Urbana 81 Speeches and Stories

by John Alexander, ed.

Confessing Christ as Lord

It was the frigid winter of 1981. For five days, December 27-31, nearly 14,000 people occupied the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana for the 13th national missions convention sponsored by Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of the United States and Canada.

The single overriding purpose of Urbana 81 was to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by helping students find God's place for them in world missions and thus to serve the church by strengthening its ministry in missions. More ...

Part I. Introduction

Why Are We Here? - John W. Alexander

At the very outset let us remind ourselves that we are assembled here in the name of Christ Jesus. It is our desire that He will have the preeminence in all that we think, speak, write, and do. May Jesus Christ be praised!

Urbana: An Ongoing Experience - Edgar S. Beach

There was nothing, nothing else in all the world, that I would rather be doing than sitting right there in that tiny, thatch-roofed hut talking about Jesus to a friend with an aching soul and helping him to understand the Word of Life in the language of his heart.

The Message We Confess - John E. Kyle

Indeed, we have a life-redeeming Gospel to share. A message of eternal importance to tell people everywhere in the world. I urge you! Let's get on with our marching orders! To what end? "That every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!"

Part II. God's Witness in Acts - Eric J. Alexander

Pentecost and Mission: Acts 2

The primary problem is not that people are unhappy. ... The disease from which men and women suffer is that they are under the judgment and wrath of a holy God and need to be put right with him. It remains as true today as it was in Peter's day that however people may dislike it, forgiveness is their primary need and the gospel's primary offer.

Mission and Opposition: Acts 4-6

If God should in his great goodness lay his hand on you this week and call you into his service, you may be sure the devil will do all in his power to make you believe that the front line is somewhere else.

Mission and the People God Calls: Acts 6-7

We are not called to be scholars but we are called to be students, to the limit of our God-given abilities. We must give ourselves to the Word of God and to the earnest, systematic and serious study of it. ... This the way God's fruitful servants are made.

Mission and Vision: Acts 13:1-4; Acts 16

Worship and mission are so bound together in the economy of God that you really cannot have one without the other. The reason for this is that true worship is rendering to God the glory which is due his holy name. ... There is nothing beyond this for us: it is the terminus of everything in the universe.

Part III. The Church and the Witness

The Sending Church - Gordon MacDonald

Wherever the Holy Spirit is in charge, wherever the Holy Spirit controls the lives of women and men, there is a compelling sense of sentness.

The "Receiving" Church - Isabelo Magalit

The mandate for worldwide witness is given to the whole church, and therefore to every church. That is why it is wrong to think of the North American church as the sending church, and of the Asian church as the receiving church. Every church is a sending church. Likewise, every church must be willing to receive.

Part IV. The Preparation of the Witness

Mission Impossible - Billy Graham

There are a thousand things you can do with your life, a thousand things for which you can spend it. But how many of them will enable you to say at the end of your life, "No reserve, no retreat, no regrets"?

Characteristics of a Witness - Samuel Escobar

[Jesus] was not an unoffensive and unobtrusive "guru" teaching transcendental meditation surrounded by flowers and incense and soft cushions. Because he served the people, especially the poor, who needed him more, he entered in constant conflict with the governing elite.

Knowing God's Will - Robert B. Munger

The call of Jesus is first and always to himself, to walk with him and be at his side. ... He does not hand us a plan telling us exactly where we are to be or what we are to do at any particular moment. Rather, he offers himself, saying, "Follow me."

Christ the Lord of My Life - Simon Ibrahim

Testimony of a Nigerian Missionary

The Spirit's Enablement - Helen Roseveare

Perhaps I can share my own testimony of how wonderfully God kept us at peace during the five months of rebel captivity in Congo. But if I did, someone would say to me afterwards: "I couldn't possibly go through what you went through!" and I'd realize that you had missed my whole point. My God is your God. He kept me, He'll keep you.

Jesus Christ Is Lord - David M. Howard

Jesus Christ as Lord does not usually lead by means of a searchlight. Rather, He normally takes us one step at a time. As we obey the light we have, and take that one step, then He provides enough light for one more step.

Part V. The Task of the Witness

Being a Witness - Rebecca Manley Pippert

How can you be the salt of the earth if you have never gotten out of the saltshaker?

Pioneering for Jesus Christ - Marilyn Laszlo

Friends, out in the middle of the jungle stands that little church and today they are still waiting ... waiting for someone to come and tell them about Jesus in their own language.

