Last year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Lausanne Movement, full of thanksgiving for God’s tremendous work of grace the past 40 years, and a recognition of 3 very special gifts God gave us moving forward—clarity, unity, and momentum. We’ve seen this emerge particularly through Lausanne’s fresh articulation of who we are and what we do—connecting influencers and ideas for global mission.
This has helped focus our activities and strengthen our leadership across regions and generations. We’ve also gained stronger financial health as a Movement, and we’re thankful for the generous support from all around the world. We’re happy to announce our accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)... Read more »Michael Oh, Executive Director/CEO
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Last year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Lausanne Movement, full of thanksgiving for God’s tremendous work of grace the past 40 years, and a recognition of 3 very special gifts God gave us moving forward—clarity, unity, and momentum. We’ve seen this emerge particularly through Lausanne’s fresh articulation of who we are and what we do—connecting influencers and ideas for global mission.This has helped focus our activities and strengthen our leadership across regions and generations. We’ve also gained stronger financial health as a Movement, and we’re thankful for the generous support from all around the world. We’re happy to announce our accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Next year we’re looking forward to the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering (YLG), to be held in August 2016 in Indonesia. The selection and invitation process for the 1,000 participants is taking place now, led by our regional leaders, drawing from more than 3,000 nominations. This will be a significant time of connecting generations of influencers to serve together in today’s and tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities in global mission. YLG will also be the catalyst for a ten-year initiative called Younger Leaders Generation (YLGen), to continue building up this generation for global mission.
We’ve also been continuing to connect influencers in recent consultations on important issues such as disability concerns, children at risk, research for mission, creation care, mental health and counseling in mission, and more. In March, I was in Manila, Philippines, for the Global Diaspora Forum, where 300 leaders around the world gathered to consider the mission opportunities of the more than 200 million international immigrants spread around the world.
And we’re looking forward to the consultations later this year, considering Jewish Evangelism, international student ministries, cities, and addressing challenges of corruption all around the world. We ask for your prayers for the ideas, the actions, and partnerships that will emerge.
I’m delighted to share that a new Lausanne issue network has been launched to focus on health, healing, and wholeness. The Health in Mission network is connecting global health leaders to explore how the church can promote health and healing in a way that shows that our God is the one who heals. You can read more about the network and our new co-Senior Associates Dr Michael Soderling and Martha Mwendafilumba in our recent news release.
Finally, it’s my great joy to congratulate my friends at the World Evangelical Alliance on the appointment of Bishop Efraim Tendero as their new Secretary General. Bishop Ef also serves as Lausanne’s Senior Associate for Integrity and Anti-Corruption. Bishop Ef and I had a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship recently, and I really look forward to seeing how the Lord will use our friendship and our partnership for his global glory.
Please continue to pray for us, and may each of us serve and love God with all our hearts and with all our strength, for his glory and for his mission alone!
Last year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Lausanne Movement, full of thanksgiving for God’s tremendous work of grace the past 40 years, and a recognition of 3 very special gifts God gave us moving forward—clarity, unity, and momentum. We’ve seen this emerge particularly through Lausanne’s fresh articulation of who we are and what we do—connecting influencers and ideas for global mission.This has helped focus our activities and strengthen our leadership across regions and generations. We’ve also gained stronger financial health as a Movement, and we’re thankful for the generous support from all around the world. We’re happy to announce our accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Next year we’re looking forward to the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering (YLG), to be held in August 2016 in Indonesia. The selection and invitation process for the 1,000 participants is taking place now, led by our regional leaders, drawing from more than 3,000 nominations. This will be a significant time of connecting generations of influencers to serve together in today’s and tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities in global mission. YLG will also be the catalyst for a ten-year initiative called Younger Leaders Generation (YLGen), to continue building up this generation for global mission.
We’ve also been continuing to connect influencers in recent consultations on important issues such as disability concerns, children at risk, research for mission, creation care, mental health and counseling in mission, and more. In March, I was in Manila, Philippines, for the Global Diaspora Forum, where 300 leaders around the world gathered to consider the mission opportunities of the more than 200 million international immigrants spread around the world.
And we’re looking forward to the consultations later this year, considering Jewish Evangelism, international student ministries, cities, and addressing challenges of corruption all around the world. We ask for your prayers for the ideas, the actions, and partnerships that will emerge.
I’m delighted to share that a new Lausanne issue network has been launched to focus on health, healing, and wholeness. The Health in Mission network is connecting global health leaders to explore how the church can promote health and healing in a way that shows that our God is the one who heals. You can read more about the network and our new co-Senior Associates Dr Michael Soderling and Martha Mwendafilumba in our recent news release.
Finally, it’s my great joy to congratulate my friends at the World Evangelical Alliance on the appointment of Bishop Efraim Tendero as their new Secretary General. Bishop Ef also serves as Lausanne’s Senior Associate for Integrity and Anti-Corruption. Bishop Ef and I had a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship recently, and I really look forward to seeing how the Lord will use our friendship and our partnership for his global glory.
Please continue to pray for us, and may each of us serve and love God with all our hearts and with all our strength, for his glory and for his mission alone!
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Latest from the Lausanne Global Analysis
Sexual Violence in War
Olivia Jackson
Yet in 2012, it was estimated that 1.8 million women and girls in DRC have been raped, many by government forces and armed militias. Some are babies or the elderly. The use of sexual violence (SV) has become a specific tactic in modern conflict: wars are being fought using women’s bodies as battlegrounds.
Undermining communities
The changing nature of armed conflict means that most casualties in modern conflicts are civilians. The days of a defined battlefield are gone. Access to civilians provides a direct means of undermining whole communities: once violated, women and girls are dead, injured, scattered, traumatised. Some may go on to bear their attackers’ children, or live with HIV. Added to this are cultural notions of shame and honour, meaning women can be permanently ostracised. If survivors flee, they are even more vulnerable as refugees.
History
Records of the use of SV in war stretch back millennia. Rogue soldiers have long faced prosecution for SV (at least on paper), but its intentional and strategic mass use, commanded by senior officers, has only recently begun to be recognised by the international community.
International response
When the world’s media exposed the mass rape of women—and some men—in the 1990s Balkans conflict, prosecutions started moving forward as part of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. However, of an estimated 50,000 rapes, there were just over 60 successful prosecutions.
Since then, both the perpetration and legal framing of SV has been under intense scrutiny, most notably in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, and DRC. It has been the subject of the 2008 UN Resolution 1820, and the UN Secretary General has appointed a Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Why then the high levels of impunity, especially among those responsible for ordering the atrocities?
Geneva Conventions shortcomings
While national laws vary widely, the basic legal frameworks in international law concerning war are increasingly dated. Rape is mentioned in all the major documents, but these were laws written primarily about combatants, not civilians, and where SV is mentioned, it is framed as the (male) authors perceived it, not how women experience it.
Note the wording: attacks ‘on their honour’ (in other articles, ‘outrages against personal dignity’), belying the horrific violence, akin to torture, that women actually experience. It also implies that, if a woman’s ‘honour’ has been attacked, there is stigma attached to being a victim.
Where the Geneva Conventions prohibit violence to life and person, cruel treatment and torture, and humiliating and degrading treatment, it is not made explicit that SV will fall within these categories. It has thus traditionally been viewed as less serious: what men experience in war is torture; what women experience is an attack on their honour. Bringing prosecutions in this context, in the chaos of a post-conflict society, means that SV has often been downgraded or overlooked.
2013 Declaration
One of the measures in the G8 2013 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, led by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, rectifies this by specifically mentioning rape as a ‘grave breach’ of the Geneva Conventions. Significantly, any grave breach obliges all signatories to the Conventions to pursue those who have committed the crimes (or ordered them to be committed) and indict them.
This requires no UN Security Council or International Criminal Court involvement, theoretically speeding up the process and providing imperative. It means that potentially an aid or mission worker could report rape of civilians in conflict zones to their own government, which would be compelled to investigate.
Unfortunately, ‘grave breaches’ are only applicable in conflict zones: many refugee camps fall outside these areas.
Obstacles to justice
Broader definitions used in international law are stronger in prohibiting rape. Statutes and documents including the International Criminal Court Statute define all forms of SV as a crime against humanity, emphasising its seriousness. However, the burden of proof for a crime against humanity is extremely high, making it more difficult to prosecute.
Added to this is the way that SV in general, and rape in particular, has been defined. Early cases tried to establish lack of individual consent, rather than focusing more appropriately on the use of group force.
The practicalities of bringing prosecutions also face huge obstacles. Evidence is hard to gather. Witnesses and survivors usually have little access to justice structures: distance, poverty, and lack of knowledge are all factors. Many are terrified and ashamed, and face further threats from perpetrators and even families desperate not to have this ‘shame’ exposed.
Others have life-limiting injuries or illnesses such as HIV/AIDS as a result of their attack, restricting their ability to testify and constraining the time they have left—justice is a slow process. Post-conflict societies have deeply broken infrastructure, and in the chaos of rebuilding and potential regime change, seeking justice for a crime not seen as important can be almost impossible.
