|PIC1|Rev Mike Frost, professor of evangelism at Morling College Sydney, Australia, carried out a whirlwind tour of the UK, speaking at events in Southampton, Bristol, Oxford and London about mission-shaped churches in the 21st century.
A broad cross-section of evangelicals and emerging leaders heard how the Church's life has been predominantly organised around worship, with Mr Frost challenging the Church to organise its life around mission.
Mr Frost spoke forcefully about the need to think outside of traditional boxes and cited examples as diverse as a water skiing based church in Western Australia and a church planted in a resettlement compound in Vietnam.
Dr Krish Kandiah, Churches in Mission Executive Director at the Evangelical Alliance said: "Mike gave an uncompromising challenge to church leaders to stop simply trying to please people in the pews but to allow God's mission to shape our vision for the church."
Keith Hagon, Chair of Bristol and District Evangelical Alliance and Chief Executive of the George Muller Foundation said: "Mike's thesis has the potential to turn the Church upside down. This is the way to break new ground and re-evangelise the UK, but it depends on us listening to God and being bold enough to go to the lost rather than hoping they find us."
The mini tour – from October 3 to 11 – was organised by the Evangelical Alliance and Focus Radio, in collaboration with partner organisations such as Bristol and District Evangelical Alliance, Oxford-based Church Mission Society, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) and London School of Theology (LST)
At each day conference, attendees had an opportunity to rediscover what a Christ centred community really means and how they can be involved in leading mission shaped churches. There was opportunity to hear UK responses to Mike's ideas from academics and mission practitioners such as Conrad Gempf from LST, Daniel Strange from Oak Hill College and Antony Billington and Nigel Hopper from LICC.
Many of the hundreds of people who attended these events told organisers they benefited from delving into these issues more thoroughly and considering what the Church of the future will and should look like.
This tour is another expression of the Evangelical Alliance's commitment to next generation leadership and evangelicals in the UK uniting in mission.
These themes are addressed in Slipstream, the Evangelical Alliance's leadership resource (www.eauk.org/slipstream), and follow on from keynote addresses at the Evangelical Alliance Council in September from Pete Grieg, Ruth Valerio and Tom Sine.