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Asia Gathering Offers Glimpse of Kingdom to Come
CHIANG MAI, THAILAND – (October 12, 2006) – Four delegates representing the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) have returned from a meeting this past weekend of the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches (IFFEC), of which the ECC is a member.
ECC delegates included Donn Engebretson, executive vice president; Curt Peterson, executive minister of Covenant World Mission; Jay Phelan, president of North Park Theological Seminary; and Doug Johnson, a Covenant missionary working in Roi et, Thailand.
 The international federation is comprised of member churches from many countries that meet for the purpose of fellowship, mutual support, and ministry collaboration. The Thailand meeting of the IFFEC General Assembly marks the first time that the meetings have been held in a venue other than Europe or North America.
The evening before the General Assembly convened, a number of individuals involved in Covenant mission and ministry gathered for dinner. “It was a wonderful gathering, representing as it did such a broad expanse of our shared ministry around the world,” says Engebretson. “It was a joyful foretaste of that time when we will gather in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb with a huge multitude that no one can count from every tribe, nation people and language.” Included were representatives of Covenant mission work in Spain, India, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, and Ecuador, as well as individuals who work with Hispanics in the United States and the mission work in Thailand.
In addition to the ECC delegates, representatives included: Paul Devakumar, president of India for Christ Ministries Covenant Church in Bangalore, India; Pablo Velasquez, youth representative of the Confraternidad de Iglesias del Pacto Evangelico (CIPE); WenLang (Vernon) Wu, president of the Covenant Church in Taiwan; Trevor Lin, a pastor in the Covenant Church of Taiwan; Jerry and Nancy Reed, short-term missionaries to La Coruna, Spain (Nancy also represented CIPE); Brando Barantes, a lay pastor in the Covenant Church of the Philippines; Tim and Tammy Friesen, Covenant missionaries in Thailand; Paul DeNeui, a Covenant missionary in Thailand who is on assignment to teach at North Park Theological Seminary; David Husby, Asia coordinator for Covenant World Mission; Shunichi Miyamoto, a pastor in the Covenant Church of Japan; Jim Peterson, a Covenant missionary in Japan; Alberto Ruiz, president of CIPE; and Ruth and Inchai Srisuwan, leaders of Covenant ministries in the slums of Bangkok. “These brothers and sisters represent the breadth and depth of the extraordinary ministry we are supporting around the world,” Engebretson notes. The fellowship was warm and deeply encouraging, but the glimpse of the kingdom - gathered around one table - was breathtaking.”
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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