Recent progress
Despite these seeming difficulties, headway has been made in prosecutions over the past few years. They are still few and far between, but they are a start. Cases in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda blazed a trail by prosecuting rape as torture (already a grave breach) and even as genocide (on the basis that its use sought to destroy entire communities or change the ethnic makeup of children born as a result of rape).
They recognised too that men could be victims of SV: important in seeking justice for unrecognised male victims and also in changing the perception that this is ‘just a women’s issue’. How witnesses are treated and the political will to push the issue have also seen progress: in March this year, military commanders in DRC signed a declaration aimed at ending the use of SV.1
For many thousands of victims this still makes no difference, but it is important to keep a broader view and be encouraged by what is being done. It is easy to question the point of these laws if they are so difficult to implement, but without them there is no hope of justice at all. There are no overnight solutions, but legal frameworks are a starting point for ending impunity. Twenty-five years ago this issue was not even on the agenda of international security and peacekeeping discussions: things are moving forward.
Caring for survivors
Progress has also been made in treating survivors, although their lives will never be the same again. For many, they are too far away, too injured, too ashamed to seek medical help. However, for those who can, places such as survivors’ refuges and the Panzi hospital2 in Bukavu, run by Dr Denis Mukwege, are a lifeline.In countries like DRC, much of the work with survivors and their communities is done by faith leaders and organisations. Agencies such as UNAIDS have recognised faith organisations as the doorway to reaching communities at risk, particularly in remote regions.
Faith organisations’ role
As just one example, the Anglican Church of Congo has set up holistic trauma ministries, providing love, food, medical care, counselling, and skills training to those affected by the war, including SV survivors, ex-combatants, and children born of rape. They are working with Flame International on a ten-year programme to train all their leaders in supporting rape survivors.
The role of peacemaking is crucial: Rev Bisoke Balikenga, Provincial Youth Worker for the Anglican Church of Congo, says: ‘It is the problem of having conflict which let many people to create violence and others are raping because of not liking others. The Church is really helping by reconciling people and tribes.’
Rev Désiré Mukanirwa Kadorho, Development Coordinator and Vicar of Goma, eastern DRC, adds: ‘Church leaders had taken actions and look for solutions for putting an end on sexual violence and war and conflicts. The church work hand in hand with people involved in human rights and whoever is caught needs to be in jail and be sanctioned according to the law.’
What can the global church do?
Will we ever stop the use of SV in conflict? Probably not. However, we can vastly reduce its strategic use and the impunity of perpetrators. It is vital not to look only to national and international governmental bodies to tackle this.
Faith institutions are the largest civil society organisations globally: we have more influence than we sometimes realise. These are just a few Christian organisations working on the issue of SV in conflict:
However, one does not have to be a celebrity or politician to have influence. Every citizen who has a vote has a voice, and as we collectively raise the profile of this problem, we influence our governments to act:
Endnotes
1 http://www.refworld.org/topic,50ffbce4c9,50ffbce410e,552281c94,0,,,.html
2 http://www.panzihospital.org/
3 http://www.healafrica.org/
4 http://www.flameinternational.org/
5 http://www.wewillspeakout.org/
Olivia Jackson has worked in mission and human rights since 1999, serving in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Having previously worked as Regional Manager for Asia at CMS, she is now a freelance writer and speaker, focusing on social justice and human rights law, in particular how they affect women and children. She has also made several short films on these issues.
Hispanic and Asian North American Theologians TogetherAllen Yeh and Octavio Javier Esqueda
The racial discourse in North America has traditionally been just black and white. However, Hispanics and Asians are the two fastest growing minority groups in the United States, and Asia and Latin America are the two continents with the closest geographical proximity to North America: the southern border of the United States abuts Mexico, and the Bering Strait—from the western end of Alaska to the eastern tip of Asia—is only about 50 miles wide.
Peter Cha’s initiative
The history of this consultation is as unique as the premise of the meeting itself. In 2009, Dr Peter Cha, a professor of Pastoral Theology at TEDS, received a large faculty-led Initiatives Grant from the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at TEDS. Instead of using the funds for his own research, as most scholars do, he decided to break the norm and think collaboratively.
He used the grant money to bring together 115 Asian-American Christian leaders for the Asian North American (ANA) Theology and Ministry Consultation at TEDS in 2009. It was self-consciously a consultation (not a conference), where everyone contributed. Consultations provide an excellent model for gatherings among diverse groups because all participants are able to express their opinions and also listen to different perspectives.
Cha procured another Henry Center grant four years later, but this time he expanded the consultation to include Hispanics, and thus HANA was born. Cha enlisted the help of Dr Juan Martinez (Associate Provost of Fuller Theological Seminary), Dr Linda Cannell (former Dean of North Park Seminary and former Professor of Education at Trinity and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), and Armida Belmonte Stephens (a PhD candidate at Trinity, and adjunct instructor at North Park University and Theological Seminary) as co-planners and co-facilitators.
HANA consultationThe HANA consultation brought together for the first time Hispanic and Asian pastors and theologians (30 from each group) to find commonalities and theologize together, framed by two key questions:
The track sessions were each co-led by a scholar and a practitioner. This was in keeping with the holistic philosophy behind the invitations being extended to both theologians and pastors—that head and hands should not be separated. There are not many opportunities for theologians and practitioners to interact and learn from each other. This consultation thus provides a helpful model for other groups around the world. A rich learning experience takes place when believers across ethnic, linguistic, and ministry settings come together to learn from each other.
The tracks were all working groups involving Hispanic and Asian participants in dialogue with each other. Whereas the plenary sessions were foundational starting points, the real work was being done within tracks, to create new knowledge and creative synergy between the two groups.
The tracks went beyond history, theology, and pastoral ministry, exploring new areas found within communities which have struggled and suffered. These included social justice, how to bridge generational divides due to migration, and how to mobilize the laity for ministry given the paucity of formally trained clergy. HANA faculty members also struggle to find a balance between their academic duties and their service to their faith communities in different ways from their colleagues who come from individualistic cultures.
Four main themes
The main four themes that guided the conversations during the four days of this consultation wereChristian fellowship, a biblical practice of lament, a biblical practice of hope, and gospel partnership. These themes are relevant to all groups, which although diverse regarding culture and language, share the core values of the Christian faith. Often diverse groups focus on their differences and miss the profound commonalities they have both culturally and in Christ.
Hispanic and Asian American leaders were able to enjoy and celebrate the profound Christian fellowship that transcends social barriers and to experience ways in which they can encourage their own faith communities to seek opportunities to do the same.
It is rare to be able to experience together singing in different music styles, but worshipping the same Lord; praying in different languages and tones of voice, but to the same Father; and eating different kinds of food, but with gratitude to the same good God. Music, language, and food are essential elements of cultural identity that can be shared, appreciated, and valued within the Christian community. This consultation provided the space for this opportunity. Other groups around the world could follow this model of interaction.
Lament and hope
The important biblical teachings of lament and hope are two essential elements of the Christian experience that resonate with Asian-Americans and Hispanics. In North America and other Western contexts, success and happiness are perceived as values to be pursued and celebrated, while sorrow and lament are experiences that need to be avoided and silenced.
However, a more holistic expression of our faith should include our lament and longing for a better future based on our blessed hope in Christ. For example, Hispanics commonly use the term ‘mañana’ (tomorrow) as an eschatological expression of hope and deliverance from present sorrows and difficulties. It was particularly helpful that all participants spent one full day sharing their stories of lament because often Christians have a tendency to rush through sorrow and mourning.
Another full day of reflections on the blessed hope believers have provided an extraordinary complement to the previous day. Christian groups which wish to hold similar consultations among diverse groups should realize that a good investment of time is required in order to reach deep levels of community sharing when dealing with intense emotional longings like lament and hope.1
Pilgrim people
Outlook
There is also an understanding that Hispanics and Asians are merely two groups within the multiplicity of people that God has formed, and we are not theologizing and ministering in isolation but within a wider redemptive context of God’s work in this world. Other groups around the world face similar issues and can benefit from consultations like HANA. In this case, it was the initiative of one person with a vision that launched a movement that brought together HANA leaders for the first time and that continues growing in different areas. Leaders around the world could learn from this movement and create their own initiatives.
The next HANA consultation is being planned for June 2016 in Los Angeles, and it will involve a similar format. The same people will be re-invited, but there will also be an effort to recruit new voices and perspectives as well.
Broader links
The Asian-American Christian community is also engaging in some unprecedented initiatives with other ethnic communities.
ISAAC (the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity), organized by Young Lee Hertig, has had six annual Symposiums, including for the first time African-Americans last year. This was a historic bilateral gathering between African-American and Asian-American Christian leaders. HANA and ISAAC have different missions (the former exists to serve the academy by way of the church, and the latter is more to equip the church via scholars), but both are built on dialogue between scholars and pastors. It is exciting to see Asian-Americans working together with Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans in theology and ministry.
The AAPI (Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders) Faith Alliance was born last year out of the KCCD (Korean Churches for Community Development), organized by Hyepin Im. The KCCD had held six ‘Lighting the Community’ Summits, always involving Korean-Americans and always in Los Angeles. Last year, due to an unprecedented invitation from the White House to dialogue about racial and faith issues, the KCCD expanded to create the AAPI and held its seventh summit in Washington DC to coincide with the White House event.
