Urbana
Forty-nine years ago this year, at Urbana 1976, Nancy and I signed a pledge to serve overseas as missionaries, if it was God’s will. (Actually, we signed it at midnight, so the moment fell on the first minutes of 1977.) We are, at this writing, leaving after the conclusion of Urbana 2025, which took place not in Urbana, Illinois, but in Phoenix, Arizona.
I have been to a number of Urbana Conferences in the last half-century, as an elective speaker, an Inter-Varsity campus staff member, and representing two seminaries, so it is hard not to make comparisons. What has changed? Here are few observations:
We’ve gone . . .
- from amazing slide shows, to more amazing video productions
- from “Urbana Bibles” freely given to all to finding the verse on a phone app
- from Urbana hymns sung in harmony from hymnals to amplified contemporary praise music
- from 45- or 50-minute Bible expositions to 10- to 20-minute talks
- from 17,000 people in attendance to 7,000 attendees
- from mostly white students to a very multicultural and multiracial body of students
- from attendees living in dorms to staying at the Hyatt Regency
- from a major offering collected in small buckets to QR-code giving
- from yellow commitment cards to committing via the Urbana app
- from sharing meals in dorms to finding a restaurant
Most of these reflect general changes in the past half-century. And most hold true of major conferences today.
Changes aside, what is most significant to me is the consistency the Urbana Conferences have maintained over the past 49 years. The conference is still focused on missions and the Biblical basis for it. It highlights lessons from around the world, some history of mission, and includes the call to personally commit to engagement in God’s mission.
I found that refreshing. The numbers are not what they were, and there have been changes in the nuances of the messages. But Urbana did not become an epicenter of a specific brand of theology or spirituality, nor was it strictly a praise conference. All of these iterations of the Christian life were present in this conference, but you couldn’t escape the fact that the central impetus of it was the call to participate in God’s mission in an informed manner.
When Nancy and I attended 49 years ago, it changed our lives. We made a commitment, then left our teaching jobs to go on staff with InterVarsity; then we moved again so I could earn an MDiv at Gordon-Conwell; then we moved again to Princeton where I completed my studies; then we sold most of our possessions and moved again to serve as Presbyterian missionaries in Singapore. Finally and ultimately, we eventually ended up back at Gordon-Conwell.
One conference. Six transitional and changed lives (counting our four children). “Because of Urbana,” our daughter speaks Chinese, Nancy and I have lived in Singapore, I have lectured in four countries in Africa and in over 10 countries in Asia, and we have planted a church in Singapore. Our lives entered a whole different trajectory because of four days in December 1976.
At this year’s conference, as the students stood who had signed the pledge, Nancy and I prayed knowing that once again lives are being redirected by the call and commitment to God’s mission.
Some things change. Some things—God’s mission—remain.
“Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all the peoples.” Psalm 96 was the theme for Urbana 1976, and it is still precious to me and many who now come behind me defining our sense of calling.
We are hosting an Exploring Your Calling webinar on January 13 for those discerning how and where to serve Christ. Register to join us online.
Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.