Wikipedia

Talk:Crossworld

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Heartmusic678 in topic Proposed update
Learn more about this page

External links modified edit

Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 19 external links on CrossWorld. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 20:49, 14 August 2017 (UTC)Reply

Proposed update edit

Latest comment: 2 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Extended content
  • Specific text to be added or removed: Below is a revised article.
  • Reason for the change: Cleaning up the issues about missing citations and reference links. Also updating stats and adding detail to all sections.


Crossworld is an international Christian missionary organization. As of 2021, Crossworld had more than 300 disciple-makers in 35 countries[1] who were involved in church ministry, education, healthcare, community development, refugee work, teaching English, business, and sports ministry.

Found in 1931, Crossworld is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. It is registered nonprofit organization in the U.S. (501(c)(3))[2] and Canada.[3] Crossworld is an accredited member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (U.S.)[4] and the Canadian Council of Christian Charities (Canada).[5]

  Done with minor edits. Heartmusic678 (talk) 13:35, 2 December 2021 (UTC)Reply

Focus edit

Crossworld focuses on disciple-making and describes its mission as “a formative community of disciple-makers from all professions bringing God’s love to life in the world’s least-reached marketplaces.” Its members work in professional settings around the world and build relationships with the people they meet in the workplace and in the community. Their goal is to “live and love like Jesus and help others to do the same.”[6]

Beliefs edit

Crossworld is a nondenominational organization and holds to an evangelical statement of faith: one true God, Jesus Christ as Lord, the Holy Spirit, the authority of Scripture, total depravity of man, the necessity of salvation, and eternal life.[7]

History edit

In 1931, a group of 36 missions workers serving in the Belgian Congo and Brazil formed the Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM).[8] Originally headquartered in London, UK, UFM was primarily a sending organization for missionaries. That same year, UFM sent two from this original group, Reverend Edwin and Lilian Pudney, who had previously served eight years in the Belgian Congo, to establish an office in Toronto, Canada.[9] There was also an office established in Australia in June 1933, which began sending missionaries to Papua New Guinea.[10][11] In 1941 the Pudneys moved to the United States and opened a second North American office in Philadelphia, which moved in 1954 to the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[12][13]

Under Rev. Pudney's long tenure as General Secretary, UFM North America became the largest sending agency of the three offices.[14] Rev. Al Larson, after serving in the Belgian Congo for twelve years with his wife, Jean, and leading the missionaries during the events of the 1964 Simba rebellion, became General Secretary of UFM North America. During his twenty-five-year tenure, he had a significant influence on the shape and continued growth of UFM North America, leaving the mission with workers in 20 countries on five continents.[15]

In 1976 the three headquarters — London, England; North America (Bala Cynwyd and Toronto); and Melbourne, Australia — agreed to separate into three separate mission agencies.[16] Though separate organizations legally on three different continents, cooperation among the cross-cultural workers of these organizations has continued in various countries. At that time, the North American branch (USA and Canada) retained the name Unevangelized Fields Mission (and in 1980 became UFM International[17]). UFM England changed its name to UFM Worldwide, and UFM Australia became the Asia Pacific Christian Mission.[18]

UFM International grew and moved into new regions of ministry often through mergers or absorption of smaller mission organizations. Some of these are:[19]

  • Haitian Gospel Mission (1943)
  • World Christian Crusade (1949)
  • Alpine Mission to France (1962)
  • Egypt General Mission (1964)
  • Mexican Indian Mission (1971)
  • Safe Harbor Christian Servicemen’s Center (1986)
  • International Asian Mission (1988)
  • Berean Mission (2000)

In 2004, UFM International changed its name to Crossworld.[20] In 2010, through a joint shared services agreement with Avant Ministries, the headquarters of Crossworld moved to Kansas City, Missouri.[21]

In 2011, under current president Dale Losch, Crossworld refreshed its vision to engage all followers of Jesus Christ in the task of making disciples.[22] Its vision is summarized in its tagline: “All Professions. One Mission.” Losch’s book A Better Way, published in 2012, makes the case for this vision.[23]

Media coverage edit

In its ninety-year history, three specific events brought UFM/Crossworld into the public eye. The first was in 1935 when Fred Roberts, Fred Wright, and Fred Dawson, three UFM workers, were martyred while trying to contact the Kayapó tribe in the Amazon region of Brazil. The story of the “Three Freds” was recounted in newspaper articles and books on three continents (Europe, North America, and Australia).[24][25] This event also inspired new missionaries to join this newly formed organization.

The second event occurred during the Simba rebellion of 1964 in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo) when hundreds of people — Africans and foreigners alike — were killed by the Simba rebels. Thirteen UFM workers and six of their children were martyred.[26][27] UFM was mentioned in newspaper articles from the United Press International and the Associated Press around the world.[28] These events were the featured cover story of Life magazine in December 1964[29]. Fifty years later, on November 16, 2014, some of the hostages who survived the rebellion were reunited in Miami with the Cuban soldiers who had rescued them in 1964.[30][31]

Third, in 1982, UFM/Crossworld landed on the cover of Time magazine when UFM missionary Leon Dillinger was featured for his work among the Dani tribe of Irian Jaya (now Papua, Indonesia) in an article titled, “The New Missionary.”[32]