Black Christian leaders have been invited to the White House in the past, and so have Hispanic Christian leaders. When Asian Christian leaders were finally invited last year for the first time, the previous marginalization and underrepresentation of Asian-Americans in the public/political/media sphere made this event historic.
HANA, ISAAC, and AAPI Faith Alliance represent new directions of intersectionality for Asian-American Christian leaders, which should bear much fruit in the future. These are hopeful trajectories for the church at large.
Endnotes
1 An on-the-ground blog, hosted by the Henry Center’s Sapientia site, was written by Jennifer Aycock as the events unfolded in real time. Her unedited and unfiltered perspective can be seen here: http://henrycenter.tiu.edu/author/jennifer-aycock/page/2/. For a more complete and academic perspective, consult the current issue of the online Common Ground Journal atwww.commongroundjournal.org (Vol 12, No 1, Spring 2015) authored by some of the HANA track leaders.
* Editor’s Note: Featured image used with permission from Trinity International University Newsroom. See original source athttp://news.tiu.edu/2013/06/24/teds-hosts-historic-hana-consultation/.
Allen Yeh is a professor in the Cook School of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. He has been a missionary in several countries in Latin America and Asia.
Octavio Javier Esqueda is a professor in the doctoral programs in educational studies at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He was born and raised in Guadalajara, México. He has several publications on theological education, Christian higher education, and literature.
What We Call the Edge, God Calls the Center
Stephan BaumanSurprising change agents
When my wife and two sons said goodbye to our friends in Kigali, Rwanda, a country where we had lived for nearly two years, we chose to fly home the long way—through Asia. A day after arriving in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, we drove beyond the frenetic city through a patchwork of rice patties to a cluster of villages only an hour away.
A group of smiling children led us up the wooden steps of a home. Inside, on a plank floor covered with woven carpets, we met three children, their parents, and a radiant grandmother. Smiling, we told them how our Rwandan friends instructed us to ‘greet them with our teeth’. As we did, the room lit up with laughter, each returning the favor. Then the grandmother drew attention to her mouth, her smile enveloping her eyes as she pointed to her only tooth. We all joined in for another round of laughter.
After the exchange of greetings, we sang praise songs in Khmer. Someone read the Bible. We listened as they told stories about their work to help stem HIV/AIDS in their village; and we prayed together.
Then a woman in her 30s carefully slipped through the open door. She had come from a friend who was sick with HIV. She told us how she had administered medicine two days before. Then she began to cry. ‘I visited her again last night but she was getting worse. All I could do was pray’, she said, fearing her friend’s death. ‘I am late because I have just come from her. Today she is talking and walking! I am so happy’, she said, tears streaming down her face. ‘God has healed her!’
What impacted me most about the people I met in Cambodia is this: the change I witnessed was exclusively led by people many would consider vulnerable, helpless, or even victims.
Suffering people
If you have ever been to Cambodia, you know how its 12 million people have suffered. Cambodia’s child mortality rates are alarmingly high and most Cambodians live in rural areas with inadequate access to education, water, financial services, or medical care. In addition, Cambodia has one of the highest HIV infection rates in all of Asia.
Way of Hope genesis
Years ago my colleagues in Cambodia pioneered a community banking initiative which is now a separate institution serving in excess of 35,000 families. In its early days, when parents were gathering in groups to borrow money and repay their loans, their children had nothing to do. So one of our staff members started a community health evangelism (CHE) project for children.
Their health significantly improved and many children chose to follow Jesus. Their parents began to ask why their children were so much better off. They, too, began to change their health practices and follow Jesus. In response, my colleagues organized the adults into small groups which, much to their surprise, gave way to a cell church movement which they now call Way of Hope in Khmer.
Today Way of Hope is a movement of 12,000 Cambodian Christ followers, organized into more than 1,000 cell churches, reaching out to children and families in more than 170 villages in five provinces. Its members emphasize prayer and worship, local ownership, child participation, and service. Volunteer leaders do not, as a norm, have a high level of education; some are illiterate. Participation, storytelling, and interactive methods are used to overcome these barriers.
Way of Hope members meet underneath homes built on stilts:
For us, church means a group of people in the community where people can meet, can talk about God’s word—not only on Sunday. So our church is that we want them to come together, five people or ten people. Our church is a church with no walls.1
Lessons learned
Way of Hope taught me something essential about church, community, and change—I still reflect on what I have learned from my Cambodian friends. Way of Hope moves beyond an instrumental, or utilitarian, ecclesiology. In para-church circles, it is common to view the church primarily as a means to end, as a vehicle to serve the poor and oppressed.
However, my Khmer friends believe the church is also the goal of mission—‘in constant need of repentance and conversion’ to become all it is meant to be.2, 3 Way of Hope views church as both a vehicle of mission in reaching out to the greater community, and an object of mission for renewal, discipleship, and worship. The cells are little communities of hope incarnating the presence of Christ into the pressing problems of the rural Cambodian landscape.
Way of Hope also breaks through common dichotomies. The cells emphasize both word and deed expressions of the gospel, not merely alongside each other, but rather in an integrated, interdependent fashion.4 To be a cell member is to worship and to worship is to reach out. Also, its leadership includes female volunteers, very few of whom are formally trained for the ministry, but who are deeply engaged in the community. By moving beyond male/female and clergy/laity dichotomies, the cells empower not only those closest to the needs, but also those who feel most called to serve.
Lastly, Way of Hope moves beyond working ‘on behalf of the poor’ to allowing the poor to become their own agents of change. Too often, well-intentioned outsiders seek to work ‘for the poor’ or even ‘with the poor’, but in so doing, snuff out local initiative. Such a posture, and corresponding models, can further entrench poverty, especially the form of poverty that results when our friends feel inferior.5 Ministry ‘by the poor’ within their own communities transforms from the inside out. Ownership is greater, and therefore sustainability is too. Way of Hope invites the poor, those marginalized and usually considered to be on the periphery, to the center to become actors in solving their own problems.
Wider impact
Last year, some of my colleagues from World Relief took several visitors to the Kandal Province, about an hour’s drive south of Phnom Penh. In one remote area, the village chiefs kept mentioning how different things were ‘since Jesus came to our villages’. My colleagues wondered whether these community leaders had become believers.
It turned out that some had, but most had not. However, they were adamant: ‘Since Jesus came to our villages, our children are healthier, AIDS-affected families are being cared for, there are fewer community problems, and people are getting along with each other better.’ My friends asked how they knew that Jesus did these things. They were puzzled by the question, because it seemed obvious to them. ‘You should know. You are the Jesus organization’, they said. ‘When Jesus came, everything changed!’6
Often I am drawn to well-known churches around the world. These movements are well-resourced; some are famous. Most are led by exceptional people—persuasive, insightful, and well-connected leaders, some of whom are friends. Along with so many, I am indebted to them.
However, I have learned more from movements like Way of Hope. They renew the essence of church for me. Church is not ultimately about resources or education or even theology, even though these are important. Church is about people living out the presence of Jesus, together, in community.
Of course none of this is new. Jesus sparked change from a corner of the world that was marginal at best, if not immaterial, in his day. He pulled together a motley group of followers with little resources to speak of and changed the course of history from a rural base. What most considered the edge, God called the center.
Way of Hope is not known by many. However, across the world in Cambodia, God continues to light a fire of passion among a beautiful group of people. There are no buildings to speak of except the lavish hospitality in thousands of small homes. The budget is small and there are no famous names. However, just as happened in Galilee in the first century, these Khmer disciples are inspiring people like me who long for a renewed vision of church in a world increasingly thirsty for the real thing.
1 Based on an interview with a Way of Hope provincial leader, September 2007.
2 See for example: P Harper and P L Metzger, Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2009).
3 Ecclesia semper reformanda from David Bosch, Transforming Mission (New York: Maryknoll Orbis, 1991).
4 Micah Declaration on Integral Mission, developed at the Micah Network consultation on Integral Mission held in Oxford, September 2001.
5 Bryant Myers, Jayakumar Christian, and others tackle this subject by identifying ‘poverty of being’ and ‘poverty of vocation’ as the deepest and worst forms of poverty. See Walking with the Poor (New York: Maryknoll Orbis, 1999).
6 Interview with Tim Amstutz, World Relief Country Director in Cambodia, in 2013.
Stephan Bauman is President and CEO of World Relief, which empowers the worldwide church to overcome global poverty and injustice. He is the author of Possible: A Blueprint For Changing How We Change the World.
The Earth is the Lord’s!
Dion ForsterA global economic challenge
Could you survive on less than USD $2 a day? The USD $2 threshold is regarded as the extreme poverty line across the world. The reality is that 1.2 billion people (approximately 1 in 6 people) in the world live in extreme poverty (that is, on less that USD $2 a day), while 870 million people worldwide are undernourished.1
MDGs
In the face of this reality, leaders from all 189 nations in 2000 endorsed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).2 The intention was to halve global poverty by 2015 through the achievement of eight specific goals that ranged from universal primary education, adequate health care, environmental sustainability, to addressing poverty and hunger.3 While a great deal has been achieved since then, the reality is that we are nowhere near reaching the target.4
Initially substantial strides were made towards goals such as universal primary education and addressing mother and infant mortality. Other goals such as environmental sustainability, gender equality, and global partnership for development were less easy to address. By 2010 it became clear that a lot more would need to be done if we were to reach the MDG of halving extreme poverty by 2015. The early ‘victories’ were over and now some of the tougher challenges remained.
