2018 MC Leadership Transition
Dear friends in mission,
Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As announced on May 2nd 2018, David Ruiz stepped down as leader of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission on June 30. We want to reaffirm David for his valuable contribution as leader of the Commission and assure our community that David has finished well as he intended and left a firm foundation for the Mission Commission to transition.
A team of four Associate Directors now lead the Mission Commission through this transition period. The team is led by former Executive Director Bertil Ekström (Missiology, Sweden), with Wolfgang Buesing (National Missions Movements, Germany), Adriaan Adams (Communications and Generational Shifts, South Africa), and Jay Matenga (Publications and Funding, New Zealand). David continues to participate with the Leadership Team on a voluntary basis with specific projects as his time allows.
The Mission Commission is in a strong position to reflect afresh on its past, assess the needs of the present, and position ourselves to move forward with confidence into the future with new leadership and a revised strategy and structure. To that end, Mission Commission leaders are working toward a Leadership Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur January 28-February 1, 2019.
The objective of the Leadership Summit is to seek input from key stakeholders, to:
- gain a clear understanding of the MC, its role within the worldwide missions community and what we are called to do together,
- work on a critical review of the MC structure and how we operate, including membership, governance, leadership, finances and service to our constituents,
- discern together the opportunities and future of the MC, including the kind of leader and structures needed, with action steps to take us forward,
- foster renewed fellowship among key MC stakeholders during the gathering, and
- develop a strategy to increase a sense of belonging and engagement among Mission Commission Associates and the multiple mission-oriented task-forces, networks, movements, and associations connected with the Mission Commission.
Aside from preparing for the Leadership Summit, the Mission Commission continues to nurture participation in mission through our task-forces and networks (click here for a full list of these) and publications. Spirituality in Mission, our latest volume in the Globalisation of Mission Series, was launched in March and the next volume, exploring the polycentric nature of mission today, is underway. This Mission Commission website, as well as our communications systems and social networking portals are being redeveloped in anticipation of fresh vision emerging from the Leadership Summit.
In closing, the members of the Global Leadership Council and the Associate Directors on the Leadership Team thank David Ruiz and his family once again for their wholehearted dedication to the Mission Commission during David’s 21 years of voluntary involvement and more recent full-time leadership as Executive Director. We are grateful for David’s continuing participation and pray the Lord’s blessing on his new ministry involvements beyond his Mission Commission involvement.
Together in Christ’s service,
Peter Tarantal
For the MC Global Leadership Council
