More than 350 church and Christian leaders and scholars from nine countries gathered in Indonesia to attend the second Impact Asia Alliance Summit, encouraging Christians to influence the world through their witnesses in different fields.
Featuring the theme of “Walking on Water,” the summit was co-hosted by the Impact Asia Alliance (IAA) and the Communion of Chinese Churches in Indonesia (COCCI) in Jakarta from November 1 to 4, after the first summit was initiated in Malaysia last year.
The summit envisions launching the “Asian Pearl Gospel Movement,” which connects nine Asian countries, including South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, to exert impacts in “seven mountains”: religion, media, government, families, education, art, and business.
Tim Cheng, president of The Christian Tribune, Taiwan, and executive of the IAA, said in the opening ceremony that it was impossible to imagine this summit would attract more than 300 people, just as Peter thought he was unable to “walk on water,” but God made it. He appealed to the audience to regard each other as “brothers in the Lord,” an important relationship across all denominations.
The topics covered how to become a healthy church, church social service, ministries for the youth and men, Christian leadership, and the challenges and opportunities brought to the church.
The speakers included James Hudson Taylor IV, president of the China Evangelical Seminary; Dr. Peter Tan-Chi, founder and senior pastor of Christ’s Commission Fellowship in the Philippines; Rev. Paulus Wong, convener of IAA Malaysia; Yoshiko Ito, senior pastor of Shiroiie Fellowship Church in Japan; Rev. Dr. Caleb Soo Lee Chong, moderator of Singapore Life Church; and Andy Mills, co-chairman of the Grace & Mercy Foundation.
There was also an Indonesian-style performance carried out in the Church of Christ Jesus (Gereja Kristus Yesus), including traditional instrumental ensembles and folk song choruses.
During the performance, the participants were addressed, “Brothers and sisters, we need to know that there are still 240 unreached peoples who have not heard of the gospel among the total 787 ethnic peoples across Indonesia. There are yet 193 million people who do not know God among the nation’s population of 270 million. Let’s pray for the outreach ministry in Indonesia.”
