Mission 2001-2006
The Evangelical Working Alliance:
Praying for
Searching for
Working for
spiritual renewal within the Protestant churches in the Netherlands.
The motto of the Evangelical Working Alliance is:
Living in God's love
Taking its place in the church
Concerned about the world
The mission of the Evangelical Working Alliance is:
We want to prayerfully search for and work together towards spiritual renewal within the Protestant churches, so that they, hearts set on God's glory, obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, can fulfil their calling in the world.
Introduction
On May 31st 1995 the Evangelical Working Alliance received publicity for a manifesto in which they put into words what their vision was for the Reformed and Lutheran churches in the Netherlands . These churches are already working towards uniting together as protestant churches churches in many places. The central question for the EWA was what input could the evangelical movement have in the building up of the protestant churches in the Netherlands.
There was a lot of reaction to this. The many positive reactions were surprising ' certainly for the founders of the EWA. For the first time in history there arose an organised evangelical wing within the protestant churches. Would this wing just become a new mode or could it be salt and light for the whole church?
In January 2001 the board of the EWA came together for a day in order to look back at the previous five years; to thank God together for the many blessings and the fast growth of this new movement; to check which points in the plan of action for 1996 - 2001 had been realised and where the weaknesses and strengths were. It was a day of evaluation, thankfulness and humbleness.
On February 14th 2001 the board came together for a two day retreat, in order to consider together what direction the EWA should take in the coming years. During this retreat a new plan of action was prayerfully put together for the period 2001-2006.
After a few advisors had given their opinion and shared their vision concerning the plan, a new plan of action was agreed upon. This article contains an extract of this plan. We are presenting this with the prayer that, with God's blessing and the input of many, this plan will gain shape to the honour of God, for the building up of the church and for the good of the people.
The Mind of Christ
During our retreat we were very aware of the fact that it isn't just about 'plans' but about 'attitude'. As evangelical Christians in the church we need to confess that we have often been arrogant and proud in the past. We have looked down on people with ideas that deviate from our own. We realise that together we can mirror the manifold wisdom of God and that the evangelical movement has a role to play within this vision that can richly bless the whole church.
The attitude that is fitting is the one we find in Phil 2:5: 'Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus'.
As a movement we want to define this attitude with the following core ideas:
- humility - we don't want power but are looking for means for spiritual renewal;
- service - we want to be of service to the whole church
- faithfulness - we want to be faithful to our calling to work within the Protestant churches.
- perseverance - we want to persevere in looking for fruit that remains, realising that it isn't about quick, surface success.
- integrity - we shall give an account of ourselves responsibly, including our finances.
- openness - we want to be open to God's guidance and not shun new ways and ideas.
- prophetic - we want to be clear, even where it concerns things that perturb us in the church.
- dedication - we want to boldly follow the Lord; we are prepared to take up our cross
(Prov. 29:25)
We confess that by nature we don't have this attitude of Christ but we believe that the Holy Spirit wants to work this out in all of us.
Values (= attention points) of the Evangelical Working Alliance:
Prayer:
We believe in the power of prayer. Never in the history of the church has there been a revival without there being a prayer movement behind it whereby humbling played a big role.
Worship:
We believe that the church honours God in praise and worship and that this prepares the way for meeting with Him (Ps 50:23). Therefore we want to find ways to bring the church to praise and worship, in small groups and in the main service
Affiliation with Israel:
We believe in the eternal faithfulness of the God of Israel. We strive towards a realisation of this in the church which will have the practical consequences of humility in witness, prayer and compassionate deeds.
Spiritual growth:
We believe that every Christian is called to strive for spiritual growth. We want to be open for the working of God's Spirit in our hearts. We want to give Him the room to form us into the image of Christ (holiness).
Encouragement:
We believe that thousands of church members long with us for spiritual renewal. We want to make them a part of our vision and encourage them to be faithful in their local church.
Small groups:
We believe that small groups have a real role to play where growth in faith, fellowship and numbers is concerned.
Evangelism, aid and mission:
We believe that God is moved with compassion for the lost. This concerns the whole person: body, soul and spirit. The Lord sends His church out to make disciples of all nations. We want to stimulate the local church to give priority to this calling.
Youth:
We believe in the need to equip the youth to be consecrated followers and bold witnesses of Jesus Christ, so taking their place in both church and society. We believe that the youth must be given the space within the church to seek for modern day methods of proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ.
