World Mission Celebration - Day 1

This is the first in a series of blogs from the PC(USA) World Mission Challenge being held October 22-24 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Tonight's activities involved dinner and opening worship & remarks. But for me the most memorable part of the day occurred a little earlier. Seeking a little peace and a little space, I made a pilgrimage to the Ohio River, walking about a mile downhill to where the sidewalk ended in a patch of weeds and a rusty iron railing overlooking the river. As traffic wizzed by around me, I began to pray for a good friend who is fighting the battle of his life. I prayed perhaps harder than I've ever prayed before, and as I left that place fo the trek up the hill, I knew that he would be okay - what shape okay ultimately takes, I do not know, but I knew he would be okay.

As for the conference, someone said that they expected 500 people and about 800 registered. Everyone was playing three degrees of Presbyterian separation.

In his opening remarks, Hunter Ferrell, the head of PC(USA) World Wide Mission, commented on the following:

• Everyone who gathered had been touched, healed and redeemed by God to be a part of God's mission in this world.
• More Presbyterians are deeply engaged in world wide mission now than at any time before. This opens ourselves (and our congregations) up for transformation.
• The global church consists of many branches of a life giving vine in Jesus Christ. We desperately need each other. The relationship is mutual.
• Our global partners have challenged the PC(USA) to go deeper in three primary ways: (1) To go deeper into the root causes of poverty and injustice; (2) Go deeper in the way that we proclaim (or hesitate to proclaim) the good news of Jesus Christ. Partners are surprised at how secular we seem to be, and are challenging American Christians to learn to speak of the things of the Spirit; (3) Go deeper to bring cooperation among the 64 different mission agencies and the many congregations of the PC(USA) engaged in mission work.
• Finally, Hunter announced a new website: www.pcusa.org/missioncrossroads to help network between groups and congregations working in various areas of the world.

Tomorrow the workshops begin. I'll be reporting on two workshops: Prayer: Bringing the World to Christ; and MOving Members into Mission. I'll also be attending plenary reports on the PC(USA)'s mission work in the Americas, Middle East and Europe.

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