Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am writing to tell you about some recent decisions regarding City Mission World Association
(CMWA), plus some exciting developments about the future of city-mission ministry around the
world.
Just a few days ago, the CMWA board of directors gathered in Berlin, Germany, (except for
MacMillan Kiiru who was unable to join us) for the organization's annual meeting. On Monday,
March 11, after careful consideration and prayer, the CMWA board voted to dissolve the
organization. The following motion was passed with five yes votes and one abstention:
With gratefulness to God and the utmost respect for the history and achievements of the City
Mission World Association (CMWA) over the last quarter century, the current CMWA board,
reflecting the insights of many major CMWA stakeholders, believes that the existing ministry
model is not practical nor viable going forward, and therefore votes to dissolve CMWA upon the
adjournment of the March 2013 CMWA board meeting; and with that adjournment accepts the
resignation of all current board members.
All of the board members wish to thank the original leaders of this organization—particularly
Charles Chambers, Edwin Orton, Ken Jarvis, Steve Burger, Del Maxfield, Don Robertson, and
Hans-Georg Filker—for their efforts in international work over the years. A lot of great
relationships were forged, some terrific conferences were held, and many ministries to the poor
and powerless around the globe were birthed and/or brought to maturity. I underscore my thanks
to these special men and all who helped energize CMWA over the years!
I think it’s fair to say that CMWA started as a “founding and funding” initiative. Since then,
cultural, political, communication, and economic changes in the world have had an effect on the
way ministry is done—or not done. CMWA's own internal struggles a decade ago had an impact
on its stability. In recent years, the board tried to de-emphasize the "founding and funding" and
emphasize communication and opportunity awareness.
The World Conferences, which were the most visible manifestation of CMWA, have had
significant logistical problems in recent years as it has become increasing difficult for people
from developing countries to get visas and travel to international conferences. Stories of
Christian brothers and sisters selling all they owned to get to an international conference in hopes
of raising money from other ministry leaders and churches in the host cities were heartbreaking.
Additionally, educational expectations were becoming increasingly diverse and and hard to
achieve.
However, at the Berlin meeting, the CMWA Board, unequivocally voiced its desire to maintain
international relationships and learn from each other. There is much to gain
in International collaboration. For that reason the following motion was also passed at the Berlin
meeting:
With a strong passion for international networking and a deep belief that the furtherance of the
Christian gospel (good news) message to the poor around the world could be accelerated
through opportunities to connect thought leaders on a practical basis, the CMWA board calls for
the initiation and development of a more informal nexus to include: 1) a Worldwide Forum open
to invited Christian leaders running organizations that are meeting the spiritual and social needs
of the urban poor; 2) a convention invitation program whereby urban mission professionals are
encouraged/given the opportunity to attend primary encouragement/training events of other
associations; and 3) worldwide urban mission partnerships.
To accomplish number one above, the board set in motion plans for a Worldwide Forum of
possibly 20 - 40 key, Christian, city-mission thought leaders in April or May of 2014. This will
likely be done in the U.S. with John Ashmen from the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions
(AGRM) facilitating this meeting. It is not the intent that the Worldwide Forum will become a
new organization, but rather an event. The following people have been asked to serve on the
advisory committee for this event; John Ashmen, Zuzana Filipkova, Robert Christopher,
MacMillan Kiiru, and myself. I would call this a pilot program, and if it works, we are hopeful
to continue it every two years.
As the Bible tells us, “For everything there is a season...” The season for CMWA has passed. I
look forward to what God will bring to us in this next season. Thank you for allowing me to
serve as your CMWA Board Chairman. It has been my honor.
If you have questions about this please do not hesitate to contact me.
Serving Him Together,
Brad Meuli
Former Chairman of CMWA