From May 5-9th, over 300 men and women with a passion for doing justice and loving mercy gathered together at the Maranatha Bible & Missionary Conference Center in Muskegon, Michigan for World Renew’s Assembly of Global Partners (AGP).

On the shores of Lake Michigan, staff and ministry partners had the opportunity to listen to and learn from each other, pray and worship together, and give a consultative voice to World Renew’s strategic plan for the next five years.

This is the fifth such assembly that World Renew has held during its 53-year history. The first one was held in August 1996 with successive gatherings in August 1999, September 2002, and June 2007.

Eight years after the previous Assembly, this year’s event included workshops on topics such as local and global church mobilization, effective partnerships, international relief standards, and equipping men and women as partners and co-creators of community change.

The five-day event of workshops, meals, and meetings was made possible through the generous support of a few individuals, ensuring that no dollars were taken away from ministry during this event.

The assembly was also completely surrounded and upheld in prayer. In fact, a team of prayer warriors began praying for the Assembly long before the first session began.

For months leading up to the AGP, a team was praying for God’s guidance and blessings over every aspect of the assembly, which was attended by a broad cross-section of World Renew’s stakeholders from around the world. A prayer team was also available through the proceedings, and the importance of prayer was stressed often by the leadership. 

"There was a powerful undergirding of prayer around this assembly,” said Andrew Ryskamp, World Renew U.S. Co-Director. "We wanted to be open to listening to God together.”

Ida Kaastra-Mutoigo, World Renew Canada Co-Director, described the event as an opportunity to be “incredibly inspired by God’s vision, presence, and His people living and learning together as a community.”

“The Assembly was a wonderful way to increase our commitment to the vision and take steps toward carrying out His will,” she said. “In many ways, it equipped us to accomplish God’s mission for World Renew and to join His communities around the world. It helped us strengthen partnerships that will create lasting change.”  

The theme verses for the week were Hebrews 10:23-25: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Dr. Ruth Haley Barton—an author, teacher and conference speaker—opened the Assembly with a keynote address and led several sessions on spiritual discernment in leadership. She reminded participants that transforming communities cannot be done in our own strength, or with a false sense of our own intelligence—but it all begins with God changing the story in each individual.

Rev. CB Samuel, an itinerant Bible teacher from India and former CEO of a major Indian relief and development organization (EFICOR), gave profound messages about the church’s role in promoting justice and helping communities become places where justice becomes the culture over traditional values.

Each day also included morning and evening worship sessions led by Nate Glasper—Assistant Conductor of the Calvin College Gospel Choir. One evening featured a beautiful program by the Amani Children’s Choir from Uganda.

“I hoped that every participant could experience a level of spiritual transformation and develop a deeper faith in God, and that participants would give voice into our strategic plan for a deeper communal discernment into the will of God,” said Mutoigo as she reflected on the week’s events.

“As I review our work from the week, I see tremendous ways to contribute to our strategic plan and make it come alive as we continue to change the story of poverty to that of restored creation, the story of injustice to reconciling relationships (shalom) and the story of disaster to renewing hope.”