WEC Centennial message

 

On Saturday, we celebrated 100 years of WEC International with a meeting here at the UK Headquarters - below is a summary of what I shared in relation to the next 100 years! 

100 years ago ... what happened?

• Al Capone was expelled from school,
• Albert Einstein works on new theory of gravity,
• Houdini begins upside-down straitjacket escapes,
• Emily Davison, suffragette, runs in front of the Kings horse at the Derby and is killed.

At the same time ... C T Studd, Pioneer missionary, felt God calling him to pioneer a new mission in the Heart of Africa. At that time, Central Africa was considered as one of the neediest and most difficult spots on earth. Even though he was 53 and in terrible health, he obeyed. With a confident statement of faith ... “This journey is not merely for Central Africa, but for the whole unevangelised world.” Thus, WEC International was born ...

Here we are 100 years celebrating God's faithfulness but also looking ahead to the future - what does it hold? 

Much is changing and changing with increasing rapidity at the same time much remains the same ...

Man is still born in sin ... Man still needs a Saviour ... Jesus remains the way, the truth and the life ... He remains the only name under heaven by which men might be saved and, He still compels His children to show the wonders of the gospel to all the people groups of the world. We, as co-heirs with Christ and children of our Father in heaven, are compelled externally by the commands in scripture, and constrained internally by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit must yield to His Lordship and follow wherever He leads.

In WEC much remains from the earliest years ... Passion for Christ and for His kingdom - from which flowed ... 

The objectives - 

1/ Reaching people 2/ Planting Churches 3/ Mobilising for mission 

The values - 

1/ Faith 2/ Holiness 3/ Sacrifice 4/ Fellowship

Let us call these our heritage ... 

RT Kendall wrote - 'It is the responsibility of every generation to discern what God is doing in their midst and align themselves to it ...' So, as we look to the future, what encouragement can we take from scripture?

Heb 12:1-3

Cloud of witnesses ... those who have gone before as examples, both in Hebrews Ch 11, but also for many of those who have given their whole lives in serving the Lord with WEC ... many in this day and age want a similar testimony but it comes at a price - we too can have a similar testimony if we are willing to pay the price - obedience...

We need to do what those commended did ...

• Faith pleases God, 
• nurtures relationship with Him, 
• brings reward, 
• leads us into outrageous acts of obediance,
• brings sneers from the world, 
• leads us to embark on unusual journeys without knowing the final destination, 
• releases us to trust for the impossible, 
• beliefs that God will bring the multiplication of the smallest gift of obedience, 
• makes us long for the final destination that all in this world loses any sense of value/worth, 
• frees us up to sacrifice that which seems precious, 
• Encourages us to bless others and pass the heritage onto the next generation, 
• allows us to find our identity in Christ alone - not the voices of this world, 
• brings us into circumstances through which God demonstrates the realities of who He is,  
• enables us to be overcomers, see miracles, know empowering, 
• demonstrates that we value that which is ultimately valuable ie treasure Christ and persevere in the face of trial, trouble tribulation - that we might see Jesus!

throw off everything that hinders... 

a/ Unhelpful traditions, structures, practices ... that are actually reflections of the way people did things before - the way they responded to and expressed the heritage of WEC . In the same way as, and when, we pass on to the next generation we also need to liberate them to do things differently.

b/ Worldly desires, deceitfulness of wealth, worries in this world ... etc.

c/ Unbelief - repent it is sin! 100 years is a long time to us it is nothing to God, the world has changed, but none of that surprises Him, nor are His promises less true today, He is unchanging - in His character and His purposes.

And run with perseverence ... 
We have a race to run, and as the whole world has not yet been reched with the gospel the race is not yet over - there is still work to be done.

We are not alone, but we do have 'our' race that has been marked out for us. If we wish to pioneer we will not be following the paths of others, but an untrodden path which is sometimes hard to find, always easy to stray from, no-one has been before to lay sign-posts - except that is the Lord Himself.

Thus the neccessity to keep our eyes fixed on Him ... 
To keep on track and to maintain an attitude of faith in the face of the immense challenges that come our way. Which look huge until you lift your eyes for a revelation of the One who spoke the mountains into existence!

As with all those heroes of faith in Heb Ch11, and those we hold with fondness within the history of WEC, Christ is our example - He endured, for the joy set before Him.

This is our heritage, this is our necessity for the future ... if we are not to grow weary and lose heart. We will if we stop 'considering' Christ, contemplating - gazing with intent.

The future effectiveness of WEC is completely tied with the passion we have for Him and for His name ... If we become apathetic we are lost and we will not overcome ... if we are disciplined enough to keep contemplating Christ then we will be overcomers ... a faithful and faith-full fellowship ...

Press on!