Prominent evangelical leaders gathered at the Kintex Convention Center in Ilsan, South Korea last week for a mission and evangelism strategy conference called 'call2all Korea Congress.'
Bob Creson, the president and CEO of Wycliffe; Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM); Paul Eshleman, director of the Finishing the Task Movement; and Roy Peterson, the president and CEO of the American Bible Society, were among those who gathered and presented at the conference.
A major theme that was emphasized during the second day of the conference, which took place from June 27 to July 1, was the need for a reconsideration of evangelism and mission strategies for the current generation.
Attendees gathered at separate tables, at which they discussed in small groups the possible and existent strategies to reach the younger generation with diverse methods and technologies.
"If we do not know what is happening in the world today, we will not know what we must do to fulfill the Great Commission," said Mark Anderson during the main presentation. "Today, there are about 2.5 billion people under the age of 18. We must understand what their generation is like, how they think, in order to effectively share the gospel with them."
"Using the methods we used 20 to 50 years ago won't work well with today's young generation," Anderson added.
Mark Anderson, the founder of call2all, spoke at the call2all Korea Congress which took place from June 27 to July 1 in Ilsan, South Korea.
He pointed to Facebook as an example of the different ways that the current young generation engages with each other and with the world.
"The largest nation in the world is Facebook. About 1.6 billion people are currently registered, but it may soon increase to about 3 billion registered users. This means the day will soon come when half of the world's population will be on Facebook," Anderson explained. "And in light of all of these facts, we have to start thinking about how we need to change what we are already doing to more effectively share the gospel message."
Other than the Bible itself, one of the tools that have been used most prevalently to share the gospel is the JESUS Film, Anderson explained, saying that even this is one of the ways that media was used as a tool to share the gospel. He encouraged attendees to seek God's wisdom and guidance on how to develop every possible technology and tool for the cause of sharing the gospel.
Meanwhile, the conference featured various workshops, discussion sessions based on 'spheres' such as education, family, business, and media. The 'spheres' discussions also offered two generational tracks, and separate sessions for business track attendees were also available.
A call2all Congress has taken place almost every year since 2008 in various countires including in Mexico, Thailand, Paraguay, the Philippines, Amsterdam, the U.S., Colombia, and others. However, call2all has not convened in 2014 and 2015.
"You might have noticed we've had a bit of a pause in the last year, year and a half," Anderson explained. "We had to pause and look at what the Great Commission's going to look like in the year 2020, or in the year 2030, or 2033, the anniversary of the Pentecost."
"We are in a Malachi 4:6 movement, where the hearts of the fathers are turning to the sons, and the sons are turning to the fathers," he continued. "The next wave of missions is not just going to be all of us that are older carrying on our activities. We're going to be partnering with this next generation. And I believe they're going to be the largest missions movement that we have ever seen in the history of the church."
This article has been translated and edited for clarity. For the original in Korean, visit kr.christianitydaily.com.