CorruptionIt was time for the global economic powers to start facing the truth. What were the sources of poverty around the world? Why was it that wealthy individuals and societies grew richer, while poor individuals and societies were becoming increasingly poor? One of the startling realisations was that a significant contributor to global poverty was corruption.5
While most of us may associate corruption with despotic leaders in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, it soon became clear that the largest contributors to corruption in an increasingly globalizing world are not corrupt majority world politicians,6 but rather the economic and political leaders from the nations out of which, and to which, most of the world’s money flows. Global poverty was largely a result of global corruption, and global corruption was largely sustained through unfair, unjust, and illegal business practices.7 In the context of this discussion we understand corruption to be the abuse of power by individuals or groups (which might include the abuse of economic or political power) for unjust gain for themselves or their group/community.8
A Christian story
The matter of poverty is of great significance within the Christian faith. We are a people who serve a loving and just God. We believe that God’s love extends to all people and all of the earth—‘the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world’.10
This is beautifully captured in Psalm 24:1: ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein’ (ESV). Indeed, God’s goodness is not just for our spiritual lives; it is intended to be good news for all of how and who we are. Neither is it only good news for part of the earth, or only for some persons on the planet.11
The Christian Scriptures focus significantly on issues of social justice. As a result, most churches, ecumenical movements, and communions show a strong commitment to issues of social justice in their work and witness.12 Prominent Christian theologians, such as Jurgen Moltmann13 and Stanley Hauerwas14, contend that the very nature of the Christian faith, with its emphasis on justice, has clear social, economic, and political ramifications. These have been embodied over the past century in the church’s active engagement in social movements such as the civil rights movement in the USA and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. When people flourish, God is honoured.
Evangelism and social justice
Theologically, the debate has at times been polarised between evangelism and social justice in the ministry and mission of the church.15 Some have contended that the primary role of the church is to bring persons to faith (evangelism), while others have contended that it is to work for a world that reflects the values of the kingdom of God (such as justice, equality, peace, and flourishing).
The latter position contends that the Christian faith (which still is the world’s largest religious grouping) is more credible when the church has a consistent witness that fosters the good of all humanity across the world. Surely if the planet is substantially Christian, the world should reflect the will and values of God?
A notable example of such an integration of evangelical commitment and social justice is to be found in the life and witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.16 Living as a Christian in Germany during the rise of the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer found it increasingly important to take a stand against injustice, particularly that meted out to Jews, as a witness to the core of his faith conviction. This ultimately led to his imprisonment and death at the hands of the Nazis. Bonhoeffer followed in a long line of martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the transformation of society because of their faith convictions.
Perhaps these two foci should not be binaries, but go hand in hand. It might just be, as Tim Keller suggests, that a true encounter with God’s grace makes us more just, and that as we become more just, people are attracted to the God of grace.17 We read the following direct command in Isaiah 1:17: ‘Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause’ (ESV).
EXPOSED – Shining a light on corruption
It was into this context that the Christian anti-corruption campaign ‘EXPOSED – Shining a light on corruption’ was launched in October 2012:18
EXPOSED is a global call to action against corruption which is both a cause and consequence of poverty. It is a response of the Christian church inspired from the Bible and is committed to promote practical steps for ethical behaviour in business, government, the church, and society as a whole. It aims to position Christians as advocates and practitioners of justice and transformation in the nations we are called to serve.19
Jim Wallis, one of the supporters and endorsers of the campaign, summed up the understanding that shaped the campaign’s intentions:
Many of us feel that our faith has been stolen, and it’s time to take it back. In particular, an enormous public misrepresentation of Christianity has taken place. And because of an almost uniform media misperception, many people around the world now think Christian faith stands for political commitments that are almost the opposite of its true meaning . . . That rescue operation is even more crucial today, in the face of a deepening social crisis that cries out for more prophetic religion.20
In order to achieve this goal, the EXPOSED campaign aimed to engage with Christians in 100 countries, enabling them to take public action against corruption during the campaign week in October 2013.21 The stated intention was to involve approximately 100 million people in these 100 countries to:
If we believe that the earth is the Lord’s, everything in it, and all who dwell in it (Psalm 24:1), then we need to take issues such as poverty and corruption seriously. It is clear that they matter to God (see for example Micah 6:8); so they should also matter to us.25
The challenge for evangelical Christians around the world is not only to preach good news, but to be good news in our communities, in our places of work, and in the church.
You can start by taking some time to read what the Bible has to say about poverty and corruption—download and read 30 Pieces of Silver, a resource produced by the Bible Society and used throughout the world.[26] Also take the time to see where your nation ranks on the Transparency International or Tax Justice Network global rankings. Pray and ask God to show you what you can do in your local community, and then bring together some other sisters and brothers in Christ and act. Together God can use us to make a significant difference in the world. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.’
Endnotes
1 Karen Charlton, ‘Life below the poverty line: lessons from eating on $2 a day’, 2014, http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1874/. And Greg Thompson and John Langmore, ‘Global Poverty: The Challenge Remains’, St Mark’s Review, no 214, 2010.
2 In 2000 there were 189 nations represented at the United Nations. There are currently 193 nations. You can read more about the eight commitments at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/. The original resolution can be found athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Millennium_Declaration
3 Editor’s Note: See article by Joel Edwards and Geoff Tunnicliffe entitled ‘Micah Challenge International: A voice of evangelical advocacy’ in the March 2015 issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.
4 Jennifer Requejo and Jennifer Bryce, ‘Countdown to 2015 decade report (2000-2010) with country profiles. Taking stock of maternal newborn and child survival’, 2010, http://www.popline.org/node/210295.
5 Sanjeev Gupta, Hamid Davoodi, and Rosa Alonso-Terme, ‘Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty?’ Economics of Governance, vol 3, no 1, 2002.
6 This does not mean that these forms of corruption are insignificant or unimportant. Corruption in all forms is unacceptable and must be addressed and eradicated.
7 Gupta, Davoodi, and Alonso-Terme, ‘Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty?’
8 The Oxford English Dictionary defines corruption as ‘dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery’. However, within the context of the EXPOSED campaign, we adopted a broader view of corruption which we believe is more in keeping with a biblical worldview: that corrupt activities arise from a corrupted nature. For example, greed may lead an individual or group to exploit others to gain excessive wealth or power. In particular we understood that even if something is legal in a certain country, it does not necessarily mean that it is not corrupt.
9 Sebastian Edwards. Toxic Aid: Economic Collapse and Recovery in Tanzania (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
10 Lausanne Movement, ‘Calling the Whole Church to Take the Whole Gospel to the Whole World’, 1989. And Christopher J H Wright, ‘Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World’, Christianity Today, vol 53, no 10, 2009.
11 James H Cone, ‘Whose earth is it anyway?’ Cross Currents, vol 50, no 1-2, 2000.
12 Michael D Palmer and Stanley M Burgess, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2012), 64.
13 Jurgen Moltmann, The Politics of Discipleship and Discipleship in Politics: Jurgen Moltmann Lectures in Dialogue with Mennonite Scholars (Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006), 24-29.
14 Stanley Hauerwas, Approaching the End: Eschatological Reflection on Church, Politics, and Life (United Kingdom: SCM Press, 2014), 80-83.
15 Editor’s Note: See article by Steve Haas entitled ‘All of Me: Engaging a world of poverty and injustice’ in the January 2015 issue ofLausanne Global Analysis.
16 Palmer and Burgess, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice, 64-65.
17 Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010), ch 1, 7.
18 You can read more about the EXPOSED campaign and join tens of thousands of Christians from 153 countries around the world in taking a stand against corruption at http://www.exposedcampaign.com.
19 Amanda Jackson, Tom Baker, and Dion Forster, ‘EXPOSED Policy and Campaign Overview’ (2012), 1.
20 Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get it (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2006), 3-4.
21 Jackson, Baker, and Dion, ‘EXPOSED Policy and Campaign Overview’, 5.
22 For information on the Global Call, see 1 in a Million, http://www.exposedcampaign.com/one-in-a-million, accessed 16 April 2014.
23 For more information on the Global Vigils, see Prayer Vigils, http://www.exposedcampaign.com/prayer-vigils, accessed 16 April 2014.
24 For more information on the EXPOSED toolkits and other resources, see http://www.exposedcampaign.com/resources, accessed 16 April 2014.
25 Editor’s Note: See article by David Bennett entitled ‘Integrity, the Lausanne Movement, and a Malaysian Daniel’ in the January 2015 issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.
26 Rachel Rounds, ‘Christians are being encouraged to take a fresh look at corruption and justice throughout Lent’, Bible Society, 6 March 2014, http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/thirty-pieces-of-silver/, accessed 16 April 2014.
