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Urbana
2000 Convention Report:
Student Decisions at Urbana 2000
At Urbana
2000, many students saw the global nature of God's mission for the first
time as they worshiped God with Christians from 111 countries and heard
testimonies of how God is at work around the world. At the evening Worship
Gathering on December 30, 2000, Paul Borthwick, a missions professor at
Gordon College, presented students with the call to join God's mission
to make disciples of all nations. After the gathering, students met in
their small groups to talk and pray about answering this call. The next
morning, Barney Ford carefully guided students through the Urbana 2000
Decision Card and reminded students that their decisions were a profound
act of worship, just as significant as the musical praises offered throughout
the convention.
Delegates
indicated the following commitments on their decision cards:
• 5,035 delegates believe God is guiding them into cross-cultural
missions as their vocation; they committed to taking the next steps toward
becoming missionaries.
• 9,414 delegates will serve cross-culturally for 1 year or
more; 8,241 for 1-3 months; and 6,445 delegates for 1-2 weeks.
• 10,563 delegates believe God is guiding them to purposefully
join God's mission to the world and dedicated their lives and resources
to furthering this mission.
• 187 delegates received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and
committed to growing in their relationships with God and other Christians.
In addition,
delegates choose one commitment from three separate categories: Committing
to Learn, Committing to get involved with others, and Committing to Do
It:
Committing
to Learn
• 2,947 delegates will learn about and get involved
in a challenging issue such as racial reconciliation, justice or poverty.
• 3,449 delegates will develop specific ways to integrate their majors
or vocations into a biblical, global understanding of mission.
• 1,729 delegates will learn more about global missions through
books, international newspapers, web sites, and "Next Steps" resources
on www.urbana.org.
• 5,080 delegates will study Scripture to better understand
God's character and heart for the world.
• 1,741 delegates will pursue training for cross-cultural
ministry through a local church, seminary, missionary training courses
and/or classes at their universities.
Committing
to Get Involved with Others
• 2,991 delegates will get involved in a community
of growing believers and a small group Bible study that incorporates global-minded
discipleship. Through the study, delegates will develop a global perspective
of God's mission and how they can become more involved in it.
• 1,780 delegates will get to know a missionary or other person
involved in cross-cultural witness.
• 3,815 delegates will become involved in a mentoring relationship
either by asking someone to mentor them or by mentoring someone else.
• 1,594 delegates will develop a meaningful friendship with
an international student and share the gospel with him or her.
• 3,396 delegates will build a friendship with a person from
a different ethnic background and/or become involved in a group or church
where they are a cultural minority.
Committing
to Do It
• 3,941 delegates will make a lifestyle change that
reflects God's purposes in their financial stewardship, how they spend
their time, who they spend their time with or where they live.
• 5,946 delegates will actively work to deepen their relationships
with God, face sin and personal issues and develop their character.
• 2,001 delegates will pray regularly for 2 people who are
not yet Christians, intentionally witness to them and invite them to investigate
the Bible.
• 1,863 delegates will pray regularly for global evangelization
and their role in it. They will also give regularly to missions.
• 1,663 delegates will actively pursue cross-cultural missions
by investigating how to be sent and/or signing up with a sending group.
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