The first Mission China 2030 Conference was convened in Hong Kong on 28 September - 1 October 2015. This conference was led by urban house church leaders and attended by 900 participants from mainland China. The Mission China 2030 vision is for China to send out 20,000 missionaries by the year 2030. 200 missionary commitments were made as the first step toward fulfilling this vision.
The Mission China 2030 vision was catalyzed by two main gatherings, the Third Lausanne Congress (Cape Town, 2010) and the Asian Church Leaders Forum (Seoul, 2013). Two hundred Chinese Christian leaders were invited to the Third Lausanne Congress, but were blocked from attending. Plans were made to invite them to a separate gathering in 2013, the Asian Church Leaders Forum (ACLF).
It was at the Asian Church Leaders Forum that Pastor Daniel Jin (Executive Director ofMission China Today magazine) urged the Chinese church to work and pray to see 20,000 missionaries sent out from China by 2030: 'Over the last 200 years, since the days of the earliest British pioneer Robert Morrison, some 20,000 missionaries have served in China.' There was, he said, 'a gospel debt to pay off'.
'This first Mission China 2030 Conference is truly a turning point in Chinese church history,' says David Ro, Lausanne International Deputy Director for East Asia and Mission China 2030 International Advisor. 'The Chinese church has stood up in carrying the torch of world missions and sending some of the best from China to bless the world.' Plenary speakers at the Mission China 2030 Conference included Luis Bush (author of the 10/40 Window, Transform World), Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love), Dr Bong Rin Ro (former ATA Executive Secretary and former WEA Theological Commission Chair), Rev Jaehoon Lee (Senior Pastor, Onnuri Church), Rev Abraham Cui (All-Nations Church in Shanghai and this year's Mission China 2030 conference director), and Rev Daniel Jin.
Two hundred participants made missionary commitments at the conference. Pastors and missionaries attending the conference were asked to commission them in prayer. These were the first missionary commitments made toward the Mission China 2030 vision of 20,000 missionaries. The Lausanne Movement calls the global church to prayer for these men and women as they take their next steps in training and preparation.
On the final morning of the conference, Pastor Ezra Jin (Beijing Zion Church) received the Mission China 2030 flag on behalf of the Beijing Pastors' Prayer Fellowship, a symbol of acceptance to host next year's Mission China 2030 gathering. Pastors from different cities will continue to host annual gatherings until the goal of sending 20,000 missionaries from China by the year 2030 is reached.
