Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 13:3 (Summer 1999)
Article: Redemption: An Image Of Biblical Equality
Author: LaDonna Osborn

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PP 13:3 (Summer 1999) p. 1

Redemption: An Image Of Biblical Equality

LaDonna Osborn

LaDonna Osborn is Founder and Bishop of International Gospel Center Fellowship of Churches and Ministries (IGCFCM), with its headquarters church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is the Vice-President and CEO of OSFO International, the world missionary organization founded by her parents in 1949. She is also a member of the College of Bishops for the International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC), representing over 10 million believers on every continent. She holds degrees from Oklahoma City University, Bethel College, and the Wesley an Synod of North America. This article is adapted from her plenary session at the 1999 CBE International Conference.

I was raised all over the world. I carry a United States passport, but that may be the most American thing about me. I love America, and I am very aware of the heritage that is mine, being born in this great land. But the world in which I have grown up and that I really call my home, is what I call “the real world.” It is a world close to the earth, a world desperate for good news, a world that does not know all that we know and therefore does not engage in all of the arguments that divide us. It is a world in bondage to all the effects of sin and separation from God. The people of this world do not know why they are in the condition they are in. They are just there, waiting for a voice, a hand, a message, an expression, and an answer to their problems.

One of the reasons that I am so drawn to CBE is that I see it as an international organization that relates to the peoples of the world and has a heart for the entire world. It is not just an American organization, but rather a world organization. I believe that God has raised up this group of leaders and scholars and advocates to get the attention of those who would use Scripture to keep people literally in bondage. Even though they know the Word of God and him who is revealed in Scripture, some would align themselves with the very societal norms that Christ’s disciples are sent to challenge. I believe that CBE is changing ways of thinking from the top by influencing institutions of higher learning. I hope and pray that God may grant that the leaders of the church of tomorrow will be touched and changed by the materials being made available through this organization.

My own relationship with CBE began in 1989. My mother and father had been pioneers in world evangelism and, since 1947 (the year I was born), developed various programs and methods for church cooperative efforts in evangelism. We traveled all over the world as a family. My mother and father were partners in everything that concerned the family, and in everything that concerned ministry. I grew up in a family that did not recognize d...

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