The URBANA mission conference is this year!
I have heard some Christians say, "Evangelism and Missions are really not my thing". That's an interesting statement, especially since the God of the Bible is all about those two subjects! As Christians, we have a mandate to love people and to worship God. Evangelism and Missions are simply the heartbeat of such love. We need to shift our thinking. Evangelism and Missions were never expected to be the work of a select few, but an invitation to all who call themselves followers of Jesus. It is not optional. Christians are to demonstrate love in tangible ways to our neighbors across the street as well as across cultural, ethnic barriers. We are called to love others with the irresistible, supernatural love of the Heavenly Father!
"Where is fellowship? Where is community? Young people everywhere are searching for authentic relationships of love. And the one place where they ought to be infallibly certain of finding them (the Christian church) is the one place they often don't even bother to look for them, so certain are they that they will not find them there. But if the church is ever to draw people to itself and so to Christ, it will do so only by the almost irresistible magnetism of a fellowship of love." John Stott
URBANA 09 is a massive missions conference hosted by
InterVarsity. The conference, which has been held every three years since 1946 on the University campus in
Urbana Illinois was moved to St. Louis for the first time in 2006. For generations, college students have come to this conference from all over the world to hear about cutting edge issues on global missions.
My first URBANA was in 2000 and then again in 2003. It was there that I was challenged to understand more about God's heart for the nations! It was an intensive five days that totally set me on fire for missions. Although the conference is aimed at mobilizing college age students for the Kingdom, there were many adults like myself who attended.
This was a conference unlike any one I had ever attended. We participated in corporate multicultural worship, attended workshops, seminars on favorite topics and met people from all over the world. Messages were presented through drama, dynamic speakers, music and prayer. And if that didn't keep you busy enough, there were opportunities to interact with representatives from more than 300 mission agencies and educational institutions!
To be immersed in a community of THOUSANDS who were hungry for God was exhilarating! One night during worship, I remember glancing all around the arena. Behind me I could see a group of Chinese people, to my right a Filipino looking woman and a young man from Australia, and to my left knelt a cluster of students from Europe. Directly in front of me stood a young man with Down-Syndrome who joyfully sang to the Lord and clapped his hands. For a moment I felt like I was in Heaven ... every tongue, tribe and nation gathered to worship the King of Kings. If you've never attended an URBANA conference, maybe it's time
URBANA 09 will be held December 27-31, 2009
Need more information?
Check out the official URBANA 09 website
http://www.urbana09.org/vitals.FAQ.cfm