Equipped and equipping leadership:
We believe that ministers and other church leaders fulfil a key role in the spiritual renewal of the church. Therefore we want to invest time in the coaching and equipping of leadership in the church. We are thinking here of the '2 Timothy 2:2' principle.
Gift-orientated ministry:
We believe it is important that we discover our spiritual gifts and purposefully use these for the building up of the church and of society.
Thought-through theology:
We believe that thought-through theology (biblical, historic, systematic and practical) is of great importance. It can help us to discover the riches of the word of God. It can also make us aware of errors in differing points of view. We are called to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength and all our mind.
Cultural relevance:
We believe that the church should be culturally relevant without giving up healthy (biblical) doctrine (1 & 2 Tim.; 2 Cor. 9: 19-28).
Main goals & Activities
During the retreat the EWA board further defined its main goals and activities. We have only mentioned a few here. The board is aware that 'if the Lord doesn't build the house they labour in vain who build it'. We know that where goals and activities are concerned we are dependant on God.
A couple of the dreams that we have for the church and the EWA:
How would it be if in the coming five years:
- there were noticeable growth in the number of local prayer groups and an information network between these prayer groups.
- the EWA were helping fellowships in the 'Protestant' churches to give a greater and more integrated place to worship, praise and blessing in their services. - the evangelical contribution to the service were included in liturgical and church music training and a network existed here colleagues involved in liturgy and church music co-operated together; - with existing networks for liturgy and church music; - the Evangelical Songbook finding its place in the church and stimulating it towards renewal in praise and worship;
- the EWA were to have set forth its vision concerning our affiliation with Israel and were able to communicate this to its supporters and the national church.
- the National Service Centre (LDC) with the Regional Service Centres (RDC's) were to have developed a faith-building discipleship course to offer to churches; - material from other church movements were adapted for use in the Protestant churches.
- the national get- together of the EWA were to have grown to be a manifestation of 'evangelical life ' in the Protestant churches, where people were encouraged and society saw that the church is still full of life; - regional groups were active in responding to the need for regional encouragement and training, and were working together with the RDC's where possible.
- the Church Growth Groups were being widely used in the church as a means of church growth in small groups.
- the EWA were supporting and coaching a few (area-) churches in their desire for evangelical renewal and church growth; - the EWA were involved in thinking through and helping with the development and strengthening of the Alpha and After-Alpha courses; - a plan for evangelism were set up where church members were actively involved; - the Protestant churches and faith missions were to come to a closer working relationship.
- a 'Think tank' were to exist which passed on ideas for the training of young Christians in the areas of discipleship and training for local youth work. - where activities and materials from other church youth movements where adapted for the use of protestant churches; - young people were being trained to be youth evangelists.
- 'ministers sharing and coaching' groups existed in the whole country, where ministers could coach and encourage each other, with the assistance of a few mentors; - a ministers conference was organised every year; - a church growth course for ministers were being offered.
- a course over spiritual gifts were organised in every region, preferably through the RDC's.
- theological publications were appearing over relevant evangelical themes; - a network of evangelical students were in contact with evangelical ministers and receiving coaching from them; - there were support from the EWA for theological students; - something had been published regarding questions over baptism.
- bridges were being built over the gulf between church and society; - bridges were being built between the evangelical movement and the LDC, RDC's and the church as a whole; - so that a broader knowledge about, and an acceptance of, the evangelical movement, could grow and we could speak of a fruitful co-operation with the LDC and the RDC's.
The board of the EWA is thankful for what has happened in the last few years. Thousands of people are now involved with the EWA; hundreds of prayer groups and church growth groups now exist; there have been blessings. In the carrying out of the vision and 'statement of intent' for the coming years the board will give direction, supported by the Minister-Director, staff in the office and a large number of volunteers.
Together we want to:
Live in God's love
Take our place in the church
Be concerned for the world
Together we want to:
prayerfully seek after and work together for spiritual renewal within the
Protestant churches, so that they, hearts set on God's glory and in obedience to
the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, can fulfil their calling in the world.
The EWA were helping fellowships in the 'Protestant' churches to give a greater and more integrated place to worship, praise and blessing in their services.
- the evangelical contribution to the service were included in liturgical and church music training and a network existed where colleagues involved in liturgy and church music co-operated together;
- with existing networks for liturgy and church music;
- the Evangelical Songbook finding its place in the church and stimulating it towards renewal in praise and worship;
