With a history of 35 years on site, the China Mission Convention (CMC) Global 2020 went virtually in late September due to COVID-19.
Organized by Ambassadors for Christ, an American Chinese Christian Ministry, the event that aims to equip Chinese believers and churches with discipleship is sponsored by the Chinese Bible Church of San Diego and other Chinese American churches.
The host said, "Experts caution us that COVID-19 will be around for some time. Life has significantly changed, but one thing hasn’t. God is still at work and the world needs to know His name! CMC has gone global, moving its program completely online."
The keyword of the convention is "Rethink the Gospel", the message concerning Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation. The organizer interprets it in this way, "The gospel of Jesus Christ is timeless. But twenty-one centuries later how we share this good news needs to be rethought. Scripture defines the Gospel as something that is truly life-changing. 'Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.' (2 Corinthians 5:17)
"New creature...new things... new thoughts… Eternal Gospel. The convention challenges believers to re-think how to apply the gospel. Accept the challenge to enter into a new personal discipleship and exploration of missions. You may never think about 'the Gospel' the same way again."
Formerly named CMC West Coast, the convention began the afternoon of September 26th, US local time.
The convention is divided into three parts: the launch ceremony of CMC global 2020 on Sept 26, finishing the task from Oct 13 to 15, and the CMC global 2020 from the 28th to 30th of December.
David Platt, an American pastor and author, gave a lecture entitled "I Then Shall Live" on the joint opening session, then team activities that included reflection, meditation and prayer were held followingly.
Later there were two sessions of ten workshops. Each session contained five different topics of workshops, such as the mission in the post-pandemic era, caring for neighbors, a new concept of community service and immigration ministry, preaching a sound gospel, illustrating the gospel with new media in five minutes and others.
Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Church, the author of “The Purpose Driven Life”, gave a speech in English entitled, “Completing the Great Commission for the Global Glory of God.”
The sponsors of the convention also include the Evangelical Formosan Church of Los Angeles, the First Chinese Baptist Church Los Angeles, the First Chinese Baptist Church in Fountain Valley, and First Evangelical Church of San Gabriel Valley, Greater Phoenix Chinese Christian Church, and the Home of Christ Church in Cupertino.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
