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| Saturday, June 21, 2008 |
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Global Gateways
Church of God Ministries, Church of God - General
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Missions conference focuses on the strategic value of urban centers
By Kelley Philips
 On Saturday, Global Missions hosted the annual One World One Mission Conference, with this year’s focus on gateway cities. Setting the tempo for the conference, Dr. Mary Ann Hawkins (professor of intercultural studies at AUSOT) discussed the theological and philosophical foundation of urban ministries worldwide, leading those in attendance to think through the principles that guide our approach to ministries in gateway cities. Patrick Nachtigall (missionary in Hong Kong) then focused attention on the broad strategic value of evangelization and discipleship in the major gateway cities of the world by influencing the global influencers who call these urban crossroads home for a season or even, perhaps, for a lifetime. Narrowing the focus to a specific gateway city, Kelley Philips (regional coordinator, Europe–Middle East) spoke about Global Missions’ upcoming project, Gateway Berlin, and the vision for Berlin that the Church of God in Germany has put forth, to establish a center that will be home to multilingual ministries, an urban training center for youth, as well as a regional resource center.
Global Missions coordinator Bob Edwards said, “Gateway cities are strategic in fulfilling the Great Commission, and as the year 2020 approaches, Global Missions is committed to its part in encouraging and connecting the numerous Church of God Global Learning Centers (ministry points) to one another, desiring a united and informed approach in fulfilling the Great Commandment and Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The establishment of these Global Learning Centers in strategic gateway cities around the world is a vital part of Global Missions’ 2020 Vision.
This annual conference has quickly become a valuable venue for Global Missions to present ideas, challenges, and opportunities that impact today’s cross-cultural missions endeavors, as well as a time of dialogue with the mission-minded and mission-hearted from Church of God congregations in North America. This is valuable in understanding how the Church of God can best fulfill its role in fulfilling the Great Commission.
A version of this article appears in the Sunday, June 22, 2008, edition of the NAC roundup/08 newsletter. To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (3.80 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.
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