Going Together as Family: The AWF Celebrates Global Unity and Mission at the 2025 Quadrennial Convocation

A historic gathering in Cote d’Ivoire marked 50 years of the Alliance World Fellowship and a united call to mission. A week of powerful messages, global worship, and key workshops renewed unity, partnership, and mission. The Alliance family left strengthened and committed to walk forward —together — into the next fifty years.

In one of the most significant gatherings in its history, the Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) brought together more than 400 representatives from more than fifty nations for the 13th Quadrennial Convocation, October 8-12, 2025, in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire. This Convocation marked the 50th Anniversary of the AWF, a milestone that not only honored five decades of God’s faithfulness but also called the global Alliance family to embrace the heart of this year’s theme, “Going Together.”

Building on the journey of the previous Quadrennial — “Going Deeper and Going Beyond” — this year brought the Alliance movement into a new chapter: one centered on unity, interdependence, and family identity in global missions.

A Convocation Centered on Going Together as Family

More than a theme, Going Together became the lived reality of the entire week. Worship resounded in English, French, Spanish, and other heart languages; testimonies were shared across cultures and generations; and leaders from every continent affirmed what unites the global Alliance family — a shared identity in Christ and a shared mission to reach the world.

Delegates described the Convocation as “a spiritual family reunion,” marked by joy, prayer, reconciliation, and renewed commitment to walk together. In celebrating 50 years since the formation of the AWF, participants recognized that unity is not simply an organizational value, it is a missional necessity.

AWF President Rev. Dr. Jura Yanagihara opened the Convocation with a compelling call to rediscover partnership at the heart of God’s mission — Together as One: The Power of Partnership in Mission. He reminded us that unity is not optional but essential to fulfill the Great Commission, setting a tone of humility, gratitude, and bold expectation for the days ahead.

Throughout the sessions, the Alliance family was invited to see mission with fresh eyes:

• Session 2 – Missions in a World of Shifting Balance (Rev. Jan Wolsheimer): In a world of shifting power, economic uncertainty, and cultural tension, we were called to respond not with fear, but with discernment, collaboration, and shared wisdom.
• Session 3 – Going Together to Raise the Next Generation (Rev. Serge-Armand Yao): A passionate summons to mentor, equip, and walk with emerging leaders in humility and true intergenerational partnership.
• Session 4 – Business as Missions (BAM) – A Kingdom Vision for Tomorrow (Rev. Bao Her): A kingdom vision for global urbanization, showing how business can open doors for discipleship, compassion, and church planting, and calling the Alliance to use those gifted in both business and ministry.
• Session 5 – Stacking Stones (Rev. Jeremy Cook): An appeal to leave a legacy of faithfulness by investing intentionally in the next generation through invitation, sacrifice, and multiplication.
• Session 6 – The Lord My Shepherd: Going Together in His Mission (Rev. Dr. Daniel Ronda): From Psalm 23, a challenge to reject individualism and embrace unity, responsibility, and cross-cultural collaboration in God’s mission.
• Session 7 – Divine Demands: Coming Together, Being Transformed, Spreading the Gospel. (Rev. Dr. Walter Pérez): A closing call to renewed, united obedience, insisting that God’s mission demands transformation — personal and communal — as we walk together as one body.

In a series of dynamic workshops, delegates were invited to go deeper into the heart of Alliance life and mission:

• Rediscovering our shared DNA in Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King.
• Wrestling with next-gen leadership and multicultural mission like a relay race that honors both elders and emerging leaders.
• Reframing generosity as a joyful pathway of discipleship that fuels local and global mission.
• Strengthening holistic care for cross-cultural workers through shared responsibility between sending and receiving churches.
• Engaging in creation care and community restoration as core expressions of God’s mission, the Relief and Development workshop integrated biblical foundations with practical development principles for areas with little or no existing infrastructure.
• Celebrating the strategic, Spirit-empowered leadership of women across the Alliance family as we lead and serve together in God’s global mission.

United in Suffering and Mission: Welcoming Ukraine’s Light of the Gospel into the AWF Family

The AWF officially welcomed Ukraine’s Light of the Gospel Association (C&MA of Ukraine) as its newest member during the 2025 Quadrennial in Cote d’Ivoire — a powerful moment of global unity amid Ukraine’s ongoing challenges.

During one of the sessions, Rev. Sergiy Guts, President of the C&MA of Ukraine, shared an inspirational videoclip, The Gospel in the Fire: Church Ministry under Pressure and Pain, and a powerful testimony about the church sharing the gospel and compassionately serving the community under war, loss, and suffering — a reminder that the global Alliance family carries each other through the hardest seasons.

This membership signals not just recognition of the maturity and faithfulness of the Ukrainian Alliance, but also opens new horizons for cooperation, mission, and mutual support across nations.

A Book Celebrating 50 Years of Faith, Mission, and Global Impact

A major highlight of the Convocation was the launch of the AWF 50th Anniversary Commemorative Book, written by David P. Jones, Peter Laughlin, and Jura Yanagihara. The book traces the Alliance family’s journey from its beginnings to its present global impact, celebrating the legacy of A.B. Simpson and the expansion of the Fourfold Gospel across nations. The book will be available through regional offices and national Alliance bookstores. Participants and readers worldwide are encouraged to contact their regional AWF representatives to purchase a copy and join in celebrating this milestone in the Alliance story.

Going Forward Together

The Convocation concluded with a renewed sense of family, calling the global Alliance movement to continue its next fifty years together, transformed, and on mission. The AWF 2025 Quadrennial Convocation was more than a conference, it was a celebration of family, identity, and mission. As the Alliance steps into its next chapter, the call rings clearer than ever: Going Deeper in Christ. Going Beyond in Mission. Going Together as God’s family.