You can make a difference! Listen to this remarkable account of how God worked through the life of
one faithful man in a little place called George Street. (9 min.)
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and
who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" - Isaiah
6:8, NASB
Over 10,000 attendees from 209 nations and territories attended the Amsterdam
2000 conference on evangelism in late July 2000. The conference was organized
by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and chaired by Rev.
Graham. The Amsterdam Declaration was presented as a joint report of the
three task groups of mission strategists, church leaders, and theologians
gathered at Amsterdam 2000. It was reviewed by hundreds of Christian leaders
and evangelists from around the world.
At The Gospel Report, we believe that some are specially gifted by the
Holy Spirit to be evangelists - communicating Christ and leading others
to Him - but that all Christians are called to play their part in the fulfilling
of Jesus' Great Commission to take the Gospel to all nations. (Matthew
28:28-20)
Also resulting from Amsterdam 2000 was "A Covenant For Evangelists,"
a pledge that evangelists and other Christians around the world have adopted
as a stardard of accountability for evangelizing their home, community,
nation, and world. We believe this standard is no less applicable to each
of us as we live a life pleasing to God.
Isaiah recorded the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send,
and who will go for Us?" (Isaiah 6:8, NASB) Isaiah answered, "Here
am I. Send me!" Are you ready to go and tell the people in your family,
neighborhood, school, workplace, and community?
We encourage you to prayerfully ask God to help you adopt by faith, and
apply by practice, these fourteen standards in your personal witness for
Jesus.
The Declaration concluded with this prayer:
"Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, we praise you for the great love
that you have shown to us through the redeeming death and triumphant resurrection
of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would enable us by
the power of your Holy Spirit to proclaim faithfully the good news of your
kingdom and your love. Forgive us for failing to take the gospel to all
the peoples of the world. Deliver us from ignorance, error, lovelessness,
pride, selfishness, impurity, and cowardice. Enable us to be truthful,
kind, humble, sympathetic, pure, and courageous. Salvation belongs to you,
O God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. We ask you to make our
gospel witness effective. Anoint our proclamation with the Holy Spirit;
use it to gather that great multitude from all nations who will one day
stand before you and the Lamb giving praise. This we ask by the merits
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
A Covenant For Evangelists
As a company of evangelists called and gifted by God to share the good
news of Jesus Christ throughout the world, we earnestly pledge ourselves
to:
1.
Worship the one true and living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy
6:4).
2.
Submit to the Holy Scriptures, the infallible Word of God, as the basis
for our life and message (2 Timothy 3:16-27).
3.
Proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's Son and our redeemer, the one
and only Savior of the world (Acts 4:12).
4.
Seek always to preach and minister in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts
4:29-31).
5.
Live a life of constant personal prayer, Bible study and devotion to God,
and also be part of a local fellowship of believers (James 4:10; Hebrews
10:25).
6.
Pray that all persons of all languages and cultures may have access to
the Gospel and the Bible (Acts 1:8).
7.
Practice purity in both singleness and marriage, caring for our family
and bringing up our children in the nurture of the Lord (Ephesians 5:25,
6:1-4).
8.
Walk humbly before God and our fellow human beings, renouncing arrogance,
pride, and boastful self-promotion (Micah 6:8; Ephesians 4:1-2).
9.
Maintain financial integrity and accountability in all of our activities,
so that the cause of Christ may not be discredited (1 Timothy 6:10-21).
10.
Serve the needy and oppressed, remembering the mercy and compassion of
Jesus (James 2:14-27).
11.
Encourage the discipling and nurturing ministry of local churches (Matthew
28:19-20).
12.
Work together in unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ (John 17:23).
13.
Equip others for the practice of evangelism, giving special care to involve
new believers in the sharing of their faith (Ephesians 4:11-23).
14.
Stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer
persecution and even martyrdom for their faithful Gospel witness (2 Corinthians
1:8-21).
Knowing that apart from Jesus Christ we can do nothing, we make these pledges
with prayerful reliance on his help. As we do so, we ask for the prayer
and support of all Christ's followers so that world evangelization may
be advanced, the church built up and God glorified in ever-increasing measure.
