Global Christian Roundtable
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| USA | http://www.icta.net/gcr/html/index.html |
Contents |
[edit] Vision
Connecting Christ’s People to Fulfill His Great Commission in the 21st Century
“Look at the peoples and watch — and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told... For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” — Habakkuk 1:5, 2:14
“I pray... that all of them may be one... so that the world may believe that you have sent me... May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” — John 17:20-23
[edit] Mission
The Great Commission Roundtable is a global community of ministry and resource networks focusing on the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission, welcoming all such networks to connect and participate as equal partners.
GCR is be limited to leaders of ministry networks (geographical, functional or resource) and associations of churches and/or mission agencies.
[edit] About GCR
Source: http://www.icta.net/gcr/html/the_challenge.html
"Let my heart be broken with the things which break the heart of God." —Bob Pierce
- Over 1.1 billion people still have little or no chance to hear of Jesus unless someone crosses cultural barriers and goes to tell them.
- The church is sending only 4000 of its over 300,000 missionaries to them.
- Christians are providing only 1.2% of their mission funding for this purpose.
- 85% of the world's poorest nations are in the unevangelized world.
- A materialistic, secularistic and relativistic Western world needs to be re-evangelized with a special focus on the younger generation, increasingly unaware of basic biblical teaching.
- Amidst growing worldwide pluralism, the Church must uncompromisingly proclaim the utter uniqueness of Jesus and His absolute authority as God come in the flesh.
These are just some of the huge challenges Christ's Church faces as we stand at the brink of a new millennium. Given the overpowering nature of the world's need, it is essential that Christ's global force be able to unite and coordinate our mission for those in need of His loving deliverance. Though there have been many spiritual breakthroughs in world mission over the last several decades through united evangelical movements such as World Evangelical Fellowship, the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization, and the AD2000 and Beyond Movement, much remains to be done to defragment and better integrate our isolated and autonomous efforts. Needless duplication and waste of human and material resources still must be reduced. More importantly, we must intentionally practice the organic unity that Jesus said would cause the world to believe in Him.
Through the gracious working of God's Spirit, this kind of unity is beginning to develop on a global level. In March, 1999, 90 men and women leaders from many of the world's evangelical movements and networks came together in Hurdal, Norway to create a new cooperative vehicle for world evangelization in the 21st century. Following a moving time of repentance and reconciliation that cleared up past misunderstandings between leaders of the Lausanne Movement, AD2000 & Beyond Movement and World Evangelical Fellowship, the participants agreed that a new global forum, a "network of networks," should be formed. The name of this new venture in collaborative Christian mission is the Great Commission Roundtable (GCR). It is a unique, global partnership that is open to all segments of the Body of Christ and facilitates collaboration among international, regional and functional networks towards the discipling of all peoples in response to Christ's Great Commission.
[edit] Implementation of the GCR Vision
An international task force of 21 network leaders guided by a smaller facilitation team of eight has been chosen. We believe that God will use this new network of networks to greatly multiply the impact of present mission efforts and catalyze many more, functioning as a roundtable to share, discuss and work for unity and effectiveness in the use of resources.
GCR describes itself as a process oriented to establish an ambiance of cooperation between the leaders of functioning established networks. These networks must have a constituency and resources behind them in order to participate. Therefore, GCR is not only a network of networks but a real roundtable, where the participants need to be committed to speak deeply about important issues, cultivate relationships and specially, cultivate trust in order to arrive to conclusions that facilitate the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We are also committed to avoid the waste of resources and duplication of efforts.
A roundtable is a more elaborated level of networking. The Great Commission Roundtable is a global community of ministry and resource networks (geographical, functional or resource) and associations of churches and/or mission agencies. Consideration will be given to network size, significance, geographical reach and function when inviting network leaders to participate in meetings of the Roundtable.
[edit] Guiding Values
The Great Commission Roundtable has the following characteristics:
- GCR convenes leaders of functioning established networks that have a constituency and resources behind them. These leaders are able to influence others with whom they have a defined working relationship.
- The meetings of GCR will be kept limited in size to foster openness, speak deeply about issues and cultivate relationships.
- GCR desires to cultivate trust among the participating leaders and to affirm each other.
- GCR through the network leaders, may identify acute needs or critical issues that impact many or all involved in mission. To solve such issues, they may propose Forums for reflection(s) and action. When the task has been completed, it will cease to exist.
- To facilitate the discussion process, GCR participants will select a suitable facilitator after the group has established the agenda. The facilitative role may be rotated among the different participants.
- The participants need to be committed to continue to meet over time because relational trust is critical to the ongoing process. At the same time, these leaders may choose to invite other leaders to join them for specific meetings.
- To facilitate the connection between the leaders and the ongoing processes, GCR will have a minimal structure.
