Urbana ’09 – Living to be forgotten

Posted by admin on Jan 19, 2010 in Issues & Ideas | 0 comments

Between December 27 and January 1, 16,000 young adults congregated in St. Louis for Urbana ’09. Recently, the theme for the Intervarsity’s 22nd Student Missions Conference, held about every three years, was “He Dwelled Among Us”. Like Trinity Western University, Urbana encourages community-building through Bible studies, lounges and family groups. Students from all disciplines hear inspiring speakers as schools and organizations offer opportunities similar to TWU Missions Week and Vancouver’s Missions Fest.
Despite a congregation five times the size of TWU’s student body, the experience was of solidarity, anchored in Christ. Themes discussed this year included poverty, humility, integrity, incarnational ministry and commitment. Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution, had worked alongside Mother Teresa and questioned the human attachment to goods.

Pastor Sunder Krishnan challenged participants to come to know and deeply trust God’s sovereignty: “Prayer is fundamentally not about getting answers. Circumstances outside of you might never change, but you might be transformed.”

Egypt’s Ramez Atallah wisely cautioned participants to maintain integrity in living out the Great Comission and following the Great Commandment: “We live in a results-oriented donor culture, tempting us to allow the end to justify the means…we give the truth and let the chips fall where they fall. Don’t fix the books. Live with integrity. Be careful never to compromise.”

Participants were invited to complete a decision card if they felt called to commit to a missions trip. This experience has indeed changed lives: one previous Urbana participant has lived life based on a 1946 decision to commit his life to Christ through foreign missions.

One professor spoke on her role in environmental research and policy in her homeland of Trinidad and Tobago. Another family with an extremely successful business lived simply and was able to contribute millions of dollars for missions. Seasoned missionaries shared incredible stories about missions work with people experiencing urban poverty, war, and dangerous prisons.

Atallah challenged participants to live “incarnationally”. The first “incarnation”, elaborated Kenya’s Oscar Miru, is a change of attitude: “Our good intentions are not enough. Humility means listening to their wisdom – keeping our mouths shut long enough that the poor can speak.” Jesus, he shared, spent 30 years of quiet earthly life. Miru lamented, “Our hurry hurts the poor…We don’t know how to listen and be quiet.” He emphasized the importance of long-term commitments: “Nothing changes through these helicopter missions.” However, he confidently called upon our generation: “Lead us! Take us to the next level! We need a new
movement.”

The time to go forth may indeed be at hand. One doctor with a Christian medical practice explained that one does not have to travel far to serve people from all nations and walks of life. Our local communities, campus, families, and academic studies can be our current ‘mission ’ in a time of growth for work that may well take one overseas for the long haul.

Regardless, Overseas Missionary Fellowship’s Patrick Fung shared an unforgettable challenge at Urbana: “live to be forgotten.” Live in a way that the people you encounter will remember Christ incarnate through you. As Costa Rica’s Ruth Padilla declared, “Love does not reach from afar. It demands incarnation. Love demands death, death to self. Only God’s love can break us out of selfishness…so that we can become channels of God’s grace.”