Guayaquil Manifesto

As members of the Alliance World Fellowship, we once again affirm our belief in and commitment to Christ, the revelation of God (John 1:18), who Himself is the all-sufficient Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King (1 Cor. 1:30).

Having been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who breathed the words ‘Go’ into the very core of our hearts, we commit ourselves at the beginning of this new decade, to once again being a global missionary movement, especially to the least-reached peoples of the earth.

We recognize that the challenges facing the task of world evangelization are many. The following parameters are illustrative:

(1) Rapid Change: The reality of globalization; the development of artificial intelligence; the technological revolution that has imposed a dominant communication ecosystem; the digital revolution and the growth of ethnocentrism;

(2) Diaspora: Unprecedented migration flow; the change in demographic and religious realities of developed nations; emergence of ethnic immigration churches; clash of cultures;

(3) Structures: Social and political conflicts; the change in the world’s power epicenter; the moral crisis of international institutions; religious and ethnic persecutions as forms of radicalism and extremism;

(4) Worldview: The effects of postmodernism on theological thinking; influence of secular worldviews within the church; changes to sexuality and gender norms; the embracing of pluralism and a growing hostility to the uniqueness of the gospel;

(5) Justice: The inequality of the world’s systems; the debasing of human life; global poverty; pandemics; abuse, trafficking, misogyny and any and all oppression due to race, class, gender or social status;

(6) Emerging Generations: Redefinition of the ministerial vocation; changes in the concept of the missionary calling; changes in their desire for ministry preparation; the rise of personal spiritual experience in contrast to rationality;

(7) Resources: The decline of traditional resourcing centers; the need to develop new sources of funding; the lack of available fiscal resources in the largest growing Christian regions;

(8) Vision: The change of the point of gravity of Christianity from the North (North America, Europe) to the South (Latin America, Asia, Africa), the reality of missionary reductionism, from the entire world to a local and regional missionary vision.

Therefore, the challenge is (a) immense in its scope; (b) complex in its meaning; and (c) demands that we return to the driving principles of missionary action:

The dynamism of a deeper life in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit towards a renewed aggressiveness for the evangelization of the world.

We affirm what was said by the founder of the C&MA: “Every missionary enterprise must have its source in the deeper spiritual life.” (A.B. Simpson)

That is why we must reaffirm and seek:

• Scriptures: the centrality and essentiality of the Scriptures for the life and integrity of ministry. The need to continually renew oneself in fidelity to the biblical text.
• Holiness: the knowledge of the deeper spiritual life and the experience of the fullness of Christ Himself as the essence of a holy life.
• Heritage: to value and incorporate in contextually relevant ways the rich history of our Alliance theology and practice as a means of renewing the link between deeper life and missions in the present age.
• Training: innovation in the theological education of workers, creating new ways of continuous training to prepare and equip those called to Christian ministry.
• Strategies: to ensure that the entire world remains the focus of our message; mission strategies must arise from deep and selfless prayer; of consensus of the Church in its perspective of the world and collective spiritual discernment.
• Innovation: a missionary movement that remains on the cutting-edge; it must innovate at the margins, taking faith-filled risks.
• Compassion: the outflow of missions to the whole person; mission must integrate faith and life, word and deed, proclamation and presence; to preach the gospel is to be committed to its demands for justice and peace.
• Resources: the development of resourcing pathways, business as mission models and other resourcing strategies which are enabled through the inexhaustible abundance of the God who sends us.
• Partnership: the participation of the whole church in the mission of God; mission is from everywhere to everywhere and to be a missional people requires the development of networks and partnerships marked by mutuality for global mission.
• Kingdom: that mission be enabled through the outworking of the Spirit of Christ by the breaking in of the Kingdom of God and the overcoming of principalities and powers of this world.
• Passion: a passion to fulfill the Great Commission—a present evidence of our being filled with the Holy Spirit and the obedient response to Christ’s command—is to be pursued with all integrity, faithfulness, and commitment.