For the first time since its establishment over a century ago, the
World Evangelical Alliance now has a centre to gather and unite
Christian leaders from around the globe with the establishment of a new
facility in upstate New York.
On Thursday, leadership and staff from WEA, the world's largest body
of evangelicals, and representatives from collaborating organisations
held a dedication service and ribbon cutting ceremony for the center
which will serve as a conference, research, study and work centre for
evangelicals worldwide.
The Evangelical Center, located in Binghamton, is a
64,000-square-foot facility with conference halls, offices, classrooms,
an R&D centre, a library and sports facilities.
It will house the
offices of WEA, which represents over 420 million evangelicals around
the world through its global network, and its training arm, the WEA
Leadership Institute.
The centre will also be home to evangelical organisations
collaborating with WEA including the World Olivet Assembly, a global
gathering of evangelical churches and para-church organisations, and
Olivet University, an evangelical Christian university based in San
Francisco with extension campuses across North America, which has been
an education partner with the Leadership Institute.
WEA representatives, including CEO/Secretary General Dr Geoff
Tunnicliffe, joined with representatives from Olivet University and
World Olivet Assembly in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the centre.
During the dedication service, Dr Tunnicliffe described the
Evangelical Center as "a study centre, research centre, conference
centre, a place to engage in strategic thinking, and a place of personal
and corporate renewal".
In his sermon, he pointed to the Lord's Prayer and its core emphasis
being on the Kingdom of God. He offered several practical examples of
how he thought the Kingdom of God might be expressed in our day, from
the economy seeing a zero per cent jobless rate to conflicts being
nonexistent as Palestinians work side by side with Israelis. Most
importantly, the Kingdom would be a place where "God's name is hallowed
and His will is followed", he said.
He said that more than being "Kingdom builders" he wished for WEA and
its partner organisations to be remembered as "Kingdom prayers", noting
that God's Kingdom does not just come with human power but only by
seeking from above.
Although the Evangelical Center would serve many functions, his hope
for the centre would be, first and foremost, a place of prayer for God's
Kingdom to come.
"In all the activities that we will be engaged in in this place, that
will become the most strategic because that's what Jesus asked us to
do: pray for his Kingdom to come," said Dr Tunnicliffe.
Several leaders from the global church bodies expressed their gratitude for the centre.
Dr Ray Tallman, chair of World Olivet Assembly, reflected on the
significance of the centre's location near the birthplace of technology
company IBM.
"It was really the beginning of the information age, with technology
declaring that the whole world can be reached," said Dr Tallman. "We now
represent with one voice the movement of the most importance voice that
needs to be heard, the voice of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
WEA Leadership Institute Director Dr Rob Brynjolfson said he hopes
the center would be a place "to encourage and model Christian
leadership" and train Kingdom leaders for churches around the world.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Dr Tunnicliffe said he
believed it was the "right time" to establish the Evangelical Center.
Earlier this year, WEA relocated its headquarters from Vancouver,
Canada, to New York City, after its leaders and members agreed that it
would be the most strategic location for the organisation.
"We discovered that the opportunities have been greater than we
anticipated," said the WEA leader.
"The opportunities to engage with the
media and the United Nations have been very much strengthened."
The upstate New York location, added Dr Tunnicliffe, would allow the
WEA to hold gatherings with Christian leaders while still remaining
close to its offices in downtown Manhattan.
"Having some place outside of New York City in which we can hold
retreats, conferences and strategic events would help take a little out
of the hustle and bustle of the city," he said. "This place gives us a
more relaxed context to work in and a large centre where we can gather
people for training and interaction."
Furthermore, the centre comes at a time when the global evangelical
body is growing tremendously, according to Dr Tunnicliffe. He said WEA
will announce in early 2011 that its constituency has grown from 420 to
600 million evangelicals worldwide.
The centre, he said, will serve as an "information hub" where the
makeup, growth, and impact of evangelicals can be studied and a place to
gather resources and disseminate them to churches worldwide.
"Our goal is to serve the global evangelical family," he said. "We
hope the services and what we provide out of here, in terms of ministry,
will have a lot more impact."
Although the initial plans for the centre have been discussed, Dr
Tunnicliffe said he looks forward to seeing how the uses of the center
will be expanded upon in the coming months and years.
"We’ve probably only dreamed of a small portion of how it can be used at this point."
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