Karen’s Urbana 2006 Experience/Testimony My experience at Urbana widened the scope that I had about the world, church and brought out a focus of multiculturalism for the church that I didn’t see before. It brought out the global aspect of the church body, as opposed to the municipal, or corporate church; a different perspective from so much individualism that I found as the common focus of churches in North America today. I found Urbana particularly unique through the particular emphasis on the church as a global body of Christ. This perspective shifted my attention on the potential of the church to reach the poor or struggling countries when we all are united as a body in Christ. Doing something of this scope is so beyond our control, requiring not only communication and massive coordination - it is a movement with God’s orchestration of which we are a part. I had not considered the complexity something of this magnitude of this matter before coming to Urbana. It motivated me to shift my attention to viewing the church in a global perspective.
We also live in an age where the world is divided and has changed in many ways. Being at Urbana opened my eyes to desire to know more about the trends that are emerging globally. The global church is now more centered in the majority of the world as opposed to in North America. This means that increasingly more missionaries are desired here by other countries because of our need; this is a valuable consideration for us when we go out to do missions in other countries. It is amazing to see these changes and view how the church can influence the future of the world through this perspective.
One of the workshops I attended focused on an emergent style of evangelism. I was greatly impressed upon learning how we can become more relevant to the lives of others to more effectively evangelize to them. This is one valuable step to understand the shifting of our times and our culture.
In addition to becoming inspired to learn more about our times, I was intrigued particularly by one large-group session – where the 22 000 Urbana attendees gathered to worship – with an AIDS/HIV-focused program. This epidemic has no doubt been a problem for a long time, and the stories of individuals with AIDS were often very tragic. I am looking to find out more about this area, not only because it is one of great importance, but also because it is a phenomenon that is so easily written off and misunderstood.
During the sessions, I can’t forget the experience of singing as one voice. Singing in many languages was really touching for me, some of them being Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, French and African languages. This multi-cultural aspect of the worship not only encouraged closeness with my brothers and sisters in Christ across the world, but I felt it developed in me a new avenue of worship to God. To sing in another language drew from other areas of myself as a worship to God and was an enriching experience.
The meals, accommodations and travel to and from Urbana were admirably well orchestrated. I was amazed at the smoothness of coordination, especially with meals. It is a great testimony to see that volume of volunteers for the event. There was no shortage of helpers to direct (human) traffic for meals and guide them to their accommodations. Even in distributing the elements for communion, it demonstrated how awesome it is to have the body of Christ work together as one unit.
Throughout this experience, I think God has been speaking to me in many ways – through the seminars and large-group sessions and through the people I met and interacted with at Urbana. I am just amazed at what our church is emerging into and I am looking forward to finding out more of what we can do globally as a church for God’s kingdom, and to actively strive towards becoming united in Christ so that we can reach our full potential in Christ.
# posted by elessar @ 9:48 PM
The SCBC Urbana 2006 team has much to share about their experiences in St. Louis, Missouri. Read what each of us have to say about what God has shown us. Oh yea, there's pictures and movies and sounds too!