Evangelism has been central to the WEA’s purpose since its founding in 1846. Already at that time, it was prepared by a large prayer movement and accompanied by its political counterpart – the fight for religious freedom – as evangelism is by nature incompatible with any form of pressure by the state, influence of money or other types of coercion, it was always coupled with working for the transformation of society. A good illustration is the famous hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ that called for witnessing to God’s ‘grace’ on a very personal level, but the song is powerful because of the author’s own experience as a former slave trader who came to faith in Jesus Christ, repented for his sins, changed and turned into a major abolitionist campaigner.
We believe effective gospel witness emerges out of perpetually reconciled harmony (i.e. Christian unity — e.g, John 17:18-25); this harmony emerges out of tuned tension (intentional relationship reconciliation); thus, the tensions are tuned through relationship-developing conversations (resulting in agreements, networks, consultations, commitments, etc.).
GEN will enable evangelism movements and organizations to better connect with the WEA’s global network of church-focused alliances and like-minded organizations.