by Jon Konnerup
Awesome. Challenging. Unbelievable. Refreshing. Like our meetings used to be. Huge blessing. Revealing. God honoring. Proud to be part of the BBFI.
Above are just a few of the responses I received following the Global Fellowship Meeting of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International in Cebu City, Philippines. After two and a half years of planning and prayer, this is exactly what we were hoping from this first historic international meeting outside the United States.
God brought together people from all parts of the globe to celebrate the work of God through the efforts of the BBFI. The 23 international speakers all shared the blessing of God upon them and their churches as a result of missionaries being sent from BBFI churches in the United States. They strongly expressed their gratitude for the free gift of Jesus that had been revealed to them, which they might not have heard about otherwise.
Great excitement permeated the entire meeting as we saw the fruit of our labors over the past 60 years. One of the speakers, a Cambodian missionary in Laos, is a great example of this. This speaker is the product of the work of a Filipino missionary in Cambodia. The Filipino missionary is a product of a church in the Philippines, which is a product of the work of one of our missionaries years ago. In fact, many were impressed when they realized that half the attendees were either pastors or missionaries from all around the world. The first service on Monday night had 3,100 in attendance. Every service of the week saw the church building packed, and on the last night over 3,500 were in attendance.
Other responses:
“I didn’t realize the BBFI had so much going on around the world.”
“The leaders in our country must have a talk — we are not doing nearly enough in global missions.”
“If they can do this in the Philippines, then we know God can do this in our country.”
“We had such a wonderful time of fellowship, seeing long-time friends and meeting new faces, sharing the same faith and doing the same work for the Lord.”
“It is exciting to see the BBFI is truly international.”
“I sure wish so many more could have been a part of this meeting, it changed my life.”
We saw firsthand that national fellowships are springing up across the world like islands of spotlights in a sea of darkness. These people want to be not only receiving nations but also sending nations. In all reality, missions is no longer only from the “west to the rest,” but from “everywhere to everywhere.”
Does this mean our responsibility as Americans for missions is diminished or over? Not at all! It means we still have the same commission by God to reach the largest number of people ever to populate the world — but we are now doing this with others, our fruit, who have the same commission. The cool thing is they can go places many times we cannot. It is wonderful to see how God has raised up people and leaders from our 60 years of missions who can now reach people almost impossible for Americans to reach. It is all in God’s plan and we must embrace this.
Further reports and photos of the wonderful, historic meeting will be coming. Watch for them, and share in the blessings of God with those of us who were able to attend.