One Voice

By: Gordon Showell-Rogers, General Secretary, European Evangelical Alliance

The brothers and sisters who first established Evangelical Alliance (EA) in 1846 committed themselves to standing together as a Body. They created a first ever global sense of evangelical identity. They set up an informal structure for mutual support, globally. They effectively created a global evangelical prayer movement.

It could be argued that the one question that they failed to resolve was the one that we might understand as fitting into this ‘Voice’ category.

Today, evangelicals in our diverse constituencies globally also have diverse understandings of socio-political issues. But it is more vital than ever that evangelicalism be well represented at national and international levels in our interconnected and globalised world. National, Regional, and the World Evangelical Alliances, as membership bodies, are those who are best positioned to be that representative voice.

Jesus must be heard today, as He was from Paul in prison, in Paul’s day. His uncompromising word to individuals must be proclaimed boldly. His Kingdom and the Hope that is in Him must be represented graciously and clearly in governments and media, nationally and internationally. The European Union (and other regional economic and political groupings) and the UN must have an opportunity to hear what evangelicals believe Jesus has to say to contemporary issues. CNN, Al Jazeera, the BBC etc must be able to access a genuinely representative evangelicalism.

In the European Evangelical Alliance we are committed to monitoring and influencing within our nations and within the European Union. Please pray for us, in our deeply secularised corner of the world.

And let’s all pray for one another, as we gather together in Thailand: that the Assembly will help us all to more faithfully and expectantly reflect the Kingdom of God and proclaim Christ in our troubled times.

Gordon Showell-Rogers
General Secretary
European Evangelical Alliance
www.europeanea.org