The Global Network of World Centers of Mission

A brief report on the GNWCM meeting in Singapore that Meng Eng and I attended as representatives of the MCGM in April 09.

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The GNWCM was held from 20th to 23rd April @ St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, a beautiful site that is a mix of both the old and the new, the traditional and the contemporary. The old Cathedral stands out amongst the modern buildings that surround it in the busy streets of central Singapore, as an icon from the old world, dignified, showing its age yet still well kept, like everything else in Singapore. It is also a recognised heritage site drawing visitors from the world over who are free to walk into the august sanctuary and view the beautiful interior of the stained-glass building. The doors are opened every day for the faithful to come and pray (and we saw a few) amidst the curious gaze of the casual tourists.

Ah, the new! Just beside the old cathedral, a modern, contemporary sanctuary built underground from funds provided by the Singapore Government (unasked for, we were told!) that had a clear glass window on the roof, opening up to the sky where at one end, if you stand in the middle, you may gaze at the cross at the top of the old cathedral and at the other end, you behold the glistening dome of the mosque across the street! The Dean (or pastor) of the Cathedral tells us that he stands and prays in this new sanctuary for the faithful in the mosque for the grace of God to be shown to them in the person of Jesus Christ!

And in this significant place, leaders from 11 Centers of World Mission together with the US Center of World Mission met, after a lapse of many years, to renew their commitment to the vision of a global network of world centers of mission and to chart its future path.

The meetings in the day were mostly devoted to updates by the different world centers of mission on their present ministries and directions, the casting (or re-casting) of vision and the shaping of common values for the global network that will guide the world centers of mission in the their future operations and will mark them out as belonging to the same family.

The outstanding benefits of the meeting for Meng Eng and I were the new friends we made from the other centers of mission, a clearer vision for the role of MCGM and the discovery of the fact that we all spoke the same language of love for the Lord, love for the unreached people groups and love for food!

We also discovered that there are two global level partnerships. There is:

1. The Global Network of Mission of Mission Structures (GNMS) - which is a global network of mission sending structures that are actually deploying workers to the field formed in 2004.

Then there is:

2. The Global Network of World Center of Mission (GNWCM) - which is a network of Center of Mission organizations around the globe which focuses on getting the whole Church involved in frontier mission work through mobilization, training, strategy and research.

The GNWCM reaches back to the Church for strategic involvement, while the GNMS's concerns are for the unreached people groups.