by Hannah Packard

The auditorium was about three-quarters full, and a choir had just ascended the stage to sing a song of praise. They were one of many groups who performed that day at the Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) 50th anniversary celebration, worshiping God through song and dance. But that choir—they were my favorite of the entire week we had spent in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, for the 2025 AWF Quadrennial gathering. The choir leader’s voice cut through the quiet room as they began their song, the sound of drums soon accompanying, and I was again surprised at how quickly tears sprang to my eyes, just as they had during worship throughout the previous days. Without understanding any of the words, it was worship of Jesus, and my soul seemed to know that very well. As I looked around the room, I couldn’t help being moved even further by the sight of representatives from 50 Alliance national churches around the world worshiping together. This is just a taste of the fruit of countless prayers, sacrifices, and gospel seeds sown by the global Alliance family, I thought.

Foundations of a Global Fellowship

The Alliance World Fellowship was founded in 1975 to serve the purpose of uniting churches and ministries around the world that are affiliated with The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). The AWF has its own executive committee, independent of any national church, and every four years a quadrennial council is held, gathering leaders and delegates from C&MA national churches around the globe for a time of Christ-centered fellowship, reaffirmation of core theology and vision, and to discuss challenges facing Alliance churches. The Quadrennial held in Yamoussoukro in October 2025 was particularly special because it marked the AWF’s 50th anniversary, yet the foundations for this fellowship were laid at the very beginning of our missionary movement in the 19th century.

In the C&MA, establishing a self-sustaining and self-spreading indigenous church on every mission field where our workers are present has always been a high priority, if not the goal of our pioneer, cross-cultural mission work. Additionally, there has been a recognition of the extreme limits of the “from the West to the rest” mentality, which can stunt church growth and impose Western culture and thought as part of the gospel message. Rather, the hope has been for fully independent, spiritually mature national churches that would begin to send their own missionaries to their neighbors and to regions beyond themselves.

Despite this early ideal, by the mid- to late-1920s, it had become clear that many of the churches on foreign fields had not achieved independence from the North American C&MA but were dependent both financially and spiritually. In response, at the 1926 U.S. Alliance General Council, legislation was enacted to reduce spending and subsidies for overseas fields and to gradually hand authority and leadership to the national church.

Yet the chaos of the following decades, particularly the Great Depression and World War II, meant this gradual process never managed to reach its conclusion. At General Council in 1955, the passion for national church autonomy was renewed, and the policies were reinforced. Leaders reaffirmed that they believed the national church autonomy would result in flourishing.

As the policy was adopted over the course of five years, it proved true. Newly independent national churches flourished, and the number of believers increased. But as time went on, a desire emerged to establish a fellowship that would help maintain unity and theological cohesion among the churches.

On May 20–23, 1975, a historic meeting rook place for the founding of the Alliance World Fellowship. At Simpson Memorial Church in Nyack, New York, 74 official delegates representing 34 countries met together in what was, at the time, the largest gathering of nations in Alliance history. This group established a founding constitution, which was unanimously adopted, and signed by each delegate. Out of all the countries where Alliance work took place at the time, only eight were not represented. In his keynote speech at the gathering, the U.S. C&MA president, Dr. Nathan Bailey, said, “Today we stand side by side—none above the other.”

Growing Together on Mission

A few months later in The Alliance Witness, the editor reported on the event, describing from those few days the beauty of their surroundings, the way that delegates surmounted language barriers to share with one another, and the joy of hearing testimonies and reports from around the world. Over 50 years later, as I read my predecessor’s words, I was struck by how much had not changed.

At the 2025 Quadrennial in Yamoussoukro, approximately 50 out of 88 countries in the AWF were represented by hundreds of delegates and attendees. Sounds of translation into multiple languages were present in every seminar, coffee break, and meal. The delight of being together was palpable in the air as people eagerly greeted old friends and colleagues and listened to one another’s stories. It is always a joy to gather with the Body of Christ, but this—it was a privilege. Times of prayer were also uniquely special. It can feel impersonal, praying for brothers and sisters in Christ on the other side of the world who are living in war zones or being persecuted. But not so when your brother in Christ stands before you, describing the depth of the persecution and violence his churches face, saying, “Please remember us. As a family, let’s walk together.”

It was a time of learning and realigning as well. Dr. Jura Yanagihara, president of the AWF, spoke the opening night outlining the challenges that the global Alliance family is facing and exhorting us to be unified around Christ, together as one. For some, the diversity of a family like ours could be a stumbling block. But with God, our diversity becomes a great strength. “Jesus made us one, and He wants to send us as one,” he shared.

Rev. Jan Wolsheimer, director of CAMA Zending in the Netherlands, spoke the following morning about the shifting balance of missions. The vast majority of Alliance believers, nearly 90 percent, come from the global South. The church in Africa is the largest, followed by Asia and Latin America. “Christianity is rapidly becoming a non-Western religion,” he shared, describing how, as the global Church, we must work together and share what resources we have—for the sake of the world.

Sent as One

After the time of worship at the AWF 50th anniversary celebration, Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, president of the U.S. C&MA, spoke, sharing out of Galatians: “Whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:8b–9).

Highlighting the phrase “at the proper time,” President Schaeffer said, “God’s crops grow according to His sovereign plan. It might be months after you plant, or years. Some crops grow fast, some grow slowly. But every seed sown in Jesus’ name will produce a crop.”

In 1979, at the AWF’s second quadrennial gathering, Dr. Nathan Bailey reported that the global Alliance was made up of 1.2 million believers worshiping God in 12,700 churches and preaching locations in 47 countries.

Now, the Alliance World Fellowship is made up of 6.7 million believers who worship Jesus in over 24,000 churches in 88 countries. And 29 national churches in these countries are actively sending more than 1,700 international workers to preach the gospel throughout the world. Praise the Lord!

“In God’s economy,” Schaeffer shared, “you always harvest more than you plant.” This is true! Because of generations of faithful believers who have sown seeds of the gospel, God has multiplied our global Alliance family.

Yet there are still so many fields to be cultivated and so many seeds to be planted. There remain 2.25 billion people who do not have access to the gospel, and an estimated 80 percent of all nonbelievers do not even know a Christ follower.

In obedience to God’s call, the Alliance World Fellowship will not grow weary in doing good and will not give up, remaining committed to proclaiming the gospel, demonstrating the power of the Kingdom, growing deeper in discipleship, engaging the world through word and deed, partnering with local and global churches, educating and equipping new leaders for ministry, and recommitting to take the gospel where it has not been preached in the hard and costly places.

The voices raised in worship that filled that auditorium in Yamoussoukro still reverberate in my heart. I am reminded that what began in Nyack, New York, 50 years ago was not a culmination but a commission—to go together, to sow seeds of the gospel, and to trust that in God’s timing, an even greater harvest will come if we do not give up.

Subscribe to Alliance Life Magazine

As an Alliance church member, you can join the 142-year legacy of Alliance Life and get exclusive stories and articles delivered directly to your mailbox or inbox. Click here to request your free subscription!