* Editor’s Note: Featured image is modified from ‘On the Top of the Hill, San Martin de Porres, Lima’ by Geraint Rowland (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Dion Forster teaches on the faculty of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, in Systematic Theology, Ethics, and Public Theology. He serves as the international chairman of ‘EXPOSED – Shining a light on corruption’. For more information, please see http://www.dionforster.com.
July 2015 · Volume 4 / Issue 4
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Reports on Recent Gatherings
2015 Global Diaspora Forum
24-28 March 2015 · Manila, Philippines
by Sadiri Joy Tira, Senior Associate for Diasporas
Lausanne Consultation on Disability Concerns: Ministry Access
21 February 2015 · Agoura Hills, California, USA
David Deuel, Senior Associate for Disability Concerns
Lausanne Consultation on Children at Risk
17-20 November 2014 · Quito, Ecuador
by Dave Scott on behalf of the Lausanne Consultation on Children at Risk Team
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Upcoming Gatherings
Tenth International Conference on Jewish Evangelism
16-21 August 2015 · Israel
Creation Care and the Gospel Conference: Latin America
08-12 September 2015 · Cuzco, Peru
Global Integrity Network Gathering 2015
19-20 October 2015 · Hong Kong
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Updates and News
Lausanne Movement Launches ‘Health in Mission’ Issue Network to Connect Health Influencers for Global Mission
The Cape Town Commitment on Disordered Sexuality
Michael Oh, Executive Director/CEO
Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians Envision Reconciliation
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Highlights from the Content Library
Atibaia Statement on Prosperity Theology
Recommendations from the Lausanne Global Consultation on Prosperity Theology, Poverty and the Gospel
April 2014 · Atibaia, Brazil
Women in Lausanne
Leslie Segraves, Senior Associate for Partnership of Men and Women at Lausanne's 40th Anniversary Celebration
May 2014 · Vevey, Switzerland
Christ Our Reconciler
Ed: J E M Cameron
Based on presentations made at the Third Lausanne Congress in 2010, this book pulls together substance from some of the finest evangelical thinkers from around the world.
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___________________________
Latest from the Lausanne Global Analysis
Sexual Violence in War
Olivia Jackson
Undermining communities
The changing nature of armed conflict means that most casualties in modern conflicts are civilians. The days of a defined battlefield are gone. Access to civilians provides a direct means of undermining whole communities: once violated, women and girls are dead, injured, scattered, traumatised. Some may go on to bear their attackers’ children, or live with HIV. Added to this are cultural notions of shame and honour, meaning women can be permanently ostracised. If survivors flee, they are even more vulnerable as refugees.
- The use of sexual violence (SV) has become a specific tactic in modern conflict: wars are being fought using women’s bodies as battlegrounds.
History
Records of the use of SV in war stretch back millennia. Rogue soldiers have long faced prosecution for SV (at least on paper), but its intentional and strategic mass use, commanded by senior officers, has only recently begun to be recognised by the international community.
International response
When the world’s media exposed the mass rape of women—and some men—in the 1990s Balkans conflict, prosecutions started moving forward as part of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. However, of an estimated 50,000 rapes, there were just over 60 successful prosecutions.
Since then, both the perpetration and legal framing of SV has been under intense scrutiny, most notably in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, and DRC. It has been the subject of the 2008 UN Resolution 1820, and the UN Secretary General has appointed a Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Why then the high levels of impunity, especially among those responsible for ordering the atrocities?
Geneva Conventions shortcomings
While national laws vary widely, the basic legal frameworks in international law concerning war are increasingly dated. Rape is mentioned in all the major documents, but these were laws written primarily about combatants, not civilians, and where SV is mentioned, it is framed as the (male) authors perceived it, not how women experience it.
- In 2012, it was estimated that 1.8 million women and girls in DRC have been raped, many by government forces and armed militias.
Note the wording: attacks ‘on their honour’ (in other articles, ‘outrages against personal dignity’), belying the horrific violence, akin to torture, that women actually experience. It also implies that, if a woman’s ‘honour’ has been attacked, there is stigma attached to being a victim.
Where the Geneva Conventions prohibit violence to life and person, cruel treatment and torture, and humiliating and degrading treatment, it is not made explicit that SV will fall within these categories. It has thus traditionally been viewed as less serious: what men experience in war is torture; what women experience is an attack on their honour. Bringing prosecutions in this context, in the chaos of a post-conflict society, means that SV has often been downgraded or overlooked.
2013 Declaration
One of the measures in the G8 2013 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, led by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, rectifies this by specifically mentioning rape as a ‘grave breach’ of the Geneva Conventions. Significantly, any grave breach obliges all signatories to the Conventions to pursue those who have committed the crimes (or ordered them to be committed) and indict them.
This requires no UN Security Council or International Criminal Court involvement, theoretically speeding up the process and providing imperative. It means that potentially an aid or mission worker could report rape of civilians in conflict zones to their own government, which would be compelled to investigate.
Unfortunately, ‘grave breaches’ are only applicable in conflict zones: many refugee camps fall outside these areas.
Obstacles to justice
Broader definitions used in international law are stronger in prohibiting rape. Statutes and documents including the International Criminal Court Statute define all forms of SV as a crime against humanity, emphasising its seriousness. However, the burden of proof for a crime against humanity is extremely high, making it more difficult to prosecute.
Added to this is the way that SV in general, and rape in particular, has been defined. Early cases tried to establish lack of individual consent, rather than focusing more appropriately on the use of group force.
The practicalities of bringing prosecutions also face huge obstacles. Evidence is hard to gather. Witnesses and survivors usually have little access to justice structures: distance, poverty, and lack of knowledge are all factors. Many are terrified and ashamed, and face further threats from perpetrators and even families desperate not to have this ‘shame’ exposed.
Others have life-limiting injuries or illnesses such as HIV/AIDS as a result of their attack, restricting their ability to testify and constraining the time they have left—justice is a slow process. Post-conflict societies have deeply broken infrastructure, and in the chaos of rebuilding and potential regime change, seeking justice for a crime not seen as important can be almost impossible.
Recent progress
Despite these seeming difficulties, headway has been made in prosecutions over the past few years. They are still few and far between, but they are a start. Cases in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda blazed a trail by prosecuting rape as torture (already a grave breach) and even as genocide (on the basis that its use sought to destroy entire communities or change the ethnic makeup of children born as a result of rape).
They recognised too that men could be victims of SV: important in seeking justice for unrecognised male victims and also in changing the perception that this is ‘just a women’s issue’. How witnesses are treated and the political will to push the issue have also seen progress: in March this year, military commanders in DRC signed a declaration aimed at ending the use of SV.1
For many thousands of victims this still makes no difference, but it is important to keep a broader view and be encouraged by what is being done. It is easy to question the point of these laws if they are so difficult to implement, but without them there is no hope of justice at all. There are no overnight solutions, but legal frameworks are a starting point for ending impunity. Twenty-five years ago this issue was not even on the agenda of international security and peacekeeping discussions: things are moving forward.
Caring for survivors
Progress has also been made in treating survivors, although their lives will never be the same again. For many, they are too far away, too injured, too ashamed to seek medical help. However, for those who can, places such as survivors’ refuges and the Panzi hospital2 in Bukavu, run by Dr Denis Mukwege, are a lifeline.In countries like DRC, much of the work with survivors and their communities is done by faith leaders and organisations. Agencies such as UNAIDS have recognised faith organisations as the doorway to reaching communities at risk, particularly in remote regions.
Faith organisations’ role
As just one example, the Anglican Church of Congo has set up holistic trauma ministries, providing love, food, medical care, counselling, and skills training to those affected by the war, including SV survivors, ex-combatants, and children born of rape. They are working with Flame International on a ten-year programme to train all their leaders in supporting rape survivors.
The role of peacemaking is crucial: Rev Bisoke Balikenga, Provincial Youth Worker for the Anglican Church of Congo, says: ‘It is the problem of having conflict which let many people to create violence and others are raping because of not liking others. The Church is really helping by reconciling people and tribes.’
Rev Désiré Mukanirwa Kadorho, Development Coordinator and Vicar of Goma, eastern DRC, adds: ‘Church leaders had taken actions and look for solutions for putting an end on sexual violence and war and conflicts. The church work hand in hand with people involved in human rights and whoever is caught needs to be in jail and be sanctioned according to the law.’
What can the global church do?
Will we ever stop the use of SV in conflict? Probably not. However, we can vastly reduce its strategic use and the impunity of perpetrators. It is vital not to look only to national and international governmental bodies to tackle this.
- In countries like DRC, much of the work with survivors and their communities is done by faith leaders and organisations. Agencies such as UNAIDS have recognised faith organisations as the doorway to reaching communities at risk, particularly in remote regions.
Faith institutions are the largest civil society organisations globally: we have more influence than we sometimes realise. These are just a few Christian organisations working on the issue of SV in conflict:
- Heal Africa3 provides holistic medical care and social support to SV survivors in DRC. Its Make An Impactpage has ideas on how to get involved.
- Flame International4 is a UK-based charity that takes teams of volunteers into war-torn and suffering communities with God’s love and compassion for the broken. Its Participate page will tell you how to join them in making a difference.
- We Will Speak Out5 is a faith-based coalition which works to end SV globally. See if there is a national coalition in your country, or look through their resources to see what you can do.
