Wittenberg 2017 Congress & The Launch of The Finish 2030. A Must Read

The Wittenberg 2017 Congress has come to a close – but the summit’s mission is only beginning. Hosted by the Global Church Network, the three-day gathering brought Christian leaders to Berlin and Wittenberg, Germany, with the goal of synergizing and mobilizing the entire Church towards Finish 2030, a movement to bring the Word of God to all unreached peoples in order to complete the Great Commission by 2030.

“We are running the race together to bring a Bible in every language, Believers into every unreached group and local Bodies of Christ into every neighborhood on earth,” said Dr. Suliasi Kurulo, founder of World Harvest Church, Suva, Fiji and CoChair/Oceania for the Global Church Network.

Christian leaders who attended The Wittenberg 2017 Congress established synergistic connections across major denominational lines and gained a better understanding of the global Church,” said Dr. James O. Davis, founder and president of the Global Church Network and co-host of The Wittenberg 2017 Congress.

“There can be no doubt of the global momentum created through the Wittenberg 2017 Congress to take the Gospel further than we have ever have before,” said, Dr. David Sobrepeña, founder of Word of Hope, Manila, Philippines and CoChair/East Asia of the Global Church Network. “We are going to win this race!”

On the final day of The Wittenberg 2017 Congress, attendees gathered in historic Castle Church to launch the Finish 2030 movement and mark their commitment to its mission by reciting the Finish Declaration together. Dr. Timothy Hill, General Overseer of the Church of God, created the “FINISH” acronym, which outlines the strategic steps necessary for completing the Great Commission: Find, Intercede, Network, Invest, Send, and Harvest.

Additionally, Dr. Kenneth Ulmer, Cohost of the Wittenberg 2017 Congress, brought the keynote message at Castle Church. Dr. Ulmer stated, “The Holy Spirit is on the move throughout the earth and the Global Church is growing faster than ever before. This is our finest hour!”

Dr. Leonard Sweet, Cohost of the Wittenberg 2017 Congress, said, “The old paradigm of ‘Here I Stand” written by Martin Luther 500 years ago, has given way to ‘There We Go.’ We have moved from ‘here’ to “there,’ from ‘I’ to ‘We’ and from ‘Stand’ to ‘Go.” The Gospel will engulf the world in the years ahead.”

“Castle Church, where Martin Luther nailed his world-changing 95 Theses 500 years ago, was the perfect location to announce Finish 2030.” said Dr. Timothy Hill. “We pray that our declaration sparks a fresh reformation for the 21st century. The greatest harvest of souls will take place in the years to come, as the entire Body of Christ learns to network together.”

“Even though Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis on Castle Church door on October 31, 2017, the Protestant Reformation did not begin until November 1, 1517, said, Dr. Davis. Then, 500 years later to the exact day, more than 600 leaders came together at Castle Church to declare the FINISH Declaration!”

Eight key leaders within the Global Church Network were recognized with the prestigious Martin Luther Leadership Award. Honorees included Dr. David Sobrepeña, Dr. Alex Abraham, Dr. Suliasi Kurulo, Dr. Elmer Towns, Dr. Tim Hill, Mr. Wayne Lawhorn, Dr. Gustavo Crocker, Dr. Doug Beacham, and Dr. Glen Burris.

The Finish Declaration

As a part of the Body of Christ, representing different church organizations, from different groups of believers from every world region, we come together to make the following commitments to FINISH the Great Commission:

We commit to FIND the rest of the unengaged, unreached people groups around the world and to engage them through denominational and organizational platforms for the purposes of cultural understanding, missional strategies, Bible translation, evangelism, church planting, and discipleship. We will strive to have a Bible in every language and a missionary presence in the remaining 3,000 unengaged, unreached people groups by 2030;

We commit to INTERCEDE throughout the entire Body of Christ for harmony in the Church, humility before Christ, healing of the sick, and harvest of the lost. We will study ourselves to death and pray ourselves back to life again! We will pray to know our part in God’s heart and our role in God’s goal. We will ask our Lord to send a sweeping, weeping, reaping revival like this world has never witnessed before;

We commit to NETWORK for synergizing and mobilizing the entire Body of Christ toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Even though we may have come from different streams of Christianity, we recognize all of us are in the mighty river of salvation today!  We pledge to not allow our egos and logos to stop us from tying relational knots for global impact throughout the Global Church and to the ends of the earth;

We commit to INVEST our time, thoughts, talents, temples and treasures into unengaged, unreached people groups and into the Kingdom of God worldwide. We choose to not duplicate the efforts of our fellow servants and spend our God-given resources wisely. We will encourage Christ-followers everywhere to move from criticizing to complementing, from complaining to connecting and from competing with each other to completing the Great Commission together. We do not care who gets the credit as long as God gets the glory!

We commit to SEND missionaries not only to regions where the Gospel is, but into regions where the Gospel is not in order to consistently move toward the finish line. We will measure our local church’s success not only by seating capacity but by the sending capacity. We have moved from the West going to the Rest to the Best around the world going to the Rest of the world. The mission field has become a mission force!

We commit to HARVEST together until the last person has heard the saving Gospel of Christ. We will motivate our leaders to run toward the finish line and mobilize our churches to grow and go and not to dry and die! We collectively cast vision to the ends of the earth and establish a goal to FINISH by 2030!

Until The Last Person Has Heard,

Dr. James O. Davis
Cofounder / Billion Soul Network
Cochair / Global Networking