Urbana 15

A New Generation of Stories

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 22:49:08 +0000

A New Generation of Stories

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI) ---Attendees were asked, “What Story Will You Tell?” at Urbana 15, ��ñ��’s triennial student missions conference. And they answered with bold commitments to let God direct their stories.

“At Urbana 15, we challenged this generation to tell the Jesus' story with their lives, and to learn from stories that are different than theirs,” said Urbana director Tom Lin. “I pray that this generation will give their whole hearts to Jesus and surrender their lives for God's global mission.”

Sixteen thousand Urbana attendees spent the last five days of 2015 in St. Louis, studying the Gospel of Matthew, praying for persecuted Christians, engaging with over 200 mission-focused seminars and more than 200 mission agencies and seminaries, and worshipping God through music and drama. This was ��ñ��’s twenty-fourth Urbana but Patrick Fung, the Director of OMF International in Singapore, clearly asserted why each Urbana is important: “We cannot claim the faith of the previous generation,” he said. “Each generation must serve God’s purpose.”

David Platt, the President of the International Mission Board, cautioned his listeners not to try to manufacture a heart for missions. “Your life is to love Christ ,” he said. “And mission is a lavish expression of that love.”

In response to David’s call to commitment, 681 made decisions to become a follower of Jesus Christ. In addition:

9,416 said yes to serving in a global or cross-cultural setting—short-term, mid-term, and long-term combined.
9,254 said yes to regularly praying and interceding for the global church.
5,418 said yes to continuing with others their Bible study of Matthew’s Gospel that began at Urbana.

Urbana 15 participants contributed more than one million dollars to the Urbana offering. The offering goes to 12 organizations that support indigenous Christian leaders and missionaries, persecuted churches, intercession ministry, refugees and diaspora communities, and evangelism efforts.

Urbana 15 can still be experienced in this summary video (below). More Urbana 15 videos are available online at https://urbana.org/urbana-15/general-sessions. Audio from Urbana seminars is available at: https://urbana.org/seminars-tracks. Additional Urbana resources, such as Paul Borthwick’s helpful article on “5 Ways to Process Urbana” are featured on the Urbana blog: https://urbana.org/blog.

For more information contact:
Gordon Govier
608-443-3688

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Technology & Missions Intersect at Urbana 15

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 17:20:26 +0000

Press Room

Technology & Missions Intersect at Urbana 15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Madison, WI) – Tech-savvy participants at ��ñ��’s Urbana 15 will be challenged by Hack4Missions, Urbana’s first ever hackathon December 27-31, 2015 in St. Louis, Missouri. Students will prototype new ideas and create real-time solutions to challenges confronting missions organizations.

Led by Hack4Missions directors Ali Llewellyn and Nick Skytland, cofounders of the International Space Apps Challenge and the National Day of Civic Hacking as members of NASA’s Open Innovation team, over 200 students will explore technology’s place in God’s global mission. The participants will use their skills to advance God’s kingdom, and receive mentoring from technology and missions leaders. Read more of this release at urbana.org.

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A Call for Prayer for St. Louis Churches

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:46:47 +0000

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A Call for Prayer for St. Louis Churches

We’re grieved that as of today seven churches, most of which serve predominantly Black communities in the St. Louis area, have been intentionally set on fire since October 8th.��ñ�� has a significant presence in St. Louis, including our campus ministries, Urban Program, and the upcoming Urbana 15 Student Missions Conference this December. Though we do not know why these fires have been set, we pray for and stand with the Black community there as they experience fear, stress and uncertainty.

Michelle Higgins, a church leader from South City Church in Saint Louis who will speak at Urbana 15, noted today that whoever is doing this is having a grave impact on the community.“These are churches that are ministering in needy areas. North St. Louis is largely African American. Most Black churches will have a meal together each week, and many people who can’t afford to eat well regularly will get their one good meal at church.

Higgins called the Christian community to unite around these attacks. "This is a call for St. Louis churches to view one another as One Church, and not multiple churches. This is our opportunity to break down the barriers.”

As 16,000 people prepare to go to ��ñ��’s Urbana 15 in St. Louis, would you join us in praying for the churches and people of St. Louis? “We recognize that intercession and engaging the pain in the communities closest to us is an integral part of global missions,” said Urbana Director Tom Lin, ��ñ��’s Vice President and Director of Missions. “��ñ�� stands with St. Louis for the good of the world.”

��ñ�� is contributing to the fund to install security systems and conduct repairs at the seven churches targeted in these attacks.

UPDATE: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports an arrest has been made in the case.

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The Persecuted Church

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 14:45:19 +0000

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Alec Hill, president of ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship

The Persecuted Church

In a recent Washington Post article, a headline rhetorically asked: “Has the world ‘looked the other way’ while Christians are killed?” It certainly appears so.

Open Doors USA, a respected nonprofit organization, reports that every month 322 Christians are murdered for their faith, 772 suffer from acts of violence and 214 churches are damaged or destroyed.