However, one does not have to be a celebrity or politician to have influence. Every citizen who has a vote has a voice, and as we collectively raise the profile of this problem, we influence our governments to act:
- Write to your government representative. Even better, get a group together to do so.
- Start work locally: SV is a problem confronting churches globally, despite being a taboo subject; so work to make sure your own church is a safe place for survivors and the vulnerable. This article has covered the use of SV in war, but that is only ever a continuation of SV and oppressive attitudes towards women in peacetime. As a church, we have a responsibility to influence these cultural norms.
Endnotes
1 http://www.refworld.org/topic,50ffbce4c9,50ffbce410e,552281c94,0,,,.html
2 http://www.panzihospital.org/
3 http://www.healafrica.org/
4 http://www.flameinternational.org/
5 http://www.wewillspeakout.org/
Olivia Jackson has worked in mission and human rights since 1999, serving in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Having previously worked as Regional Manager for Asia at CMS, she is now a freelance writer and speaker, focusing on social justice and human rights law, in particular how they affect women and children. She has also made several short films on these issues.
Hispanic and Asian North American Theologians TogetherAllen Yeh and Octavio Javier Esqueda
The racial discourse in North America has traditionally been just black and white. However, Hispanics and Asians are the two fastest growing minority groups in the United States, and Asia and Latin America are the two continents with the closest geographical proximity to North America: the southern border of the United States abuts Mexico, and the Bering Strait—from the western end of Alaska to the eastern tip of Asia—is only about 50 miles wide.
Peter Cha’s initiative
The history of this consultation is as unique as the premise of the meeting itself. In 2009, Dr Peter Cha, a professor of Pastoral Theology at TEDS, received a large faculty-led Initiatives Grant from the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at TEDS. Instead of using the funds for his own research, as most scholars do, he decided to break the norm and think collaboratively.
He used the grant money to bring together 115 Asian-American Christian leaders for the Asian North American (ANA) Theology and Ministry Consultation at TEDS in 2009. It was self-consciously a consultation (not a conference), where everyone contributed. Consultations provide an excellent model for gatherings among diverse groups because all participants are able to express their opinions and also listen to different perspectives.
Cha procured another Henry Center grant four years later, but this time he expanded the consultation to include Hispanics, and thus HANA was born. Cha enlisted the help of Dr Juan Martinez (Associate Provost of Fuller Theological Seminary), Dr Linda Cannell (former Dean of North Park Seminary and former Professor of Education at Trinity and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), and Armida Belmonte Stephens (a PhD candidate at Trinity, and adjunct instructor at North Park University and Theological Seminary) as co-planners and co-facilitators.
HANA consultationThe HANA consultation brought together for the first time Hispanic and Asian pastors and theologians (30 from each group) to find commonalities and theologize together, framed by two key questions:
- What lessons and insights could we share that might deepen each community’s theological reflections and strengthen its ministry of the gospel?
- In what significant ministries could both ecclesial communities partner with one another, locally and globally?
- The two communities explored common themes in their faith journeys, such as being profoundly shaped by their immigration histories (many HANA people are bilingual and bicultural) and cultural theologies.
The track sessions were each co-led by a scholar and a practitioner. This was in keeping with the holistic philosophy behind the invitations being extended to both theologians and pastors—that head and hands should not be separated. There are not many opportunities for theologians and practitioners to interact and learn from each other. This consultation thus provides a helpful model for other groups around the world. A rich learning experience takes place when believers across ethnic, linguistic, and ministry settings come together to learn from each other.
The tracks were all working groups involving Hispanic and Asian participants in dialogue with each other. Whereas the plenary sessions were foundational starting points, the real work was being done within tracks, to create new knowledge and creative synergy between the two groups.
The tracks went beyond history, theology, and pastoral ministry, exploring new areas found within communities which have struggled and suffered. These included social justice, how to bridge generational divides due to migration, and how to mobilize the laity for ministry given the paucity of formally trained clergy. HANA faculty members also struggle to find a balance between their academic duties and their service to their faith communities in different ways from their colleagues who come from individualistic cultures.
Four main themes
The main four themes that guided the conversations during the four days of this consultation wereChristian fellowship, a biblical practice of lament, a biblical practice of hope, and gospel partnership. These themes are relevant to all groups, which although diverse regarding culture and language, share the core values of the Christian faith. Often diverse groups focus on their differences and miss the profound commonalities they have both culturally and in Christ.
Hispanic and Asian American leaders were able to enjoy and celebrate the profound Christian fellowship that transcends social barriers and to experience ways in which they can encourage their own faith communities to seek opportunities to do the same.
It is rare to be able to experience together singing in different music styles, but worshipping the same Lord; praying in different languages and tones of voice, but to the same Father; and eating different kinds of food, but with gratitude to the same good God. Music, language, and food are essential elements of cultural identity that can be shared, appreciated, and valued within the Christian community. This consultation provided the space for this opportunity. Other groups around the world could follow this model of interaction.
Lament and hope
The important biblical teachings of lament and hope are two essential elements of the Christian experience that resonate with Asian-Americans and Hispanics. In North America and other Western contexts, success and happiness are perceived as values to be pursued and celebrated, while sorrow and lament are experiences that need to be avoided and silenced.
However, a more holistic expression of our faith should include our lament and longing for a better future based on our blessed hope in Christ. For example, Hispanics commonly use the term ‘mañana’ (tomorrow) as an eschatological expression of hope and deliverance from present sorrows and difficulties. It was particularly helpful that all participants spent one full day sharing their stories of lament because often Christians have a tendency to rush through sorrow and mourning.
Another full day of reflections on the blessed hope believers have provided an extraordinary complement to the previous day. Christian groups which wish to hold similar consultations among diverse groups should realize that a good investment of time is required in order to reach deep levels of community sharing when dealing with intense emotional longings like lament and hope.1
- The important biblical teachings of lament and hope are two essential elements of the Christian experience that resonate with Asian-Americans and Hispanics.
Pilgrim people
- Hispanics and Asians have a history of being ‘pilgrim people’. Thus some of the presentations and themes had an Old Testament Exodus flavor to them. Perhaps in this way, HANA peoples feel a close resonance with biblical Jewish culture. As the Israelites were called to ‘remember’ God’s work through them as a people called to be a light to the nations, so HANA peoples understand themselves as having a similar call and responsibility, not just to be but to speak and act.
Outlook
There is also an understanding that Hispanics and Asians are merely two groups within the multiplicity of people that God has formed, and we are not theologizing and ministering in isolation but within a wider redemptive context of God’s work in this world. Other groups around the world face similar issues and can benefit from consultations like HANA. In this case, it was the initiative of one person with a vision that launched a movement that brought together HANA leaders for the first time and that continues growing in different areas. Leaders around the world could learn from this movement and create their own initiatives.
The next HANA consultation is being planned for June 2016 in Los Angeles, and it will involve a similar format. The same people will be re-invited, but there will also be an effort to recruit new voices and perspectives as well.
Broader links
The Asian-American Christian community is also engaging in some unprecedented initiatives with other ethnic communities.
ISAAC (the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity), organized by Young Lee Hertig, has had six annual Symposiums, including for the first time African-Americans last year. This was a historic bilateral gathering between African-American and Asian-American Christian leaders. HANA and ISAAC have different missions (the former exists to serve the academy by way of the church, and the latter is more to equip the church via scholars), but both are built on dialogue between scholars and pastors. It is exciting to see Asian-Americans working together with Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans in theology and ministry.
The AAPI (Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders) Faith Alliance was born last year out of the KCCD (Korean Churches for Community Development), organized by Hyepin Im. The KCCD had held six ‘Lighting the Community’ Summits, always involving Korean-Americans and always in Los Angeles. Last year, due to an unprecedented invitation from the White House to dialogue about racial and faith issues, the KCCD expanded to create the AAPI and held its seventh summit in Washington DC to coincide with the White House event.
Black Christian leaders have been invited to the White House in the past, and so have Hispanic Christian leaders. When Asian Christian leaders were finally invited last year for the first time, the previous marginalization and underrepresentation of Asian-Americans in the public/political/media sphere made this event historic.
HANA, ISAAC, and AAPI Faith Alliance represent new directions of intersectionality for Asian-American Christian leaders, which should bear much fruit in the future. These are hopeful trajectories for the church at large.
Endnotes
1 An on-the-ground blog, hosted by the Henry Center’s Sapientia site, was written by Jennifer Aycock as the events unfolded in real time. Her unedited and unfiltered perspective can be seen here: http://henrycenter.tiu.edu/author/jennifer-aycock/page/2/. For a more complete and academic perspective, consult the current issue of the online Common Ground Journal atwww.commongroundjournal.org (Vol 12, No 1, Spring 2015) authored by some of the HANA track leaders.
* Editor’s Note: Featured image used with permission from Trinity International University Newsroom. See original source athttp://news.tiu.edu/2013/06/24/teds-hosts-historic-hana-consultation/.
Allen Yeh is a professor in the Cook School of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. He has been a missionary in several countries in Latin America and Asia.
Octavio Javier Esqueda is a professor in the doctoral programs in educational studies at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He was born and raised in Guadalajara, México. He has several publications on theological education, Christian higher education, and literature.
