The 2005 Pan-American Chinese Coordination Center of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) Conference is scheduled to be held in San Paul, Brazil in April 5-8. This event is going to be the third convocation for the CCCOWE organization. The conference’s motto is, “Go South.”

The conference takes its motto from the passage in Acts 8:26-35:

Now an angel of the Lord said..."Go south to the road - the desert road....Go to that chariot and stay near it."..."Do you understand what you are reading?"..."How can I,"he said,"unless someone explains it to me?"

The Pan AM CCCOWE Convention is held every three years. The first one was held in Los Angeles in of 1999. Starting from the second conference that was held in 2002 in Panama, the focus of the convention will move on towards mission in Middle and South America.

"Because there are millions of Chinese people from the mainland," said Rev. Timothy Lin, General Director of CCCOWE USA, “this is how God works. He sent Chinese clerisies to North America, but plebeians to South America. Therefore, North America should spread the Gospel and support the mission in South America."

"Especially, the majority of the Chinese in South America are from Mainland. When they accept the Gospel, they will turn back to China, and preach to their family, friends and colleagues. We are doing this for the vast Mainland China."

The 2005 PAN AM CCCOWE Convention theme is "Hand in Hand, Gospel Resounds in Middle-South America". The main organizers for the event hail CCCOWE chapters in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. All the speakers in the convention are experienced leaders of mission organizations. Furthermore, the idea of the "Philip Action" was also generated from their vision for the Middle-South America and in Acts 8:26-35.

"Philip Action is a long-term program, whose purpose is to connect the churches from North and South America. We hope that Chinese churches can build one-to-one partnerships through this action." explained Rev. Lin." According to our experience, once two churches become sister churches, the members will pay special attention to their sister church, pray for them with specific topics, and provide them with various help actively. It [will] really speed up the mission."

As the coordinator for all Chinese churches affiliated with CCCOWE, Rev. Lin said that the organization wants to promote this vision for the South amongst believers, and that the response was pretty good. He estimated that 500 Christian leaders were willing to participate in this convention, and expressed confidence that the goal to dispatch 50 short-term mission teams to different regions of Middle-South America would be met.

CCCOWE USA so far has a nationwide network of more than 1,400 Chinese-American churches.