An Interview with General
Overseer Raymond Culpepper
Awakening the Church of God to Its
MISSIONAL MANDATE
JAMES E. COSSEY: Brother Culpepper, Church must not misread these statistics Church of God to the need, the call, and
what is the Great Commission emphasis all and fail to continue to reach the harvest. the cause of the Great Commission.
about and why is it important? Suppose these statistics are correct, and
nearly three-fourths of Americans are COSSEY: Who should attend, and why
RAYMOND F. CULPEPPER: The Great Christian people; we still cannot let up as should they want to come?
Commission emphasis is all about the long as one little boy or girl doesn’t know
mission of the Church of God. Our mis- Jesus! The Church still has a job to do. CULPEPPER: These symposiums are
sion, as stated on page 37 of the Church of designed for all of our people. This is for
God Book of Discipline, Church Order, and COSSEY: The first phase of the Church of the grassroots of the Church of God. We
Governance from the 2008 General Assem- God Great Commission emphasis is two sym- want our administrators and leaders to
bly, is “to communicate the full gospel of posiums, one in Georgia and the other in Cal- attend. We are hoping that local pastors,
Jesus Christ in the Spirit and power of ifornia. Tell our readers about these meetings. leaders, and volunteers from throughout
Pentecost.” The Scripture references are North America will attend. This is not a
Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:1-4, 6, 13-18. CULPEPPER: These symposiums are preaching contest or a preachers’ meeting.
That is what the Great Commission thrust focused on the harvest. We are bringing This is not a convention on church poli-
is all about. It’s about the Church of God
getting on with the missional mandate
given to the Church by Jesus himself. “We cannot let up
COSSEY: In 1948 statisticians said that 91
as long as one
percent of Americans claimed Christianity
as their religion of choice. Today, that has
little boy or girl
declined to 77 percent. Does this give you
doesn’t know Jesus!”
reason for concern?
CULPEPPER: It concerns me on two fronts. together an international group of speak- ty. This is not an occasion just to fellow-
First, many of these who claim Christianity ers who will speak to the issues of the ship. It is focused on everyone coming
as their religion of choice are Christians in Great Commission. Our speakers will together to be renewed and revitalized in
name only. Now, I want to be careful not include Reinhardt Bonnke, Ana Ruth Diaz, the greatest mandate of Christ for the
to jump to conclusions. Who knows, other Pastor Niko—who has built such a magnif- Church—the Great Commission.
than the Lord, who is truly born again and icent work in Indonesia—and Loran Liv-
who is not? But I personally think these ingston. These are men and women, both COSSEY: So this is not another church pro-
statistics might be suspect. Americans and internationals, who will gram, but an effort to reaffirm the mandate
help us get a handle on the world harvest. of the Church of God.
COSSEY: You think the percentage of Chris- But these symposiums will not be
tians may be exaggerated? about coming together just to hear speak- CULPEPPER: This is a mandate initiative
ers. The symposiums will not be camp- set forth, I believe, by the Holy Spirit for
CULPEPPER: I think it is greatly exagger- meeting-style events. They will not be the Church of God in the 21st century. It
ated. Many claim they are Christians but preaching occasions, although those occa- is not a program, or an idea, or a way to
are only Christian in philosophy. They sions have their place in our church. get more people involved in the church.
may be Christian in tradition, but not in These meetings will not be worship occa- It is a renewed emphasis on the fact that
lifestyle. That’s the first issue. The second sions, although worship will take place. Christ has called every believer to be a
concern with these statistics is that the They will be focused on awakening the missionary.
16 EVANGEL • SEP 2009
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