Dear friends,

 

It has been six months since many of us spent time together in Panama. We want to hear how some of our discussions have impacted your life and ministry since that time. For those who were not able to join us, we would like to draw you into the discussions to also gain your valuable input.

 

Through a process of listening to the voice of the Lord, and trying to understand the current realities of the world, we set the themes and major focus of our Global Mission Consultation in Panama 2016. We wanted to gain a clearer understanding of how the Holy Spirit is actively moving in unexpected ways in unexpected places.

 

During this process, one of the questions that stood out for us is a question asked by Todd Johnson: “What does it mean for the future of Christianity that its center of gravity continues to move south and east?[1]”.

 

Another fact that lead us to our Panama theme was that Bruce Koch found that between 1990 and 2000 the non-Western missionaries grew eight times faster that its Western counterparts [2]

 

We understood very clearly that the new reality of the Global Mission is multi-centric.

 

As people involved in mission today, we felt the need to meet and learn about those changing realities, and especially to reflect on how to catalyze conversations around partnership and cooperation among the variety of mission centers, the old and the new, some in the Global North and other in the Global South.  Patrick Fung presented in his paper a clear picture of the Biblical partnership, and provided valuable insights to consider as we continue advancing in the cooperation between the different mission centers of the world.

 

Please enjoy reading and reflecting on his paper (you can download the PDF from this link – WEA Consultation Panama 2016- Paper- Cooperation in a Polycentric World by Patrick Fung) and, join us as we re-engage in communal reflection.

 

Here is a link to a few questions – we are eager to receive your ideas and reflections on some of the questions raised by Patrick in his paper.

 

[1] Johnson, Todd M and Ross, Kenneth R., Atlas of Global Christianity, (Edinburg: Edinburg University Press, 2009) 8

[2] Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 4th Ed. (Pasadena, William Carey Library) 2009