Global Leaders Forum -- October 11-12, 2007

On October 11-12, 2007 I had the privilege of participating in the Global Leaders Forum that was sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the Micah Challenge and the United Nations. About 220 evangelical leaders from the USA and around the world met for one-and-a-half days. The meetings began with a reception and dinner where the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon was the guest speaker. This was the first time a UN Secretary General had ever spoken to a group of evangelical leaders.

Much of the focus of the time was devoted to seeing how evangelicals can work together to see the fulfillment of the UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). If you are not aware of what the MDG's are, here is a brief description. The MDG's are 8 goals that the 192 member states of the United Nations agreed to achieve by 2015. The goals are as follows:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day, and by reducing by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger around the world.

2. Achieve universal primary education for all children through at least primary school.

3. Promote gender equality and empower women at all levels by 2015.

4. Reduce child mortality among children under the age of five by two thirds.

5. Improve maternal health by reducing by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases by beginning to halt and reverse the spread of AIDS, malaria and other major diseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability by focusing on sustainable development, reversing the loss of environmental resources, reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water, and achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million urban slum dwellers by 2020.

8. Develop a global partnership for development.

On the 2nd day of the Global Leaders Forum attendees participated in small groups that focused on strategic issues related to evangelicals in the Global North and Global South working together with government, the UN, business and NGO's on achieving these goals -- many of which are fully in-line with "Kingdom" goals.

The 36 hours I spent at this forum were very encouraging to me for a number of reasons. I saw well known people from both the political left and the political right discussing the issues -- wondering how they can work together. I saw well- known evangelical leaders interacting with people from the United Nations, the Peace Corps and from various NGO's both Christian and secular -- talking about how to work together.

Finally, I saw hope for the words "evangelical" and "Christian". I saw hope, because I believe that if we as evangelicals and Christians work together and serve together to reach these goals -- many of which are Kingdom goals -- the name of Christ will be honored and the words "Christian" and "Evangelical" may no longer be dirty words.

Perhaps the story that impacted me the most in this regard was that of Geoff Tunnicliffe the International Director of the World Evangelical Alliance. He was recently in Germany speaking with Chancellor Merkel. He offered her help on behalf of the German Church and the global evangelical church in helping Germany do its part towards achieving the MDG's. Chancellor Merkel said something like the following to Geoff Tunnicliffe -- "Everyday I have people coming into my office telling me what I am doing wrong. Rarely, if ever, do I have someone coming to me offering me their help and assistance. Thank you so very much. You have an open door to my office."

This is the power of servanthood! This is the power of the Kingdom. This is what Greg Boyd talks about when he says that Christians should be characterized by "power under" not "power over".

I am encouraged that perhaps the day is coming when Evangelical Churches will be the "Mother Theresa's" of our time and the Church will be the greatest threat to injustice the world has ever seen.

"To plead the cause of the poor, afflicated and needy; . . .
Is that not what it means to know Me?" says the Lord.
- Jeremiah 22:16