Covenant News

Voices Join In Cry for Renewed Revival Worldwide

AMSTERDAM (August 21, 2000) - The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) was well represented at the biggest evangelism conference in the world as denominational leaders and other pastors added their voice to the many crying out for revival all over the world.

Some 10,700 evangelical leaders from 209 nations attended Amsterdam 2000, according to the Dallas Morning News. The nine-day $39 million event included such internationally acclaimed speakers as Bill Bright, retiring director of Campus Crusade for Christ, and the Most Rev. George Carey, archbishop of Canterbury.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) organized Amsterdam 2000, which offered 130 seminars and 200 culturally specific workshops. Although Billy Graham was too ill to attend the event, he spoke via satellite during plenary sessions from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

In the United States, many mainline churches have suffered decreases in attendance and the evangelistic thrust has been considered by some to be minimal. The ECC, however, has experienced consistent growth, both in church attendance and in the number of new believers. For ECC directors like Art Greco, Amsterdam 2000 was an educational opportunity and a time of encouragement shared with others of similar passion for bringing the lost to Christ.

"Amsterdam 2000 was a great event, an event that affects world evangelism," said Greco, director of prayer and evangelism for the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism. "It's hard to pass on something like that when you're an evangelistic leader because you don't want the voice of your denomination not to be heard," he continued.

"It's right to be there . . . it's going to be a blessing to hear great speakers like Chuck Colson (director of world renowned Prison Fellowship Ministries) that you know and those you don't know," Greco continued. "There were speakers from third world countries that wouldn't fill a room who were more powerful than any of the big names. You also go there to connect with other leaders from third world countries over dinner and with leaders from your own denomination."

Greco met with other former ECC-affiliated evangelists, including Dallas Anderson and Lon Allison, who led a seminar on how to use "Affinity" events as an evangelism tool, a process he has shared with various ECC churches. Covenant pastor Kendall Carlson of Eagan Covenant Church in Minnesota spoke about reaching the spiritually homeless.

North Park Theological Seminary sent a contingent of students to Amsterdam and other ECC evangelists such as Martinez Jovin also were in Amsterdam, the latter bringing some 150 Haitian pastors to the event. For Greco, the event was a critical reminder of the urgency needed in reaching the lost for Christ, particularly in the United States and Canada. As encouraged as Greco is about the ECC's goals for evangelism, he says he is sobered by the fact that some other mainline denominations seem to have lost their passion for saving souls.

"In the third world, things are going crazy (in the scope of evangelistic growth)," said Greco. "In the first world, I think everybody would agree that we're not doing very well. I'm not convinced that we care about the lost . . . we must have lost touch with what happens to them after they die. If that's not the case, then the depth at which we don't care is scary, it's sickening.

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