Becoming "World Pastors"

By David Wilson

On March 11-14, 2003, 39 pastors from across the United States and Canada assembled for ABWE's 10th semi-annual Pastors Consultation on World Evangelism. Joining them were ABWE personnel, missionaries, and presenters from outside the ABWE family.

The purpose of the Pastors Consultation is a common theme in the ABWE world: partnering with national believers. As a mission, we are fully persuaded that we are not the sending agency in missions; the church is. We would not exist without local churches, and missionaries would not go if local churches did not send them. In North America, these men truly are our "national partners."

It was in order to strengthen this bond of partnership that Dr. Wendell Kempton and Dr. Larry Armstrong first began the Pastors Consultation. Their desire was "to discuss, with pastors from various cultural, educational, and ministry backgrounds, the challenges we face as we band together in the great task of world evangelization." That burden remains to this day.

The consultation typically involves several elements, all designed to assist pastors in becoming "world Christians." The main sessions include discussions about applying the "multicultural" truth of the gospel in the context of a specific culture, both abroad and at home; the development of churches with a "world missions" perspective; the nurturing of missionaries in the local church; and instruction on cross-cultural evangelism.

Consider the possibilities if local churches and pastors would contemplate the following questions:

Should we view a missionary's call as corporate (to and through a church) rather than individual (to a person)?
What would be the effect on missions if we committed to investing ourselves in fewer missionaries, but in greater support for each?
How would the selection process for missionaries we support differ if we became more strategic in our thinking?
Would it be helpful for us to research the needs of the world and proactively work toward a missionary presence in targeted areas rather than reacting to the power of a presentation given in one of our services?

The Pastors Consultation provides opportunities for pastors to discuss these questions as well as other matters of personal interest with ABWE personnel, including a panel of adult MKs whose goal it is to allow the pastors to see into the heart and life of an adult missionary kid. At the consultation, the men enjoy opportunities for interaction, network development, and even "cross-cultural" dining experiences: a Chinese dinner one night, an Indian buffet the next. Friendships are forged, and hearts are challenged as the burden of church planting and development is reinforced.

We have now had the privilege of hosting over 300 pastors from across North America at our Center for Excellence in International Ministries (CEIM). The response can be summed up in this comment, made by a recent participant: "I came hungry. I left filled in every way."

Pray with us that God would continue to use the Pastors Consultation on World Evangelism to solidify the bond between ABWE and the local churches and pastors we serve. We long to enable pastors to become more effective as they lead their churches to become centers for the spread of the gospel to people in all cultures, beginning at home, and "to the ends of the earth."