What We Call the Edge, God Calls the Center
Stephan BaumanSurprising change agents
When my wife and two sons said goodbye to our friends in Kigali, Rwanda, a country where we had lived for nearly two years, we chose to fly home the long way—through Asia. A day after arriving in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, we drove beyond the frenetic city through a patchwork of rice patties to a cluster of villages only an hour away.
A group of smiling children led us up the wooden steps of a home. Inside, on a plank floor covered with woven carpets, we met three children, their parents, and a radiant grandmother. Smiling, we told them how our Rwandan friends instructed us to ‘greet them with our teeth’. As we did, the room lit up with laughter, each returning the favor. Then the grandmother drew attention to her mouth, her smile enveloping her eyes as she pointed to her only tooth. We all joined in for another round of laughter.
After the exchange of greetings, we sang praise songs in Khmer. Someone read the Bible. We listened as they told stories about their work to help stem HIV/AIDS in their village; and we prayed together.
Then a woman in her 30s carefully slipped through the open door. She had come from a friend who was sick with HIV. She told us how she had administered medicine two days before. Then she began to cry. ‘I visited her again last night but she was getting worse. All I could do was pray’, she said, fearing her friend’s death. ‘I am late because I have just come from her. Today she is talking and walking! I am so happy’, she said, tears streaming down her face. ‘God has healed her!’
What impacted me most about the people I met in Cambodia is this: the change I witnessed was exclusively led by people many would consider vulnerable, helpless, or even victims.
Suffering people
If you have ever been to Cambodia, you know how its 12 million people have suffered. Cambodia’s child mortality rates are alarmingly high and most Cambodians live in rural areas with inadequate access to education, water, financial services, or medical care. In addition, Cambodia has one of the highest HIV infection rates in all of Asia.
- The change I witnessed was exclusively led by people many would consider vulnerable, helpless, or even victims.
Way of Hope genesis
Years ago my colleagues in Cambodia pioneered a community banking initiative which is now a separate institution serving in excess of 35,000 families. In its early days, when parents were gathering in groups to borrow money and repay their loans, their children had nothing to do. So one of our staff members started a community health evangelism (CHE) project for children.
Their health significantly improved and many children chose to follow Jesus. Their parents began to ask why their children were so much better off. They, too, began to change their health practices and follow Jesus. In response, my colleagues organized the adults into small groups which, much to their surprise, gave way to a cell church movement which they now call Way of Hope in Khmer.
Today Way of Hope is a movement of 12,000 Cambodian Christ followers, organized into more than 1,000 cell churches, reaching out to children and families in more than 170 villages in five provinces. Its members emphasize prayer and worship, local ownership, child participation, and service. Volunteer leaders do not, as a norm, have a high level of education; some are illiterate. Participation, storytelling, and interactive methods are used to overcome these barriers.
Way of Hope members meet underneath homes built on stilts:
For us, church means a group of people in the community where people can meet, can talk about God’s word—not only on Sunday. So our church is that we want them to come together, five people or ten people. Our church is a church with no walls.1
Lessons learned
Way of Hope taught me something essential about church, community, and change—I still reflect on what I have learned from my Cambodian friends. Way of Hope moves beyond an instrumental, or utilitarian, ecclesiology. In para-church circles, it is common to view the church primarily as a means to end, as a vehicle to serve the poor and oppressed.
However, my Khmer friends believe the church is also the goal of mission—‘in constant need of repentance and conversion’ to become all it is meant to be.2, 3 Way of Hope views church as both a vehicle of mission in reaching out to the greater community, and an object of mission for renewal, discipleship, and worship. The cells are little communities of hope incarnating the presence of Christ into the pressing problems of the rural Cambodian landscape.
Way of Hope also breaks through common dichotomies. The cells emphasize both word and deed expressions of the gospel, not merely alongside each other, but rather in an integrated, interdependent fashion.4 To be a cell member is to worship and to worship is to reach out. Also, its leadership includes female volunteers, very few of whom are formally trained for the ministry, but who are deeply engaged in the community. By moving beyond male/female and clergy/laity dichotomies, the cells empower not only those closest to the needs, but also those who feel most called to serve.
Lastly, Way of Hope moves beyond working ‘on behalf of the poor’ to allowing the poor to become their own agents of change. Too often, well-intentioned outsiders seek to work ‘for the poor’ or even ‘with the poor’, but in so doing, snuff out local initiative. Such a posture, and corresponding models, can further entrench poverty, especially the form of poverty that results when our friends feel inferior.5 Ministry ‘by the poor’ within their own communities transforms from the inside out. Ownership is greater, and therefore sustainability is too. Way of Hope invites the poor, those marginalized and usually considered to be on the periphery, to the center to become actors in solving their own problems.
Wider impact
Last year, some of my colleagues from World Relief took several visitors to the Kandal Province, about an hour’s drive south of Phnom Penh. In one remote area, the village chiefs kept mentioning how different things were ‘since Jesus came to our villages’. My colleagues wondered whether these community leaders had become believers.
It turned out that some had, but most had not. However, they were adamant: ‘Since Jesus came to our villages, our children are healthier, AIDS-affected families are being cared for, there are fewer community problems, and people are getting along with each other better.’ My friends asked how they knew that Jesus did these things. They were puzzled by the question, because it seemed obvious to them. ‘You should know. You are the Jesus organization’, they said. ‘When Jesus came, everything changed!’6
- The village chiefs kept mentioning how different things were ‘since Jesus came to our villages’.
Often I am drawn to well-known churches around the world. These movements are well-resourced; some are famous. Most are led by exceptional people—persuasive, insightful, and well-connected leaders, some of whom are friends. Along with so many, I am indebted to them.
However, I have learned more from movements like Way of Hope. They renew the essence of church for me. Church is not ultimately about resources or education or even theology, even though these are important. Church is about people living out the presence of Jesus, together, in community.
Of course none of this is new. Jesus sparked change from a corner of the world that was marginal at best, if not immaterial, in his day. He pulled together a motley group of followers with little resources to speak of and changed the course of history from a rural base. What most considered the edge, God called the center.
Way of Hope is not known by many. However, across the world in Cambodia, God continues to light a fire of passion among a beautiful group of people. There are no buildings to speak of except the lavish hospitality in thousands of small homes. The budget is small and there are no famous names. However, just as happened in Galilee in the first century, these Khmer disciples are inspiring people like me who long for a renewed vision of church in a world increasingly thirsty for the real thing.
- There are no buildings to speak of except the lavish hospitality in thousands of small homes.
1 Based on an interview with a Way of Hope provincial leader, September 2007.
2 See for example: P Harper and P L Metzger, Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2009).
3 Ecclesia semper reformanda from David Bosch, Transforming Mission (New York: Maryknoll Orbis, 1991).
4 Micah Declaration on Integral Mission, developed at the Micah Network consultation on Integral Mission held in Oxford, September 2001.
5 Bryant Myers, Jayakumar Christian, and others tackle this subject by identifying ‘poverty of being’ and ‘poverty of vocation’ as the deepest and worst forms of poverty. See Walking with the Poor (New York: Maryknoll Orbis, 1999).
6 Interview with Tim Amstutz, World Relief Country Director in Cambodia, in 2013.
Stephan Bauman is President and CEO of World Relief, which empowers the worldwide church to overcome global poverty and injustice. He is the author of Possible: A Blueprint For Changing How We Change the World.
The Earth is the Lord’s!
Dion ForsterA global economic challenge
Could you survive on less than USD $2 a day? The USD $2 threshold is regarded as the extreme poverty line across the world. The reality is that 1.2 billion people (approximately 1 in 6 people) in the world live in extreme poverty (that is, on less that USD $2 a day), while 870 million people worldwide are undernourished.1
MDGs
In the face of this reality, leaders from all 189 nations in 2000 endorsed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).2 The intention was to halve global poverty by 2015 through the achievement of eight specific goals that ranged from universal primary education, adequate health care, environmental sustainability, to addressing poverty and hunger.3 While a great deal has been achieved since then, the reality is that we are nowhere near reaching the target.4
Initially substantial strides were made towards goals such as universal primary education and addressing mother and infant mortality. Other goals such as environmental sustainability, gender equality, and global partnership for development were less easy to address. By 2010 it became clear that a lot more would need to be done if we were to reach the MDG of halving extreme poverty by 2015. The early ‘victories’ were over and now some of the tougher challenges remained.
CorruptionIt was time for the global economic powers to start facing the truth. What were the sources of poverty around the world? Why was it that wealthy individuals and societies grew richer, while poor individuals and societies were becoming increasingly poor? One of the startling realisations was that a significant contributor to global poverty was corruption.5
While most of us may associate corruption with despotic leaders in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, it soon became clear that the largest contributors to corruption in an increasingly globalizing world are not corrupt majority world politicians,6 but rather the economic and political leaders from the nations out of which, and to which, most of the world’s money flows. Global poverty was largely a result of global corruption, and global corruption was largely sustained through unfair, unjust, and illegal business practices.7 In the context of this discussion we understand corruption to be the abuse of power by individuals or groups (which might include the abuse of economic or political power) for unjust gain for themselves or their group/community.8
- It was time for the global economic powers to start facing the truth. What were the sources of poverty around the world?
