington Boone [ECFA board member], Edwin Louis Cole, Howard
Hendricks, E. Glenn Wagner, Tony Evans [Evan's Urban Alternative
serves as a model for faith-based
welfare reform],
Gary Oliver, Jerry Kirk, Gary Smalley, James
Dobson [CNP], Dale Schlafer, H.B. London Jr. [Works for Focus
on the Family's Ministry to Pastors –– cousin to James Dobson], Bill McCartney, Phillip
Porter, Gary England, Bill Bright [CNP] and Luis Palau [associate member of the
World Evangelical Fellowship/WEF].
Schlafer is listed on the
staff of Mission America:
National
Facilitator of Pastors, Revival & Spiritual Awakening, World Center for
Revival and Spiritual Awakening
Mission
America's Revival & Spiritual Awakening Project [Dale Schlafer]
An Urgent Appeal to
Christian Leaders in America for Consensus and Collaboration on the Biblical
Hope of Corporate Revival
“Will
you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6)
Presented
by the National Revival Network to the Annual Meeting of Mission America ~ October 25-27, 2000 St. Louis, Missouri
NOTE:
This is a draft of a document
authored by The Revival Network of Mission America. Once the final draft is
complete, it will be posted here, along with a list of Christian leaders who
have signed it.
Send
comments and suggestions to: Dale Schlafer, facilitator
of the [Mission America] Revival Network.
Contents [highly
abbreviated]
1.0 Preface: A Nationwide
Call
2.0 Introduction to the
Appeal
4.0 Definitions of Biblical,
Corporate Revival
* Scholars Speak
* Cycles of Revival
* Revival is Christ!
5.0 An Apologetic for
Corporate Revival
8.0 Responses to the Hope of
Corporate Revival
At
San Francisco in January, 1998 nearly 40 denominational leaders on behalf of
the 400 members of Mission America, signed a newly issued “Nationwide Call to Prayer to the Church in America”. Subsequently,
The Call was published as a full-page ad in USA TODAY signed by Billy Graham, John Perkins, Bishop George McKinney, Paul Cedar, Bill Bright and more than
one hundred other national Christian leaders. Since then it has circulated
widely throughout the body of Christ.
The
Call has two parts: “A Call to
Extraordinary Prayer” and “A Call to United Action” -- in other words, it
sets forth consensus on an agenda for prayer and collaboration in mobilizing
concerted prayer.
The
focus of The Call is nothing less than corporate revival. As such it provides a major
step toward the document you now hold: This newer document, an Urgent Appeal to
Christian Leaders in America for Consensus
and Collaboration on the Biblical Hope of Corporate Revival, is designed to
bring about even deeper levels of consensus and collaboration around the focus
of The Call which reads in part:
In recognition of:
* our
absolute dependence upon God;
* the
moral and spiritual crisis facing our nation;
* our
national need for repentance and divine intervention;
* our
great hope for a general awakening to the Lordship of Christ, the unity of His
Body, and the sovereignty of His Kingdom;
* the
unique opportunity that the dawn of a new millennium presents to us for
offering the gospel of Christ to everyone in our nation,
We strongly urge all churches
and all Christians of America to unite in seeking the face of God
through prayer and fasting, persistently asking our Father to send revival to
the church and spiritual awakening to our nation, so that Christ's Great
Commission might be fulfilled worldwide in our generation.
In
the spirit of The Call and with its vision, the National Revival Network now
submits An Urgent Appeal to the Mission America membership meeting in St.
Louis, Missouri October 25-27, 2000…
(4.0) Definitions of Corporate Revival
"This is what was spoken
by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on
all people.... The promise is for you and your children and for all who are
afar off -- for all whom the Lord our God will call.... Repent, then, and turn
to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come
from the Lord..." (Acts 2:16-17, 39, 3:19)
(4.1) Scholars Speak
Let's call on two evangelical scholars, with over 100 years of scholarship and four earned Ph.D.'s between them in the study of biblical and historical revival. They provide us with excellent definitions as a starting point for our considerations.
First,
J. Edwin Orr [see below] distilled his decades of research into the following definition:
“An
Evangelical Awakening is a movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about a revival
of New Testament Christianity in the church of Christ and in its related
community. Such an awakening may change in a significant way an individual; or
it may affect a larger group of believers; or it may move a congregation or the
churches in the city or district, or the body of believers throughout a country
or continent; or indeed the larger body of believers throughout the world. The
out-pouring of the Spirit affects the reviving of the church, the awakening of
the masses, and the movement of uninstructed peoples toward the Christian
faith; the revived Church, by many or by few, is moved to engage in evangelism,
in teaching, and in social action.”
Theologian J.I. Packer [see
below] concurs with this perspective when he writes:
“Revival, I define, as a work of God by his Spirit through his Word bringing the spiritually dead to living faith in Christ and renewing the inner life of Christians who have grown slack and sleepy. In revival God makes old things new, giving new power to law and gospel and new spiritual awareness to those whose hearts and consciousness have been blind, hard and cold. Revival thus animates or reanimates churches and Christian groups to make a spiritual and moral impact on communities. It comprises an initial reviving, followed by a maintained state of revivedness for as long as the visitation lasts...”
Who are the men Schlafer references on Revival?
In1966,
Orr became a professor at Fuller
Seminary's School of World Mission, a position he held until 1981. Besides his
teaching and writing, he greatly stimulated the study and understanding of
revivals and evangelism through his founding in 1974 and continuing leadership of the Oxford Reading and Research Conference on
Evangelical Awakenings…
He was an advisor of Billy
Graham’s from the start of that evangelist's career, a friend of Abraham Vereide
and helped shape the prayer breakfast
movement that grew out of Vereide's International Christian Leadership
and he was a important leader in Andrew Gih’s Evangelize China Fellowship.
About J.I. Packer
√ Drafting Committee, Evangelicals &
Catholics Together Document
√ Board of Governors'
Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia –– an Association of Theological
Schools member.
√ Senior editor of Billy Graham's Christianity Today
√ Renovaré Board of
Reference
See Biblical Discernment
Ministries exposé on J.I.
Packer
The above Urgent Appeal is now posted on the
Mission America National Prayer Committee's web site: http://www.gospelcom.net/npc/appeal1.html
However, it is a updated
version of the appeal and Dale Schlafer's name does not appear on it.
See GPM Database: Prayer Mobilization: Mission America: Pastors’ Ministry: facilitator
Dale Schlafer