South Korea to host World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly 2014

The World Evangelical Alliance will be holding its 2014 General Assembly in South Korea, according to an announcement Saturday.

“We are convinced that Seoul, Korea, will be an ideal location for the WEA General Assembly,” commented the Rev Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, WEA’s international director.

“The dynamic church in Korea will provide a strong foundation in prayer, as well as logistical support and assistance in obtaining visas for all our delegates. In addition, Korea’s advanced technological capacity will facilitate our efforts to broadcast the main sessions of the Assembly globally,” he added in Saturday’s announcement.

The WEA, which connects and serves some 420 million evangelicals worldwide, holds its general assembly every six years to conduct its business, train its leaders, promote mutual learning and partnerships, build synergy, and cast a vision for impacting the world.

Tunnicliffe, who has been leading the WEA since 2005, officially accepted the offer of the Christian Council of Korea to host the 2014 WEA GA in Seoul after meeting this past week with CCK’s president, the Rev Kwang Sun Rhee, who was visiting the WEA’s global office in New York City.

The CCK, the largest alliance of churches in South Korea, has within its membership 66 denominations and 20 Christian organizations that together represent over 12 million Christians in the world’s second largest missionary-sending country.

The Korean church body had officially joined the WEA just last year – nearly two years after it formed a “historic” partnership with the WEA.

Regarding the latest agreement, Tunnicliffe said the WEA is “deeply grateful for the Korean Church’s spirit of hospitality and generosity.”

“The 2014 General Assembly will provide a significant and historic moment for the leaders of the global evangelical movement to engage in Kingdom work,” he added.

Comprised of 128 national evangelical alliances located in seven regions and 104 associate member organizations, the WEA seeks to foster Christian unity and to provide an identity, voice and platform for the world’s evangelical community.

The alliance recently moved its headquarters from Vancouver, Canada, to New York.