Pope Francis aptly summarizes the situation: “Our brothers and our sisters…are persecuted, exiled, slain, beheaded, solely for being Christian…There are more martyrs in recent years than in the early centuries of the faith. I hope that the international community doesn’t stand mute and inert before such unacceptable crimes.”

Recent Examples

Kenya
Just as a group of Christian students gathered for early morning prayer at Garissa University, al-Shabab militants attacked. Twenty-two students involved with our sister movement, FOCUS, were murdered. And it was no coincidence that they were killed first as Christians were singled out for execution. Please pray for FOCUS’s leader, George Odhiambo Ogalo, his staff, volunteers and their student leaders.

North Korea
For more than a decade, North Korea has been the worst-ranked nation when it comes to the persecution of Christians. If believers are caught praying or fellowshipping with others, they are detained (up to 70,000 are currently imprisoned in harsh labor camps), tortured, and/or executed. This video provides a chilling account of one such story.

Libya
The whole world gasped at a video showing 21 Egyptian Christians being beheaded. Several were heard calling out Jesus’ name as they were executed. The victims, guest laborers in Libya, were identified by the tattooed crosses on their wrists—a mark they courageously took on at baptism to proclaim their faith. When I heard this detail, I flashed back to Cairo in 2005, when I watched fellow ��ñ�� leader, Scott Bessenecker, receive a similar tattoo in order to be in solidarity with Egyptian believers.

Just this past week, 12 refugees drowned after they were thrown off a boat from Libya to Italy solely because they were Christians. This morning's headlines carry the story of more executions in Libya involving Ethiopian Christians.

Syria/Iraq
I recently sat transfixed by a 60 Minutes account of the raw persecution of Iraqi believers. Christian communities that have existed since the first century are facing a horrible choice: conversion to Islam or death. The fortunate ones flee. In the city of Mosul, all 45 of the churches have been destroyed or occupied.

Pakistan

Last month, 13 Christians were killed and 80 injured when bombs were detonated at two churches during Sunday services. Two years earlier, in the same city, approximately 175 homes belonging to Christians were set on fire. I have dear friends living very near to where both of these events occurred and pray for them weekly.

Other Nations
Persecution is rampant in many other nations as well, including Nigeria where Boko Haram continues to terrorize at will. It has now been a year since more than 200 high school girls—many of whom are Christians—were abducted at Chibok. Several would have been college students this year active in our sister student movement, Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students (NIFES).

Vietnam, Iran, Myanmar, India, China, Laos, Eritrea and Uzbekistan are also on the list of 50 nations where Christians fare worst. See the World Watch List.

Our Response?

The apostle Paul reminds us that global Christians are all members of one body: “if one part suffers, every part suffers” (1 Cor. 12:26). We dare not turn away.

The pain of the persecuted church will be one of the themes of Urbana 15. As a community, ��ñ�� will explore ways to get more involved. In the meantime, I encourage you to visit the Open Doors website to learn more about how to pray, travel, volunteer, and advocate.

It is imperative that we speak up even as Western governments, including our own, fail to adequately acknowledge the fact that fellow followers of Jesus are being targeted all over the world.

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Dr. Patrick Fung - Urbana 15 Expositor

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:07:08 +0000

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Dr. Patrick Fung - Urbana 15 Expositor

Dr. Patrick Fung will be the Bible expositor at ��ñ��’s Urbana 15 Student Missions Conference, which will be held in St. Louis, December 27-31, 2015. He is the Director of OMF International (formerly China Inland Mission).

“Dr. Fung’s deep commitment to Scripture, love for students, and nearly 25 years of experience in the mission field make him a great expositor for Urbana 15. We’re thrilled to have him join us, and look forward to how God will use him to challenge conference participants.”
-Tom Lin, Urbana Director

As both a Bible scholar and medical doctor, Dr. Fung has a deep passion to see God’s Word taught throughout the world.

“The Word of God is indispensable to the revival, transformation, and mission of God’s people. What a privilege it is that, as God’s people, Christ followers, we have this glorious ministry of bringing the Word to the world and connecting the world to the Word with hope, relevance, and purpose. I look forward to studying the Word of God together at Urbana 15.”

-Dr. Patrick Fung

During the conference, Bible study and exposition will focus on passages from the Gospel of Matthew.

“This generation is moved and inspired by narrative. And there is none more central than that of Jesus’ crucifixion and the cross, which we will study in the Gospel of Matthew at Urbana 15.”

-Tom Lin

Urbana is one of the most diverse and largest student missions conferences in the world, convening over 16,000 students and more than 250 missions organizations and institutions in one place at the same time. Since 1946, God has used Urbana to mobilize nearly 300,000 people to take the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

Dr. Fung, who has previously been interviewed at Urbana 09, joins a distinguished list of Bible teachers who have spoken at the conference, including A. W. Tozer (Urbana 54), John Stott (Urbana 64, 67, 70, 73, 76, and 79), Ajith Fernando (Urbana 87, 90, 93, and 06), and Calisto Odede (Urbana 12). News release version of this story at ��ñ��'s Urbana website. More information on Dr. Fung also on the Urbana website.

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