JourneyOnline
Eight Australians and two New Zealanders attended the World Methodist Evangelism Institute 8th International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia
Three hundred people from 68 countries took up the opportunity to understand better the issues of evangelism and church growth from a mainline church perspective.
Among them was Rev Ken Anderson who spent many years at the Robina Uniting Church in Queensland before moving to Brougham Place Uniting Church in South Australia.
Mr Anderson sees the World Methodist Council as an important international link that can facilitate learning among people from contrasting circumstances around the world.
“Just being together identifies us as a family where we can see nations that are struggling, as Australia is, in terms of growing the church in a holistic sense and not just numerically,” he said.
The message was strong and clear: the Methodist Church around the world is growing by about one million members per year but this growth is not taking place in first world countries.
The new term being used to describe this phenomenon by Christian Sociologists is “The Global South.”
While Australia is about as “South” as you can go, our nation is aligned with North America, England and Europe where membership has plummeted and continues to plummet in mainstream churches.
“The whole area of faith sharing and people coming to faith is still a possibility,” said Mr Anderson.
“In our point of history and in our country there are so many exciting circumstances that demand the Uniting Church has a theology of evangelism to provide opportunities to help people discover their own gifts and do basic training in how they share the faith.”
Mr Anderson said that the World Methodist Council has had a “passion” for arranging an event in Australia, and it’s a goal that will soon be realised when the World Methodist Council Executive and its committees, including Evangelism, meet in Sydney in September.
Photo : Canon Michael Green from the United Kingdom (left) at the conference with Sydney Uniting Church Minister Rev Alan Robinson
