Wright to address Chinese churches on mission

The Rev Dr Chris Wright, one of the world’s leading biblical scholars, will be speaking at a mega-church in Hong Kong on the Mission of God.

An important event for evangelical Christians, the Langham Foundation Symposium 'The Mission of God – Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative' will be held next Saturday at Yan Fook Church in Kowloon.

Dr Wright, a Cambridge doctorate will argue that it is important as evangelicals to first understand the missional perspective of the whole Bible in relation to the whole counsel of God - ie God’s purpose in creation, redemption, sovereignty and judgment.

“We need to see the big picture of God’s mission and how all parts of Scripture fits into its grand narrative. Only then can we grapple with the contemporary challenges from issues such as market economy, social injustice, distribution of resources and the ecological crisis,” said Dr Wright, who is the chair of Theological Resource Panel on Tearfund, chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group involved in preparing for the third major congress in Cape Town next year, and the designated Bible expositor for CCCOWE 2011.

Dr Wright, who is an authority on Old Testament economic ethics, was appointed in 2001 to his current position as International Director of the Langham Partnership International, a group of ministries founded by Rev Dr John Stott and committed to equipping and resourcing Bible teachers for the church in the Majority World.

From 1983, he taught for five years at the Union Biblical Seminary, Pune in India, and then returned to serve as Dean and subsequently Principal of All Nations Christian College in London.

His publications range from four monographs on Old Testament ethics, two commentaries on Deuteronomy and Ezekiel, Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament and the Old Testament Ethics for God’s People. His recent work, the Mission of God – Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative was chosen by Christianity Today as the top title in the Mission / Global Affairs category in 2007.

Dr Wright combines the commitment to listening openly to the Old Testament as Scripture and reflects how God’s Word to Israel can apply to believers in the twenty-first century struggling to make sense of our increasingly secular worldview.

That night, Rev Dr Carter Yu, President of China Graduate School of Theology and Rev Dr Patrick Fung, General Director, OMF International will give a response to Dr Wright’s message on the Mission of God.

The Symposium is sponsored by Langham Foundation Ltd and co-sponsored by Chinese Co-ordination of World Evangelism (CCCOWE), Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement, EFCC Yan Fook Church, and Fellowship of Evangelical Students (Hong Kong).

With Luke Leung of the Gospel Herald in Hong Kong