World Focus 2023!

It's not uncommon to hear from people that the ARP denomination is small. This may be true but remember, we live in the light of God’s perspective. It is through events like World Focus 2023 that you can see the incredible effectiveness of our denomination as we put on display His work, to increase our vision of His Kingdom!  

One of the great values of our denomination is being connectional; and the Lord, in His sovereignty, loves to display the way He interweaves our lives as a means of encouragement. We read in Romans 15:22 and 1 Thessalonians 2:18, that Paul deeply desired to connect with his congregants and that not being able to do so caused him much pain. It is natural, therefore, to feel uplifted by being able to reconnect with so many missionaries all at once, during World Focus!  

Our theme was “Go and Grow: What is your part?” Each worker strived to challenge participants to consider their role in the Kingdom. That is why there were many conversations with new people wanting to be missionaries, both short-term and long. In addition, there were critical conversations about wanting to be church planters here in the U.S., through ONA. We may be small, but that’s no excuse to stop growing!

World Focus 2023 brought in the largest number of ARPs yet, topping 800+ attendees, which included over 125 children! There were more than 26 displays and 100+ ARP leaders, staff, and volunteers. Besides the display interactions, hundreds gathered to hear and be challenged by both Dr. Derek Thomas and Rev. Dr. Frank Van Dalen.