Global Gathering Values Statements

Christlikeness

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Romans 8:29

“Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.” Galatians 4:19

“We must never forget – if we are to grow in grace, and therefore grow like Christ – that the One we trust, love, and serve is a crucified Savior. To follow Him means taking up the cross, as well as denying ourselves. It means a crucified life.” Sinclair Ferguson, Grow in Grace

"He who is the Way shows us the way to live so that we increasingly come to share his love, hope, feelings, and habits. He agrees to be yoked to us, as we are yoked to him, and to train us in how to live our lives as he would live them if he were in our place. ” Richard Foster, https://renovare.org/articles/becoming-like-christ

“If Christ is at the center of the gospel and of missionary activity, his way of being God’s missionary also becomes a pattern for life and mission.” Samuel Escobar, p. 106 The New Global Mission

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

"... I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3

“We mistakenly look for tokens of God’s love in happiness. We should instead look for them in His faithful and persistent work to conform us to Christ.” Jerry Bridges, Trusting God

“A hole is opened in our life and character when the weight of suffering falls on us. That is where the light of the treasure stored inside (the glory of Jesus Christ) can come out.,” David Ruiz, Spirituality in Mission

“God’s ultimate goal for us is that we be truly conformed to the likeness of His Son in our person as well as in our standing… Jesus did not die just to save us from the penalty of sin, nor even just to make us holy in our standing before God. He died to purify for Himself a people eager to obey Him, a people eager to be transformed into His likeness…” Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace

“If you want to be Christlike you need to have communion with Christ, and if you want communion with Christ you need to do it on His terms with the channels of grace He’s provided [prayer, Bible reading, church fellowship, Lord’s table]. And that means the only way to extraordinary holiness is through ordinary means.” Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness

“How can all things be worked together by God for good? The answer is at hand. It is because God’s ultimate purpose is to make us like Christ. His goal is the complete restoration of the image of God in His child! So great a work demands all the resources which God finds throughout the universe, and He ransacks the possibilities of joys and sorrows in order to reproduce in us the character of Jesus.” Sinclair Ferguson, By Grace Alone

“We are to reflect Christ in all that we say and do. And the Christ of Scripture is the humble, suffering servant who, in spite of great opposition, false accusations, and public ridicule, remained faithful to the heavenly calling.” David Hegg, in D. Ruiters Pray Something, Say Something Do Something

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

Community

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:22-23

"True community is one that is difficult and a path that sanctifies us to abandon our self-interest and pursue God's heart". Mekdes Haddis, A Just Mission

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4-5

"God's loving concern touches every individual, but it is in the community of the Church where the fullest experience of God's love can occur." Bible Translation Philosophy 2014

The community we seek ... is fed by divine strength and comes to true unity in God not by reason of our own strength, or even our collective strength, but through a power given from above. Eberhard Arnold

“The Christian community is a community of the Cross, for it has been brought into being by the Cross, and the focus of its worship is the Lamb once slain, now glorified.” John R.W. Stott

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 (NIV)

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24 -25 (NIV)

“Christianity is a multicolored fabric where each new thread, chosen and refined at the Designer’s hand, adds luster and strength to the whole. In this pattern of faith affirmation we should stress the importance of interwoven solidarity with fellow believers, past, present, and future.” Lamin Sanneh, p 56, Whose Religion is Christianity?

“Prayers for the welfare of the community must take precedence over those for ourselves; for we are born for fellowship.” Josephus, 2nd C.

“...authentic, life sustaining community is not self-generating, but arises as a gracious divine gift.” Hanson, p xvii, The People Called

The Church as Central to God's Mission

“…the Church is sent into the world to witness to Jesus by proclaiming the gospel and making disciples of all nations…This is our unique and central calling.” Kevin DeYoung & Greg Gilbert, p. 26, What is the Mission of The Church?

“The missional church’s self-understanding ‘is that it is the social community created by the Spirit that is called and sent to participate fully in God’s mission’.” Craig Van Gelder, p. 72, The Ministry of the Missional Church

“Churches, then, are to be communities around the world, planted, nurtured and connected through ministries of sending, going and supporting—for the sake of the name of Christ and the truth of the gospel.” Christopher J.H. Wright, p. 221, The Mission of God’s People

“The church must be one because a fragmented church is not much help to a fragmented world.” Justo Gonzalez, For the Healing of the Nations

(The church) must be able to define theologically its own sense of identity in Christ and understanding of the gospel…(to have) a genuine confidence in who they are and what they have in Christ, as well as clarity of vision of…their Christian responsibilities…. when such an identity is forged within the context of the indigenous culture, the…church (members) will be able to proclaim the gospel in a way that speaks with power to their own culture and context. Hwa Yung, Reflections from Asian Christianity

