Organisers announced Drs David Yonggi Cho and Young Hoon Lee as the keynote speakers for the two day River Of Life conference to be held 9-10 May 2013 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
This is the first time the Victorian capital will host an event featuring the South Korean leader and founder of the world's largest local congregation with more than 800,000 members. Dr Lee is the succession Pastor of Yoido Church.
Conference Convenor, Peter Kentley says the launch saw representatives from Baptist, Anglican, Pentecostal, Churches of Christ, Presbyterian and Catholic traditions coming together "in a spirit of unity" to support Melbourne's plans for an inaugural "Church Together" conference which will "bring life to the city".
"Today, the Australian church is immersed in a world that is experiencing massive social, technological, economic, military and environmental changes," says Mr Kentley.
"During similar times of uncertainty in South Korea, Dr Cho started from humble beginnings to help grow the Christian population to more than 30 percent.
"Today, we need similar hope and inspiration for the Australian church in the 21st century.
The conference comes at a "critical time" for the church in Australia to rise in her God-given role to be the "salt and light" of our society," Kentley says.
River Of Life Chairman, Mark Conner (also Senior Pastor of CityLife Church) says that he's "really excited" about the upcoming visit of Dr Cho to Melbourne and the opportunity it presents to "gather the wider church together to celebrate our unity around the cause of Christ".
"I encourage you to make this significant event a priority," he says.
The River Of Life conference will feature music from Darlene Zschech, Roma Waterman, and the Melbourne Gospel Choir.
More than 1000 of the capacity 5500 seats were sold at the launch. Early bird ticketing concludes 30 November.