Global Connections and Evangelical Alliance will hold the Global Interface consultation from today (19th May) and lasts til 21st May 2004 at the Hayes, Swanwick, Derbyshire.

It is a significant event to explore the role and future of the Church and mission, especially for those who concerned with global issues.

"Do we believe that building the world-wide Kingdom of the God is the job of the local church? What do we understand ‘mission’ really is? How should our churches relate to the vast amount of world news that comes from the TV news, the Internet, the newspapers and agency publications? Are there new ways of helping Christians to catch a vision for God’s world?" The consultation wants to provide answers to those church leaders who are concerned about these questions.

The consultation programme will include plenary sessions on key questions about the church and mission. These plenaries will have multiple contributors, sometimes each taking different positions. There will also be smaller plenaries looking at numerous new opportunities in global mission. In addition, the Practical sessions dealing with the nuts and bolts of relating to the world and caring for workers overseas.

The key consultation speakers will be church leaders. The ‘world mission community’, which the Global Connections constituency represents, needs to hear from the evangelical church about what their priorities are and what they feel they need, to relate effectively to God’s world.

Programme
Session 1 "The Face of the Global Church"
The excitement and challenge of being part of the world church.

Session 2 "Face the Fact: Power Struggle or Gospel Passion?" Who should take the lead in mission globally? Is building the kingdom the sole task of the church? Where and how do mission agencies fit in?

Session 3 "Facing mission squarely!"
We will debate the motion – This house believes that sending full stomachs to hell is pointless. Should evangelistic mission take priority over humanitarian mission? If we don’t prioritise evangelism do we loose it? Do we lose our edge if we accept secular funding? Are we becoming woolly Christians?

Session 4 "Viewing mission face on"
A chance to pick the topic of your choice. Options include –Asylum Seekers, Health/AIDS, International Students, Equipping Business for Mission, Old and Young, The Challenge of the EU,Internet Evangelism.

Session 5 "Face some issues!"
Practical questions about mission. Choose what interests you from – Pastoral Care, Vocation Guidance, Church to church partnerships, Training Issues, Planning Church Trips Overseas, Mission Finances

Session 6 "Facing both ways"
What does it mean to be a receiving and inviting country?

Session 7 "Giving world mission in church a facelift"
Encouraging world mission in local churches. Where have we gone wrong and how should we move forward?

Session 8 "Facing the future"
Where do we go from here?

Session 9 "The Ultimate Interface"
Communion together in the context of the global church.

Denominational leaders, local church leaders and leaders of world mission activity are all invited. This consultation is also designed for all members of the Global Connections network. All UK office personnel are profoundly affected by their agency’s relationship to the church. This event is probably the nearest we have come so far to a meeting of all the stakeholders in the UK evangelical world mission movement.