Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

Urbana'70 Missionary Conventionby John Purvis and fanDunnWhile most students vacationed over Christmas,12,000 college students from all over the world merged onthe campus of the University of Illinois for the 9th UrbanaMissionary Convention. Sponsored by the Inter-VarsityChristian Fellowship of the United States and Canada, thisintensive four days of dialogue on missions brings togetherstudents and missionaries in order to reach a greater understandingof the role of missions in our modern world.Under a strenuous schedule of lectures, classes andsmall group discussions, students and missionaries grappledwith the issues of racism, internationalism, and modernmissions. Each morning, students met in groups of ten forBible Study, searching out what God was saying to thempersonally. Then they gathered in the largest assembly hallon any campus in the U. S. to listen to world leaders inChristian missions expound on the Scriptures and on internationalwork.Samuel Escobar challenged students to ' 'recognize ourLord and Savior before whose name every knee should bowand be obedient. Let us not try to save our status in thisrotten, affluent society....! Let us leave it behind us if we arecalled to do so." Again and again throughout the conference,stress was placed on separating Christianity andAmericanism. Missions is the proclamation of the gospel,not the spreading of western culture.Speakers such as Tom Skinner dealt harshly with thefailure of the church to assume the leadership in solving therace problem in America. In a very lucid talk on blackhistory in America, Skinner pointed out some grave areas ofinequality and challenged Christian students to becomepersonally involved in their own communities in rightingthese situations. Groups of black students met late into thenight with Skinner, discussing the role of a black student intoday's militant black population.One of the best received lectures given at the conferencewas Paul Little's talk on "How to Know the Will ofGod for your Life." Exploding the old idea of God, the"cosmic kill-joy," Mr. Little integrated Scripture withpersonal illustrations to show how God's will was a joyfulexperience for an individual. He said that the phrase —"surrender to the will of God" has such negative connotations,as if a person has fought, and wrestled, and run,and now is finally caught, and gives in to the will of God.Mr. Little used instead the phrase "affirm the will of God,which he defined as agreeing with, choosing, confirming,John Purvis and Jan Dunn attend the Indianapolis R. PChurch. Patricia Braum arranged for this report at theeditor's request.asserting positively. He described the will of God as a scrollthat unrolls daily, and not a blue print that God lays beforeus all at one time. Students came away from his talk resolvedto affirm God's will for their lives on a daily basis.Rev. John R. W. Stott's exposition of John 13-17 wasan insight into Christ's thinking as He revealed to Hisdisciples His innermost thoughts. In John 13, which hetitled "The Foot-washing Lord and Savior," he stressedthat the foot-washing demonstrated the mission of Christ onearth (serving), the salvation He offers and the mutual loveHe expects. "Love is not sentiment as much as service." InJohn 14 and 16, which he titled "The Two Comings ofChrist," he described Christ's Ultimate Coming (14:25-26, 16:8-15). In John 15 which he titled "The Three-foldChristian Duty" he discussed the Christian's duty to Christfruitfulness,to one another-love, to the world and ambassadors."Discipleship means allegiance to the sufferingChrist." In John 17, which he titled "The Son CommunicatingDirectly with the Father,"Hediscussed Himselfglorified, the apostles sanctified, and the whole churchunified. "The goal is the unity that consummated ineternity."In an evening message, Leighton Ford brought backinto clear focus the fact that man is perishing, and themotivation this fact should have on missions. He said thatour society has begun to believe "all men are doomed to besaved." Tracing various passages of Scripture, Ford built hiscase on the very fact of sin and its consequences. ' 'If we getstraightened out on this sinfulness and final judgment ofman, we will straighten out this false diocotomy we havemade between social concern and saving souls."Each afternoon during the conference, students couldspend individual time with representatives of over 170mission boards. The various boards each had a booth set upin the Armory and had representatives available to talk withstudents about job opportunities overseas. A computerservice had processed 5,000 applications to the conference,and matched up the interests of these five thousand studentswith 125,000 job opportunities they had collected fromthese mission boards. As the students registered, they weregiven a computer printout sheet listing five job openingsthey qualified for. This kind of information helped studentsmake definite progress toward yoing overseas.Probably the most impressive experience of theconference occurred on New Year's Eve. All 12,000delegates gathered from 10:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. torcommunion. As 1971. with all of its problems andchallenges, rolled in at midnight, each individual at theSec Page 9FEBRUARY 3, 1971 /