Professing Christ in the City - George D. McKinney

Christ the Wounded Healer is present in the concrete jungles, in the overcrowded, rat- and roach-infested projects, in the halls of justice and in the jails. As our eternal contemporary, he is wherever there is human hurt and suffering. Since God in Christ has never forsaken the city, neither must the church.

Acknowledging Christ in a Suffering World - Eva den Hartog

Unless you and I commit ourselves to concrete plans for increasing our giving, I'm afraid God will come one day and find that we have all died from suffocating luxury.

Student Witnesses around the World - Chua Wee Hian

A survey of Student ministries in the IFES in the year 1981

Seven Witnesses Tell Their Stories

Sir Frederick Catherwood: Tentmaking/IFES
Eldon Claassen: Thailand
Elizabeth Cridland: Sudan
Jack Kopechek: Malta/Muslims
Naty Lopez: Nursing
Dwight Nordstrom: China/international students
Dr. Charles Smith: Giving

Speaker Profiles (as of 1981)

Eric Alexander is pastor of St. George's-Tron Church in Glasgow, Scotland, an urban church with a large student ministry. He is also chairman of the Scottish Council of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship and in 1981 became president of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) in Great Britain. He is the author of the booklet The Search for God.

Pentecost and Mission: Acts 2
Mission and Opposition: Acts 4-6
Mission and the People God Calls: Acts 6-7
Mission and Vision: Acts 13:1-4; Acts 16

John W. Alexander served as president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship for seventeen years and is now its president emeritus. A former university professor, he is chairman of the executive committee of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and the author of several books and booklets, including Managing Our Work.

Edgar S. Beach lives in Tectitán, Guatemala, with his family. As a member of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, he has worked on preliminary linguistic analysis and alphabet development and has begun translation of the Scriptures into Tectitec.

Chua Wee Hian is general secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. In the past he has served as associate general secretary of IFES in East Asia and as a pastor and editor of The Way, a quarterly magazine for Asian students. As general secretary he travels widely, speaking to students, counseling staff and seeking new staff members.

Eva den Hartog spent the first five years of her life in a Salvation Army home when her mother could not cope with her three children. At nineteen she joined the Army and began work as a nurse and midwife. She has directed medical relief efforts in Africa, India and Southeast Asia and has been awarded the Knighthood of Orange Nassau by the Queen of the Netherlands.

Samuel Escobar is associate general secretary for Latin America of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and the author of several books in Spanish and English. He is also president of the Latin American Theological Fraternity and editor of Pensamiento Cristiano, an interdenominational magazine for Christian leaders.

Billy Graham is perhaps the best-known evangelist in the world. Along with his crusades held in the U.S. and around the world, his activities include a newspaper column ("My Answer"), a radio program ("Hour of Decision") and several best-selling books, such as How to Be Born Again and The Holy Spirit.

David M. Howard is assistant to the president of IVCF. He has directed the Consultation on World Evangelization in Pattaya, Thailand, and two previous Urbana conventions (73 and 76). He served with the Latin America Mission for fifteen years and has written several books, including The Great Commission for Today.

Simon Ibrahim is general secretary of the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA) and former deputy general secretary. The ECWA churches originated with the Sudan Interior Mission. Prior to taking his present position, Ibrahim taught at Kagaro and Billiri Bible Schools.

John E. Kyle is mission director of IVCF-USA and has been the program director for Urbana 79 and 81. He formerly served as director of the missions program for the Presbyterian Church in America and as a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines.

Marilyn Laszlo works with the Sepik Iwam people of Papua New Guinea on behalf of the Wycliffe Bible Translators. She has helped to develop an alphabet for the Sepik Iwam people's language and to teach people to read. The goal of her work is to produce a New Testament in the tribal language.

Gordon MacDonald is pastor of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, and an adjunct professor of pastoral ministries at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He speaks widely to groups of pastors, missionaries and students, and has written two books: Magnificent Marriage and The Effective Father.

Isabela Magalit, a medical doctor, is associate general secretary for East Asia for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Living in Manila, Philippines, he is a speaker (at Urbana 76,79 and 81), writer and director of the first Asian student missions convention.

George D. McKinney is pastor of St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ, a large urban church ministering wholistically to persons in San Diego, California. In addition to his pastoral duties, he carries on a wide counseling ministry for couples, families and children. He has written several books and pamphlets, including Christian Marriage.

