THE HISTORY OF GO INTERNATIONAL
GO InterNational was founded by Rev. Maurice Stevens as Missionary World Service and Evangelism (MWS& E) in 1968. Maurice had served as a United Methodist pastor and evangelist for a number of years. After a mission trip he made to Haiti in 1968 he returned with the burden to “take people out of the pew into the mission field.”
His initial board of directors was formed of lay people who accompanied him on those first trips to Haiti, Colombia and Africa. As an evangelist Maurice recruited and led mission teams to more than seventeen countries in the eighteen years he served as President. Maurice also led mission conferences and revival meetings across the southeastern United States.
Following Maurice’s untimely death in 1986, Rev. Larry Cochran was elected President and served for 21 years. In August of 1994 MWS&E officially changed its name to GO InterNational. Under Larry Cochran’s leadership GO InterNational forged partnerships with indigenous leaders in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. While short term teams remained a key focus of the ministry, GO also began to assist the training of indigenous leaders, ministering to children in crisis and creating economic development projects as a part of a holistic ministry.
In September 2006, Rev. Bert Jones was elected as the third President following the resignation of Larry Cochran. Bert has expanded the ministries of GO InterNational through the development of new partnerships and ministries, additional staff, internship programs and the expansion of leadership training and International Holiness conferences.
GO InterNational remains focused on evangelism, short term mission teams, partnership with indigenous leaders and helping people who have a passion to fulfill the Great Commission. We are working on more than a dozen countries through a variety of ministries that range from feeding children in extreme poverty to digging wells in communities to planting churches in regions where there are none. Our desire is to make Christ known to the nations.
What We Believe
We affirm the Lausanne Covenant that was formulated at the International Congress on World Evangelization in 1974 by members of over 150 nations.
In summary:
We affirm our belief in the one-eternal God, Creator and Lord of the world, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who governs all things according to the purpose of his will.
We affirm the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of both Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety as the only written word of God, without error in all that it affirms, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
We affirm that there is only one Savior and only one gospel and that there is no other name by which we must be saved.
We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all men. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression.
We affirm that Christ sends his redeemed people into the world as the Father sent him, and that this calls for a similar deep and costly penetration of the world.
We affirm that God’s call to evangelism also summons the Church to unity, because our oneness strengthens our witness, just as our disunity undermines our gospel of reconciliation.
We affirm a growing partnership of churches around the world.
We affirm that our goal should be, by all available means and at the earliest possible time, that every person will have the opportunity to hear, understand, and to receive the good news.
We affirm that the gospel does not presuppose the superiority of any culture to another, but evaluates all cultures according to its own criteria of truth and righteousness, and insists on moral absolutes in every culture.
We affirm our commitment to equip and encourage national leaders.
We affirm our belief in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Father sent his Spirit to bear witness to his Son; without his witness ours is futile.
We acknowledge that we are engaged in spiritual warfare and affirm our need to equip ourselves with God's armour and to fight this battle with the spiritual weapons of truth and prayer.
We affirm our belief that Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly, in power and glory, to consummate his salvation and his judgment.
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