Missions Initiative: New Wineskins for Global Mission Conference
More than 1,000 lay people, priests, and bishops are expected to attend the New Wineskins for Global Mission conference April 11–15. The triennial gathering, sponsored by New Wineskins Missionary Network, an Anglican Communion Network mission partner, will be held at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.
“An amazing cadre of speakers from around the world will be sharing from their own experiences of seeing God’s power transform lives in every culture,” said Sharon Stockdale Steinmiller, Director of New Wineskins Missionary Network, formerly ECMC, (Episcopal Church Missionary Community). “We recommend that parishes send their rectors, vestry members, mission committee members, youth workers, and potential missionaries. For many who attend, it’s a life-changing event!”
Speakers will include the Rt. Rev. Derek Eaton, whose diocese of Nelson, New Zealand has grown 47% in the last sixteen years; the Rev. Prem Kumar James, director of Interdev in India, speaking on partnering to reach people groups who have not heard the gospel; Getachew, an African serving with Global Teams, who has seen a growing number of Muslims accept Christ; and, Bishop Ben Kwashi, speaking on evangelism in northern Nigeria which has led to the tremendous growth of the Anglican Church in the midst of turmoil and persecution.
Other topics that will be addressed through plenary sessions, workshops and exhibitors include Christian micro-enterprise development, training indigenous missionaries, reaching and mobilizing young people, and issues raised by the AIDS pandemic.
The Rev. Cn. Dr. Alison Barfoot, assistant for international relations to the Archbishop of Uganda said, “I will be attending the New Wineskins conference the week after Easter in North Carolina. If you don’t know about this conference, it’s a must. It’s truly the best conference I have ever attended, and I have attended a LOT of conferences.”
New Wineskins Missionary Network has been raising mission awareness in the Episcopal Church in America for over thirty years. It was instrumental in the founding of the South American Missionary Society, Anglican Frontier Missions, the Stanway Institute for World Mission and Evangelism, Yavatmal College for Leadership Training and the Graduate School of Missiology in India as well as Anglican Global Mission Partners, the mission-mobilizing ministry of the ACN.
“The New Wineskins Global Mission conference is a gift to the Anglican Church,” said the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Moderator of the Network. “Our partnership in mission with our brothers and sisters around the world is central to fulfilling our Christian calling. This conference helps us understand what God is doing outside of our own borders and encourages us to join Him in doing it.”
The conference is only three weeks away, but there is still time to register and make plans to attend. To register for the New Wineskins for Global Mission conference, go to www.newwineskins.org or call 724–266–2810 for more information.
Posted 3/19/07