Hundreds of European church leaders have committed to train and equip 100,000 new pastors in the next seven years.  They made the announcement as the FINISH Europe Summit came to an end in Zurich, Switzerland.

The acronym FINISH stands for Find, Intercede, Network, Invest, Send and Harvest.

Organised by the Global Church Network (GCN), the conference gathered nearly 400 ministry leaders from different denominations across Europe to explore relationship-building, training and outreach on the continent.

The organisation has also committed to a common goal of reaching 3,000 Unreached People Groups - which it describes as “ethnic groups that do not have in their midst churches capable of evangelising their own people” - with the Gospel in the same timeframe to celebrate the 2000th birthday of the Church.

Speaking at this year’s summit, GCN founder James O. Davis said: "One of the reasons the Great Commission hasn't been fulfilled yet is because we never established a deadline.”

"FINISH 2030 offers a new overarching strategy — one that is global in scope and capable of getting the Church to the finish line sooner than we ever dreamed possible."

Davis also highlighted the challenges in Europe, saying: “The European nations represent some of the most difficult places to plant churches, to network leaders and to equip pastors," he said. "Meanwhile, the long-established models of training and preparation for full-time ministry cannot keep pace with the unprecedented growth of the global Christian Church, resulting in a significant shortage of trained pastors and ministers."

Davis went on to announce the Jerusalem 2030 Summit, scheduled for 9th-11th June, 2030, to celebrate the 2000th birthday of the Church. GCN plans to invite 3,000 key leaders worldwide to honour the number saved during the first Pentecost.