BINGHAMTON, NY – For the first time since its establishment over a century ago, the World Evangelical Alliance now has a centre to gather and unite Christian leaders from around the globe with the establishment of a new facility in upstate New York.
On Thursday, leadership and staff from WEA, the world's largest body of evangelicals, and representatives from collaborating organisations held a dedication service and ribbon cutting ceremony for the center which will serve as a conference, research, study and work centre for evangelicals worldwide.
The Evangelical Center, located in Binghamton, is a 64,000-square-foot facility with conference halls, offices, classrooms, an R&D centre, a library and sports facilities. It will house the offices of WEA, which represents over 420 million evangelicals around the world through its global network, and its training arm, the WEA Leadership Institute.
The centre will also be home to evangelical organisations collaborating with WEA including the World Olivet Assembly, a global gathering of evangelical churches and para-church organisations, and Olivet University, an evangelical Christian university based in San Francisco with extension campuses across North America, which has been an education partner with the Leadership Institute.
WEA representatives, including CEO/Secretary General Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, joined with representatives from Olivet University and World Olivet Assembly in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the centre.
During the dedication service, Dr Tunnicliffe described the Evangelical Center as "a study centre, research centre, conference centre, a place to engage in strategic thinking, and a place of personal and corporate renewal".
In his sermon, he pointed to the Lord's Prayer and its core emphasis being on the Kingdom of God. He offered several practical examples of how he thought the Kingdom of God might be expressed in our day, from the economy seeing a zero per cent jobless rate to conflicts being nonexistent as Palestinians work side by side with Israelis. Most importantly, the Kingdom would be a place where "God's name is hallowed and His will is followed", he said.
He said that more than being "Kingdom builders" he wished for WEA and its partner organisations to be remembered as "Kingdom prayers", noting that God's Kingdom does not just come with human power but only by seeking from above.
Although the Evangelical Center would serve many functions, his hope for the centre would be, first and foremost, a place of prayer for God's Kingdom to come.
"In all the activities that we will be engaged in in this place, that will become the most strategic because that's what Jesus asked us to do: pray for his Kingdom to come," said Dr Tunnicliffe.
Several leaders from the global church bodies expressed their gratitude for the centre.