Robert B. Munger, former professor of evangelism and church strategy at Fuller Theological Seminary, is associate pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California. He has had broad experience as a pastor and evangelist and is perhaps best known for his evangelistic booklet entitled My Heart-Christ's Home.

Rebecca Manley Pippert, a former IVCF field staff member, is evangelism specialist with IVCF and a popular speaker to a broad variety of groups. She is the author of Out of the Saltshaker, a widely read book which tells people in warm and enthusiastic language how to make evangelism an intrinsic part of their lives.

Helen Roseveare served for many years in the Belgian Congo as a missionary doctor with the Worldwide Evangelism Crusade and has since helped set up a new medical center in Zaire which trains African staff. A popular speaker, she has also become widely known through her autobiographical books: Give Me this Mountain and He Gave Us a Valley.

Preface

Within that primary purpose the convention had four major objectives:

To help each student consider seriously what the Bible says about God's eternal and unchangeable plan for the worldwide proclamation and demonstration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To help each student consider seriously the situation in the world today as the church of Jesus Christ proclaims and demonstrates the message of redemption.
To help each student consider seriously what these two things mean, individually and corporately, in obeying God's will for his or her life in the context of the body of Christ and his or her relationship to the world, both on campus and beyond.
To help each student to strengthen the missions impact of the student group at his or her school this year.

Along with students, those attending Urbana included missionaries, pastors, Inter-Varsity staff and Urbana volunteers.

Those were trying days on the world scene. In Poland, martial law had recently been enacted, and Polish Christians asked for prayer for their distressed country. Strife in El Salvador continued along with conflicting reports about its causes. At Urbana 81 we prayed that God's will would prevail in the affairs of humanity. The convention was aimed to help students discern God's will as to how to be involved in the witness for Christ in such a world.

The theme of the convention was: "Let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." Each day's schedule began with time for a private morning watch (quiet time) in which delegates were encouraged to use a series of studies (prepared by Yvonne Vinkemulder) in Luke and Acts. From 8:00 to 9:00 each morning the delegates were in small group Bible studies averaging from eight to ten members. Dispersed throughout the university, these small groups were each led by a student or staff member who had been prepared specifically for these daily ministries. All of these small groups also worked their way through studies based on passages from Luke and Acts.

From 10:00 until 11:00 each morning the delegates filled the huge Assembly Hall for an hour of daily Bible exposition by Eric Alexander (from St. George's-Tron Parish Church in Glasgow, Scotland) on chapters of Acts. From 11:00 until noon the assembly sang, prayed and listened to messages on diverse topics: rural missions, urban missions, qualifications for missions, and finding the will of God.

Afternoons offered a host of options. The university Armory and Huff Gym were open for delegates to confer with missionaries stationed at scores of booths. Workshops, seminars and discussions led by missionaries were dispersed throughout classrooms and lecture halls from one end of campus to the other. Each evening from 7:00 to 9:00 delegates again jammed the Assembly Hall to sing, pray and hear messages from missionaries and mission leaders. The day closed with the small groups meeting once more, this time for sharing and prayer.

There were specialized Bible study groups for pastors each morning from 8:00 to 9:00 led by Gordon MacDonald of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. Another session, for missionaries, was led by Frank Barker of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Each day the excellent multimedia presentations by Inter-Varsity's 2100 Productions powerfully presented, through music and visuals as well as the spoken word, key issues facing us in missions.

What were the results? God alone can answer that question in full, but a few results are known even as this volume goes to press. About 7,500 students submitted signed decision cards indicating a commitment to greater missions awareness and an openness to a mission call from God. Numerous mission agencies said they received an overwhelming response from students who submitted names and addresses and asked for assistance in discerning opportunities for mission service. An offering of almost $250,000 was taken the evening of December 30 to support student work worldwide. Another offering to help people in distressed areas exceeded $40,000. Most of the delegates also fasted during the noon meal of December 29, enabling the University of Illinois food service to refund $15,000 which was divided up into gifts of $5,000 and awarded to three agencies engaged in poverty relief.

God worked during Urbana 81. In the words of one student, "God opened my eyes to new things at Urbana. I have a new vision of God's work around the world." May Jesus Christ be praised! May his message be proclaimed around the world so that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

John W. Alexander

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Urbana 81 Speeches and Stories

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December 27-31, 2009