c. 1997 Religion News Service

ABBOTSFORD, British Colombia _ In a meeting touted as a”celebration of the globalization of Christianity,”nearly 700 delegates from 93 nations gathered here this week for the 10th General Assembly of the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF).

The meeting highlights the rapid growth of evangelical Christianity around the world, particularly in developing nations.

According to veteran church researcher David Barrett, as late as 1960, the majority of evangelicals lived in Western Europe and North America. Today, 70 percent of the world’s estimated 400 million evangelicals live in Africa, Asia and Latin America.”WEF national fellowships reflect the excitement of this new globalizing church,”said WEF International Director Agustin B. Vencer, Jr., a Filipino lawyer and pastor.”We have indeed become a church without borders.” WEF is a Singapore-based umbrella organization representing some 150 million evangelicals in national and regional alliances in more than 100 countries. One such alliance is the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States. The fellowship’s international general assembly is held once every five years.

The international flavor of the assembly was colorfully evident during opening ceremonies Thursday (May 8) when delegates _ many in national dress _ marched into the meeting hall carrying their nations’ flags.”We come from near and far, from all corners of the earth … (but) we affirm with this gathering our oneness in Jesus Christ,”Vencer, the group’s first non-Western leader, told the crowd.

One of the most dramatic moments of the meeting _ and one underscoring the growing globalization of the evangelical movement _ came with the appearance Saturday (May 10) of Vietnamese Christian Kim Phuc.

At the age of nine, Phuc was the focal point of a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a Vietnamese family fleeing the napalm bombing of their village during the Vietnam War. The photo shows Phuc running naked with a look of pain and horror on her face. Seventy-five percent of her body sustained burns during the attack.

In her speech, Phuc, who now lives in Canada, described how the Vietnamese communist government tried to make her into a media star when she was 19.”At first, I was pleased by the attention,”she said, adding, however, she quickly became”tired and burdened.”She said she began searching for peace, and eventually made her way to a church where she decided to become a Christian.”My life changed wonderfully,”she said. In 1996, Phuc went to Washington, D.C., to meet the U.S. military official who ordered the attack on her village. Because of her faith, Phuc said she was able to forgive him and pray with him.”I live without hate or hostility toward those who during the war caused my suffering,”she said.

At the conclusion of her remarks, WEF surprised Phuc by bringing to the stage the Rev. Ho Hieu Ha, the Vietnamese pastor who led her to Christianity and baptized her. The two had not seen each other for 14 years.

Also stressing the importance of individual cultures, Tokunboh Adeyemo, chair of WEF’s International Council and general secretary of the Nairobi-based African Evangelical Alliance, presented a traditional Kenyan walking stick to Frank Malloway, chief of the Canadian aboriginal Sto:lo nation.

Adeyemo, a Nigerian-born convert from Islam, said the evangelical faith transcends _ but does not obliterate _ racial, tribal and cultural differences.”In our diversity, we bring the gifts of God to do the tasks given to us,”he said.

During the assembly, delegates are determining those tasks as they hammer out a global evangelical agenda for the new millennium. Describing that agenda, Vencer called for a”holistic view of ministry”that presents”the whole Gospel to the whole person in the whole world.” According to Vencer, such a mission will include promotion of”economic sufficiency, social peace, public justice, national righteousness and a vital Christian presence.” Several delegates said being part of an international body such as WEF has significant ministry implications.

In war-torn Sierra Leone, the Evangelical Fellowship of Sierra Leone is one of the few indigenous organizations providing humanitarian relief to refugees displaced by ongoing civil strife. According to Crispin Cole, general secretary of the fellowship, physical and spiritual support from WEF and its member alliances make the ministry possible.”We have not been alone, even for one moment,”said Cole.”We have been at the front, but very much supported by an international family we are part of.” WEF leaders said globalization has also transformed advocacy for religious liberty, a priority issue for the organization. “If we can use the worldwide network, the hundreds of millions of ears over the world and if we can … bring the whole world body to pray and respond, it opens up possibilities we haven’t even dreamed of,”said Johan Candelin, the Finnish executive secretary of WEF’s Religious Liberty Commission.

The commission has established an e-mail conference and a World Wide Web site to exchange information about religious persecution and discuss strategic responses. The commission is also assembling a network of sympathetic politicians around the world to aid the fight for religious freedom. In addition, WEF has designated Sept. 28, 1997, the second annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

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On Sunday (May 11), WEF presented its Religious Liberty Award to Brother Andrew, founder of the Dutch-based Open Doors ministry that aids Christians in restricted countries. Brother Andrew, who does not reveal his full name for security reasons, gained international notoriety for smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain.

Although Open Doors workers still deliver Bibles in areas where they are restricted or banned, the ministry has expanded to including supporting local churches suffering persecution and conducting often clandestine training seminars for church leaders. Brother Andrew has turned his personal focus to the Muslim world.

MJP END LAWTON