"We need to talk." When someone says that to us, it's an indication that circumstances have changed. A relationship needs to be redefined; a job needs to be adjusted; a commitment needs to be examined. When "we need to talk" is said by our spouse we wonder. When it’s said by our boss we worry. But no matter who says it, the phrase is an omen that change is around the corner and may already be upon us.
Christian leaders around the country have agreed that it's time for us to talk. Circumstances in our world have changed dramatically in recent years. Globalization has accelerated thanks to digital communication technologies. New political realities have made fundamentalist forms of Islam and Hinduism a rising danger. The number of children orphaned by HIV/Aids is expected to reach 20 million this year. And a poor African woman represents the new face of Christianity as the church continues to expand rapidly in the global south and shrink in Europe and North America.
But we are not just seeing a new world emerge; we're also witnessing the rise of a new church here in the US. A new generation of evangelical leaders is extolling values considered peripheral by earlier generations—justice, compassion, and environmental stewardship. Are these values a threat to the proclamation of the gospel, or simply a deeper understanding of it? These under-40 leaders are also the first to have had access to cheap intercontinental travel during their formative years (I call them the "Jumbo Jet Generation"). They’ve experienced the dehumanizing impact of poverty first hand, and they carry a clearer vision for the global impact of the gospel. And they are the first generation to wrestle with how to advance Christ’s mission in a truly post-Christian, secular, and consumerist North America.
These two realities, a new world and a new church, carry significant implications for our mission. For this reason it's time to have a new conversation. It's time to talk.
Over the next six months our team will be coordinating and hosting 12 conversations in 12 cities where you will be able to interact with some of the church's best thinkers and leaders about the future. These panels will include voices that span the generations as we seek wisdom from those who have led faithfully in the past, and hear what innovations are being incubated by those coming on the scene.
The conversation will culminate in October when delegates from the American church join 4,000 other leaders from 200 countries in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010 to address the global challenges facing the church and our mission.
This blog will by the hub of the conversation until Cape Town. Here you will find articles on the topics, videos from the panelists, and updates on the 12 gatherings. I hope you'll join us by contributing your thoughts and prayers to this important work.