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Crossworld". crossworld.org.
  2. ^ "Crossworld". IRS.
  3. ^ "UFM International in Canada". Government of Canada.
  4. ^ "Crossworld". ecfa.org.
  5. ^ "Crossworld". giveconfidently.ca.
  6. ^ "About". crossworld.org.
  7. ^ "What We Believe". crossworld.org.
  8. ^ Light & Life, Vol 1, No 1, August 1931. Unevangelized Fields Mission, London, UK.
  9. ^ Homer Dowdy, Speak My Words Unto Them (Bala Cynwyd: UFM International, 1997), 53.
  10. ^ John Prince and Moyra Prince, No Fading Vision (Asia Pacific Christian Mission, 1981), 28, 38.
  11. ^ Brian Stanley, Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2018), 72.
  12. ^ Dowdy, Speak My Words Unto Them, 58, 154.
  13. ^ Edwin J. and Lilian G. Pudney, Sacrifice of Praise (Bala Cynwyd: Unevangelized Fields Mission), 72-80.
  14. ^ Pudney, Sacrifice of Praise, 69.
  15. ^ Dowdy, Speak My Words Unto Them, 302.
  16. ^ Bruce Shelley, Craig A. Noll, Daniel G. Reid, Harry S. Stout, Robert D. Linder, eds., Concise Dictionary of Christianity in America (Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2002), 346.
  17. ^ Edwin Frizen, 75 Years of IFMA (Pasadena: William Carey Publishing, 1992), 458.
  18. ^ Ross Weymouth, “The Unevangelised Fields Mission in Papua, 1931-1981,” The Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Oct. 1988): 175.
  19. ^ Frizen, 75 Years of IFMA, 458.
  20. ^ Kurian, George (April 2015). A Quick Look at Christian History: A Chronological Timeline Through the Centuries. ISBN 9780736953795.
  21. ^ Ranish, David (December 28, 2010). "Mission Organizations Share Resources". mnnonline.org. Mission Network News.
  22. ^ Losch, Dale (February 15, 2013). "Go Therefore and Make Converts?". Urbana.org. InterVarsity.
  23. ^ Losch, Dale (2012). A Better Way: Make Disciples Wherever Life Happens. ISBN 978-0965683012.
  24. ^ William John Waterman Roome, The Three Freds: Martyred Pioneers for Christ in Brazil (London & Edinburgh: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1936).
  25. ^ A. W. Stuart, “‘Three Freds.’ The Martyrs of Amazonia,” The Sydney Morning Herald, December 19, 1936.
  26. ^ Homer Dowdy, Out of the Jaws of the Lion (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), 252-254.
  27. ^ "Congo 1964" (PDF). Lifeline. January 1965.
  28. ^ Jim Rae, “Faith of bereaved family unshaken by Congo horror,” Ottawa Citizen, December 12, 1964.
  29. ^ "Congo Ransom: A Good Man's Life". Life. December 4, 1964.
  30. ^ Glenn Garvin, “Rescue Reunion: Cuban-American CIA Team Meets Congo Hostages in Kendall,” Miami Herald, November 16, 2014.
  31. ^ "The Hug That Waited 50 Years". crossworld.org. December 10, 2014.
  32. ^ Ostling, Richard N. (December 27, 1982). "The New Missionary". Time.

References edit

  1. Banner, Horace. The Three Freds and After. London, Melbourne, Bala Cynwyd: The Unevangelized Fields Mission, fourth edition 1958.
  2. Bayly, Joseph. Congo Crisis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1966.
  3. “The Congo Massacre” (cover story). Christianity Today, December 18, 1964.
  4. Dowdy, Homer. Speak My Words Unto Them. Bala Cynwyd: UFM International, 1997.
  5. Dowdy, Homer. Out of the Jaws of the Lion. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
  6. Hayes, Margaret. Captive of the Simbas. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.
  7. Losch, Dale. A Better Way: Make Disciples Wherever Life Happens. Kansas City: Crossworld, 2012. ISBN 978-0965683012.
  8. Pudney, Edwin & Lilian. Sacrifice of Praise. USA, Canada, Australia: Unevangelized Fields Mission, n.d.
  9. Reeves, Virgil L. The Changing World of Interdenominational Faith Missions. A History of the Unevangelized Fields Mission in France and its predecessors: The Thonon Evangelistic Mission and the Alpine Mission to France, PhD dissertation. Leuven, Belgium: Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, 2000.
  10. Roome, William John Waterman. The Three Freds. London & Edinburgh: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1936.
  11. Sharp, Larry. The Greatest Missionary Generation. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2020.
  12. Truby, David W. Congo Saga. London: The Unevangelized Fields Mission, 1965.


External Links edit

  1. Crossworld (USA) Website (https://crossworld.org/ )
  2. Crossworld (Canada) Website (https://crossworld.ca/ )
  3. Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/crossworldORG/ )
  4. LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/crossworld )
  5. Twitter (https://twitter.com/crossworldorg?lang=en )
  6. Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/crossworld.mission/)
  7. Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/crossworld)
  8. Therefore Alliance (https://thereforealliance.org/members/ )
  9. Missio Nexus (https://missionexus.org/directories/directory/#!biz/id/56d717ffdcdf123036ab212b )
  10. Mission Finder (https://missionfinder.org/organizations/crossworld/ )
  11. Mission Agency Finder (https://www.themissionapp.com/directory-missions/listing/crossworld-2/ )
  12. Guide Star (https://www.guidestar.org/profile/23-1352564)

Virgil R. at Crossworld (talk) 21:17, 22 November 2021 (UTC)Reply

  Done with edits. Social media sites are not permitted as external links, per WP:NOSOCIAL, and search results pages and links that are indirectly related to the organization were not included in the page updates, per Wikipedia's guidelines. In keeping with the general layout of pages, the History section comes after the lead and before any additional sections on the page. Thanks, Heartmusic678 (talk) 15:01, 2 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
Add topic
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Crossworld&oldid=1201250372"