As the global Church approaches 2,000 years since the resurrection of Jesus and the birth of the Church, the World Evangelical Alliance has launched a new initiative that begins with a simple question: what is God calling His people to do in your nation?

In 2033, Christians around the world will mark a remarkable milestone. Nearly 2,000 years will have passed since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the day of Pentecost, when the Church was born. Across the world, churches, ministries and movements are already preparing for this moment, not simply as an anniversary but as a fresh call to faithfulness.

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has been asking what our own contribution should be. The answer is CALL33 — a Collaborative Alliance for Living the Lord’s Calling.

Not another programme

The Church is already richly served by ministries devoted to evangelism, mission, Bible translation, theological education, humanitarian relief and much more. The world does not need WEA to compete with them.

Instead, CALL33 draws on what God has uniquely entrusted to WEA since 1846: a worldwide family of evangelical alliances, churches and organisations in more than 160 countries. Our calling is to connect that family, so that the gifts and experience found in one part of the world can strengthen God’s work in another.

As WEA Secretary General Rev. Botrus Mansour explains:

“We are not coming with our own agenda, but we are asking every alliance, between you and God, ‘What is God calling you to do?'”

One Gospel, many expressions

The Gospel of Jesus Christ never changes. But how the Church lives it out looks different from one place to another, because the Gospel speaks to every part of life. When Jesus began His public ministry in Nazareth, He described His mission like this:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4:18–19 (NIV)

Jesus proclaimed forgiveness, healed the sick, restored those pushed to the margins and challenged injustice. Evangelism and discipleship remain at the heart of the Church’s mission, and compassion, justice and reconciliation are the fruit of that same Gospel, not alternatives to it.

So faithfulness will take different shapes in different settings. In one country, the most urgent calling might be evangelism or discipleship. In another, it could be reconciliation after conflict, standing up for religious freedom, caring for refugees, responding to disaster, or equipping young people and women for leadership. CALL33 honours that diversity, because no one outside a nation understands its needs as well as the Church within it.

How CALL33 works

It begins with prayer and listening. Each National Evangelical Alliance is invited to gather its churches and ministry leaders to discern what God is calling the Church to do in their nation during this season.

Next comes identifying what is needed to respond well to that calling — whether training, resources, expertise or partnership — and recognising what God has already provided through churches and ministries on the ground.

Then WEA helps make connections. We bring together alliances and organisations from across our global family who have the experience and the heart to help in that specific area.

Finally, we walk together. Good partnerships are built on trust, so WEA will accompany these relationships over time, helping them to grow and bear fruit.

Throughout, each national alliance remains the steward of its own calling. WEA’s role is to serve, not to direct.

One body, many parts

Scripture gives us a vivid picture of what CALL33 hopes to encourage:

“From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)

WEA sees itself as one of those supporting ligaments — not the head (Christ alone is the Head), but a connecting joint that helps different parts of the global Church work together in love. When ministries share what they have and stop duplicating one another’s efforts, resources go further and our witness grows stronger. As the world watches, visible unity among Christians speaks of the One we follow.

A gift to Jesus

Above all, CALL33 is an act of worship. In Rev. Mansour’s words, it is something we want to offer “as a present to Jesus” as the Church celebrates 2,000 years of His resurrection and of the Church He founded.

How you can take part

Pray for evangelical alliances around the world as they seek God’s direction for their nations, and for the partnerships that will grow from it.

If you lead a National Evangelical Alliance, look out for the CALL33 questionnaire we have sent you, and share with us what God is placing on your heart. 

If you are an Affiliate Member of WEA, you will also receive a questionnaire. Please take a few minutes to complete the affiliates survey and tell us how your ministry’s experience and resources might serve alliances elsewhere in the world.