Posted: 05/08/2014 at 12:57pm | IP Logged

NEW YORK, NY (ANS) -- he next Urbana Student Missions Conference is still a year and a half away but InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has laid the foundation for Urbana 15 by choosing the Gospel of Matthew as the Urbana 15 Scripture focus. “Every three years, the Urbana Missions team seeks to saturate the entire Urbana conference in Scripture,” said Tom Lin, InterVarsity Vice President, Director of Missions and Urbana. “We believe this generation is moved and inspired by narrative, and there is obviously none more central than that of Jesus' crucifixion and the cross, both of which we will study from the Gospel of Matthew at Urbana 15.”

The theme for Urbana 15, which is still unchosen, will come from Matthew’s Gospel. “Selecting the Scripture on which the conference is built is one of most important decisions in the entire process of creating Urbana,” said Lindsay Olesberg, Urbana Scripture Manager and InterVarsity's Scripture Engagement Director. Urbana 15 attendees will experience Matthew’s Gospel through InterVarsity’s unique style of inductive manuscript Bible study, small group discussions, and theater team presentations. Urbana plenary speakers will also be focusing on Matthew through their Bible exposition.

"The Great Commission is from Matthew but it is usually quoted in isolation from its context,” said Úna Lucey-Lee, Urbana Program Director. “By looking at the place of the nations in Jesus' story from his birth through his resurrection, Urbana 15 participants will understand Jesus' command to ‘make disciples of all nations’ with new depth and insight.”

Urbana Missions

The purpose of Urbana is to invite each generation of college students to consider joining God’s global mission. The exhibit hall at Urbana hosts the largest gathering of missions organizations in the world. This will be InterVarsity’s 24th triennial student missions conference, since the first was held in Toronto in 1946.

Tens of thousands of men and women have been led by God into fulltime service for His Kingdom following commitments made at Urbana. Billy Graham once observed that half of the missionaries in the world can trace a connection in one way or another to Urbana.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and Inter-Varsity Canada host the Urbana Student Missions Conference as a service to the North American church. InterVarsity is a campus ministry which has worked with students and faculty on U.S. college and university campuses for more than 72 years. InterVarsity has more than 900 chapters active on almost 600 campuses across the United States, from Ivy League universities to community colleges. InterVarsity is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES).

Source: Assist News Service