Why 3,000 Christian Leaders Are Crying Out Together for These Hot-Button Issues
Some of today’s biggest social challenges will be the subject of a massive conference at NYC’s Jacob Javits Center on October 25-27, when an expected 3,000 Christian leaders and emerging leaders from 86 countries gather for “Movement Day Global Cities” (MDGC).
An initiative of the New York City Leadership Center in collaboration with the Lausanne Movement, MDGC is designed to transform the world’s cities by addressing social challenges including the refugee crisis, human trafficking, poverty, fatherlessness, under-performing education and encouraging collaborative partnerships as a means to transform a city.
“The greatest demographic in human history is taking place right now,” says Dr. Mac Pier, founder and CEO of the New York City Leadership Center and host of the event. “There are 7,000 people moving into sizeable cities every hour, the equivalent of a city the size of San Francisco is being birthed each month. Millennials are moving into cities at a great rate, and the poor are congregating in the cities for survival. So if you want to serve the people of the world today, you want to do mission in cities. That is the focus of Movement Day Global Cities, and it is our hope to gather Christian leaders to educate, celebrate and inspire gospel movements and collaborative ministry in cities around the world.”
An annual event, more than 8,000 leaders have attended the Movement Day gathering in New York City since 2010, representing today’s leading Christian ministries, churches, businesses, seminaries, universities and foundations. This year’s event is unique in that the focus is on global cities and will involve an unprecedented contingent of speakers and thousands of leaders from around the globe, including United Arab Emirates, India, Philippines, Belgium, Rwanda, Lebanon and South Africa.
Each day’s schedule will begin with influential speakers from nine countries who will discuss how gospel movements impact cities by affecting urban social challenges. Some of the speakers include:
– Dr. Tim Keller, senior pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC
– Dr. Luis Palau, Luis Palau Association, Portland, Oregon
– Dr. Mac Pier, event host, founder and CEO of The New York City Leadership Center
– Bishop Claude Alexander, senior pastor, The Park Church, Charlotte, NC
– Dr. Michael Oh – Executive Director of the Lausanne Movement, Nagoya, Japan
– Ms. Vandana Kripalani, Set Beautiful Free, Mumbai, India
– Dr. Jayakumar Christian, World Vision India
– Dr. Tony Evans, radio host and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas, TX
– Mr. Bob Doll, Chief Equity Strategist and Senior Portfolio Manager, Nuveen Asset Management, Princeton, NJ
Each afternoon, attendees can choose from a number of track discussions led by experts and practitioners, focused on additional topics such as caring for the homeless, ministering to young people, transforming cities through the arts, Christ-centered entrepreneurship, emotionally healthy leadership and much more.
Also, a dozen ancillary events will take place around the city during the week, including a national discussion on race, the executive summit for senior-level leaders, a conference focusing on the global issues impacting children in our cities, gatherings for millennial leaders and a celebration of women church/ministry leaders.
Attendees from 86 countries are currently registered, including church and ministry leaders, directors of college campus ministries, business leaders, arts and education leaders and mission’s agency leaders.
