News & Stories

Featured Story: The Great Commission

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. —Jesus

Christ’s Great Commission is the call of The Christian and Missionary Alliance—it’s why we exist! We are compelled by Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations.

Prayer: The Primary Work

We also believe that nothing of lasting value can be done unless it is bathed in prayer. Convinced that prayer was fundamental to the blessing and success of the Great Commission movement he established, Alliance founder A. B. Simpson said, “There is something in unity of spirit which we may not be able to understand but which we must recognize as a spiritual force and divine condition of larger blessing . . . This is one way in which every Christian can be useful” (The Life of Prayer, 1915).

For more than 125 years, Alliance people have forged into some of the most spiritually dark places to take the light of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. They went with confidence, knowing they were undergirded with the prayers of those who sent them.

Because God responded to the prayers of His people:

• National churches established in Latin America by Alliance international workers more than 100 years ago now are self supporting, self propagating, and self-sending.
• In Vietnam, where seven Alliance workers were martyred, the national church is now 1 million members strong and growing.
• Alliance initiatives begun in the past few years are seeing supernatural indicators of God’s presence and power at work, even in some challenging places.
• Peace is replacing hostilities in urban communities where U.S. Alliance church members pray and establish holistic outreaches.

“Your commitment to intercede in prayer on behalf of Alliance initiatives in spiritually dark places where there is little access to the gospel makes a difference,” says Bob Fetherlin, vice president for International Ministries. “Darkness is pushed back as light begins to shine!”

A Culture of Sacrifice

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Since the beginning, The Christian and Missionary Alliance has been funded by the generosity of like-minded people who believe Christ’s command to go and make disciples is the highest priority for a Christian. In the early days of The Alliance, church members filled offering plates with wedding bands, gold watches, and other valuables to send workers to the field.

More recently, nearly $120,000 was collected from young people attending LIFE, a national Alliance youth event. Many of the teens were moved to give their own personal belongings—watches, jewelry, iPods, a Nintendo Game Boy, a compact disc player, a camera, and a camcorder. Students also donated first-aid equipment, clothing, linens, hygiene items, eyeglasses, school supplies, French Bibles, New Testaments, and more to fill a 40-foot shipping container that was sent to Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Great Commission Sunday 2013

The Great Commission Fund (GCF) has been established to support international workers, so they don’t have to spend as much ministry time raising funds. Previous Great Commission (GC) Sunday/Council Offerings have been instrumental in launching new Alliance initiatives and boosting established mission fields.

Because God honored to the generosity of His people through GC Sunday/Council Offerings:

• The Alliance entered Russia in 1993; today the Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, a national church partner, has 48 churches, 46 ordained ministers, and 3,200 inclusive members.
• The C&MA helped to establish the national church in Baghdad, Iraq, where hundreds of people turned to Jesus after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
• Alliance international workers began new initiatives in North and Central Asia and North Africa, where there is little or no access to the gospel.

A recent letter from an Alliance international worker confirms the value of the GCF and encourages the Alliance family to participate in GC Sunday.

The reason we are able to serve in Uruguay is because you and so many others give to the GCF. Your generous support allows us to partner with you in the great work of sharing the gospel of hope with our world. There is no greater privilege than this.

Each year around this time, the U.S. Alliance family joins hands and hearts to celebrate GC Sunday. It is an event that unites you (the senders) and us (the sent ones) as we reaffirm our commitment to broaden the reach of the gospel of Christ into areas where He is not yet proclaimed. It is also an opportunity to send more workers into these places.

Is your church celebrating GC Sunday? If so, find out when, and prayerfully consider how God would have you join others in your church to introduce lost people to the One who provides hope for this life and eternity! If your church is not participating in GC Sunday, you still can give by visiting www.cmalliance.org/gcsunday.

As you partner with The Alliance in praying, going, sending, and giving, you are a part of the great force of people who are engaged in completing Jesus’ final command to His followers. As a worldwide family, our desire is to see the gospel within reach of every man, woman, and child. We will not rest until the Great Commission is completed and our Savior returns—just as He said He would.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. —Jesus