“The church is sent on mission by Jesus. It's not that the church has a mission, but rather that the mission has a church. We join Jesus on His mission.” Ed Stetzer, (God’s Mission has a Church: an interview with Ed Stetzer, Dec 25:2013)

“The community that confesses that Jesus is Lord has been, from the beginning, a movement launched into the public life of mankind.” Leslie Newbigin, p. 16, The Open Secret

“The people of God are sent out as a people to live out the gospel in the midst of all nations.” Michael Goheen, A Light to the Nations

“...And you also must testify” (John 15:6). In other words the universal invitation to believe the gospel is simultaneously an invitation to enter into the missional community and confession of the Trinity.” Caratini, 2013

“The only frame of reference used in the Bible to determine proper patterns of relationship is the body of Christ in which all members are equal, indispensable,and useful.” Verkuyl, 1978

“The church does not exist for itself. Rather it exists for the sake of God’s mission and for the sake of others toward whom God’s mission is directed….God’s people exist as the place where God begins his work of restoration and then as a channel whereby that salvation does to all the nations.” Michael Goheen, Continuing Steps Toward a Missional Hermaneutic

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

The Word Translated

“Mother-tongue Scripture has a fundamental place in the engagement of gospel and culture.” Kwame Bediako, Africa Bible Commentary

“When God in Christ became man, Divinity was translated into humanity, as though humanity were a receptor language.” Andrew Walls, p. 27, The Missionary Movement in Christian History.

“The image of Christ will be complete when all people groups will be able to see Him through God’s Word translated in their own languages.” Kwame Bediako, paraphrased, from a lecture.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10

“Christ's message in all of its richness must live in your hearts.” Col. 3:16a

“The original language of Christianity is translation.” Lamin Sanneh

“It is a delightful paradox that the more Christ is translated into the various thought forms and life systems which form our various national identities, the richer all of us will be in our common Christian identity. ” Andrew Walls, p. 54, in Missionary Movement

“It has been observed that while Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all ‘people of the book,’ only Christians have given themselves to extensive translation of their book.” Samuel Escobar, The New Global Mission

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

“The translatability of the Christian gospel is not just a theoretical hope but a descriptive fact” Timothy Tennent, p. 325, Invitation to World Missions

“We hardly worshipped on our own without the help of our pastor. We barely understood the Scriptures. But with the translated Scriptures, we are empowered, and we have almost all the Scripture materials in our language. We now gather as a family or as neighbours to worship God in our language.” Vascaline, Marakwet woman, Kenya.

“Each translation of the Bible is an opportunity to encounter God’s Word anew, like discovering a hidden treasure waiting to be
unearthed.” Unknown

“The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130 NKJV

“The true Christian was intended by Christ to prove all things by the Word of God: all churches, all ministers, all teaching, all preaching, all doctrines, all sermons, all writings, all opinions, all practices…Prove all by the Word of God; measure all by the measure of the Bible; compare all with the standard of the Bible; weigh all in the balances of the Bible; examine all by the light of the Bible; test all in the crucible of the Bible… This is the flag which he nailed to the mast. May it never be lowered!” John Wycliffe

“More people pray and worship in more languages in Christianity than in any other religion in the world. Furthermore, Christianity has been the impulse behind the creation of more dictionaries and grammars of the world’s languages than any other force in history.” Lamin Sanneh. pg 69, Whose Religion is Christianity?

“Truth is unkillable!” – Balthasar Hubmaier (*1480- †1528) Reformer in in South-Germany, Moravia and Austria.

The Glory of God Among the Nations

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

“...Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

“...that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.” Col. 1:6

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. [The word "loos" here is in plural, "looi", literally saying "They will be His people groups"...] Rev. 21:3

“Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise… ” 1 Chronicles 16:23-25

“‘Glory’ describes all the things God is full of—his wisdom, love, creativity, beauty, strength, compassion—all the things that make him weighty and wonderful, made manifest for us to see and experience and respond to.” (renew.org, Q&A with Donnie Berry, PhD)

“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:10
(Hungarian) „Az üdvösség a mi Istenünké, aki a trónuson ül, és a Bárányé!” Jelenések 7:10

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14

“The greatness of prayer is nothing but an extension of the greatness and glory of God in our lives. To fail to pray, then, is not to merely break some religious rule - it is a failure to treat God as God. It is a sin against his glory.” Tim Keller, Prayer

All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the [i]nations Shall worship before [j]You.For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations.Psalm 22:27 (NKJV)

“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.” Psalm 96:3-4

Dependence on God

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.” John 15:5 (NET)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.” Col 3:23 (GNB)

“But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.” Psalm 52:8 (NLT)

“...We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chron. 20:12b (NIV)

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers

"In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28

“The busier I am, the more I need to get away and pray.” Hudson Taylor

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way…. Col 1:9-10a

“Be to me a rock of dwelling to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock
and my fortress.” Psalm 71:3 (ESV)

“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13 (NIV)

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8 (TYN)