- Global poverty was largely a result of global corruption, and global corruption was largely sustained through unfair, unjust, and illegal business practices.
A Christian story
The matter of poverty is of great significance within the Christian faith. We are a people who serve a loving and just God. We believe that God’s love extends to all people and all of the earth—‘the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world’.10
This is beautifully captured in Psalm 24:1: ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein’ (ESV). Indeed, God’s goodness is not just for our spiritual lives; it is intended to be good news for all of how and who we are. Neither is it only good news for part of the earth, or only for some persons on the planet.11
The Christian Scriptures focus significantly on issues of social justice. As a result, most churches, ecumenical movements, and communions show a strong commitment to issues of social justice in their work and witness.12 Prominent Christian theologians, such as Jurgen Moltmann13 and Stanley Hauerwas14, contend that the very nature of the Christian faith, with its emphasis on justice, has clear social, economic, and political ramifications. These have been embodied over the past century in the church’s active engagement in social movements such as the civil rights movement in the USA and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. When people flourish, God is honoured.
Evangelism and social justice
Theologically, the debate has at times been polarised between evangelism and social justice in the ministry and mission of the church.15 Some have contended that the primary role of the church is to bring persons to faith (evangelism), while others have contended that it is to work for a world that reflects the values of the kingdom of God (such as justice, equality, peace, and flourishing).
The latter position contends that the Christian faith (which still is the world’s largest religious grouping) is more credible when the church has a consistent witness that fosters the good of all humanity across the world. Surely if the planet is substantially Christian, the world should reflect the will and values of God?
A notable example of such an integration of evangelical commitment and social justice is to be found in the life and witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.16 Living as a Christian in Germany during the rise of the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer found it increasingly important to take a stand against injustice, particularly that meted out to Jews, as a witness to the core of his faith conviction. This ultimately led to his imprisonment and death at the hands of the Nazis. Bonhoeffer followed in a long line of martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the transformation of society because of their faith convictions.
Perhaps these two foci should not be binaries, but go hand in hand. It might just be, as Tim Keller suggests, that a true encounter with God’s grace makes us more just, and that as we become more just, people are attracted to the God of grace.17 We read the following direct command in Isaiah 1:17: ‘Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause’ (ESV).
EXPOSED – Shining a light on corruption
It was into this context that the Christian anti-corruption campaign ‘EXPOSED – Shining a light on corruption’ was launched in October 2012:18
EXPOSED is a global call to action against corruption which is both a cause and consequence of poverty. It is a response of the Christian church inspired from the Bible and is committed to promote practical steps for ethical behaviour in business, government, the church, and society as a whole. It aims to position Christians as advocates and practitioners of justice and transformation in the nations we are called to serve.19
Jim Wallis, one of the supporters and endorsers of the campaign, summed up the understanding that shaped the campaign’s intentions:
Many of us feel that our faith has been stolen, and it’s time to take it back. In particular, an enormous public misrepresentation of Christianity has taken place. And because of an almost uniform media misperception, many people around the world now think Christian faith stands for political commitments that are almost the opposite of its true meaning . . . That rescue operation is even more crucial today, in the face of a deepening social crisis that cries out for more prophetic religion.20
In order to achieve this goal, the EXPOSED campaign aimed to engage with Christians in 100 countries, enabling them to take public action against corruption during the campaign week in October 2013.21 The stated intention was to involve approximately 100 million people in these 100 countries to:
- sign the Global Call to End Corruption that was presented to the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia, in November 2014;[22]
- organise or join a Global Vigil against corruption;[23] and
- take personal or collective action against corruption (for which three ‘toolkits’ were developed: for youth, Christians in business, and Christians in general society).[24]
- EXPOSED is a global call to action against corruption which is both a cause and consequence of poverty.
If we believe that the earth is the Lord’s, everything in it, and all who dwell in it (Psalm 24:1), then we need to take issues such as poverty and corruption seriously. It is clear that they matter to God (see for example Micah 6:8); so they should also matter to us.25
The challenge for evangelical Christians around the world is not only to preach good news, but to be good news in our communities, in our places of work, and in the church.
You can start by taking some time to read what the Bible has to say about poverty and corruption—download and read 30 Pieces of Silver, a resource produced by the Bible Society and used throughout the world.[26] Also take the time to see where your nation ranks on the Transparency International or Tax Justice Network global rankings. Pray and ask God to show you what you can do in your local community, and then bring together some other sisters and brothers in Christ and act. Together God can use us to make a significant difference in the world. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.’
Endnotes
1 Karen Charlton, ‘Life below the poverty line: lessons from eating on $2 a day’, 2014, http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/1874/. And Greg Thompson and John Langmore, ‘Global Poverty: The Challenge Remains’, St Mark’s Review, no 214, 2010.
2 In 2000 there were 189 nations represented at the United Nations. There are currently 193 nations. You can read more about the eight commitments at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/. The original resolution can be found athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Millennium_Declaration
3 Editor’s Note: See article by Joel Edwards and Geoff Tunnicliffe entitled ‘Micah Challenge International: A voice of evangelical advocacy’ in the March 2015 issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.
4 Jennifer Requejo and Jennifer Bryce, ‘Countdown to 2015 decade report (2000-2010) with country profiles. Taking stock of maternal newborn and child survival’, 2010, http://www.popline.org/node/210295.
5 Sanjeev Gupta, Hamid Davoodi, and Rosa Alonso-Terme, ‘Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty?’ Economics of Governance, vol 3, no 1, 2002.
6 This does not mean that these forms of corruption are insignificant or unimportant. Corruption in all forms is unacceptable and must be addressed and eradicated.
7 Gupta, Davoodi, and Alonso-Terme, ‘Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty?’
8 The Oxford English Dictionary defines corruption as ‘dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery’. However, within the context of the EXPOSED campaign, we adopted a broader view of corruption which we believe is more in keeping with a biblical worldview: that corrupt activities arise from a corrupted nature. For example, greed may lead an individual or group to exploit others to gain excessive wealth or power. In particular we understood that even if something is legal in a certain country, it does not necessarily mean that it is not corrupt.
9 Sebastian Edwards. Toxic Aid: Economic Collapse and Recovery in Tanzania (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
10 Lausanne Movement, ‘Calling the Whole Church to Take the Whole Gospel to the Whole World’, 1989. And Christopher J H Wright, ‘Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World’, Christianity Today, vol 53, no 10, 2009.
11 James H Cone, ‘Whose earth is it anyway?’ Cross Currents, vol 50, no 1-2, 2000.
12 Michael D Palmer and Stanley M Burgess, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2012), 64.
13 Jurgen Moltmann, The Politics of Discipleship and Discipleship in Politics: Jurgen Moltmann Lectures in Dialogue with Mennonite Scholars (Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006), 24-29.
14 Stanley Hauerwas, Approaching the End: Eschatological Reflection on Church, Politics, and Life (United Kingdom: SCM Press, 2014), 80-83.
15 Editor’s Note: See article by Steve Haas entitled ‘All of Me: Engaging a world of poverty and injustice’ in the January 2015 issue ofLausanne Global Analysis.
16 Palmer and Burgess, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice, 64-65.
17 Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010), ch 1, 7.
18 You can read more about the EXPOSED campaign and join tens of thousands of Christians from 153 countries around the world in taking a stand against corruption at http://www.exposedcampaign.com.
19 Amanda Jackson, Tom Baker, and Dion Forster, ‘EXPOSED Policy and Campaign Overview’ (2012), 1.
20 Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get it (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2006), 3-4.
21 Jackson, Baker, and Dion, ‘EXPOSED Policy and Campaign Overview’, 5.
22 For information on the Global Call, see 1 in a Million, http://www.exposedcampaign.com/one-in-a-million, accessed 16 April 2014.
23 For more information on the Global Vigils, see Prayer Vigils, http://www.exposedcampaign.com/prayer-vigils, accessed 16 April 2014.
24 For more information on the EXPOSED toolkits and other resources, see http://www.exposedcampaign.com/resources, accessed 16 April 2014.
25 Editor’s Note: See article by David Bennett entitled ‘Integrity, the Lausanne Movement, and a Malaysian Daniel’ in the January 2015 issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.
26 Rachel Rounds, ‘Christians are being encouraged to take a fresh look at corruption and justice throughout Lent’, Bible Society, 6 March 2014, http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/thirty-pieces-of-silver/, accessed 16 April 2014.
* Editor’s Note: Featured image is modified from ‘On the Top of the Hill, San Martin de Porres, Lima’ by Geraint Rowland (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Dion Forster teaches on the faculty of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, in Systematic Theology, Ethics, and Public Theology. He serves as the international chairman of ‘EXPOSED – Shining a light on corruption’. For more information, please see http://www.dionforster.com.
July 2015 · Volume 4 / Issue 4
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Reports on Recent Gatherings
2015 Global Diaspora Forum
24-28 March 2015 · Manila, Philippines
by Sadiri Joy Tira, Senior Associate for Diasporas
Lausanne Consultation on Disability Concerns: Ministry Access
21 February 2015 · Agoura Hills, California, USA
David Deuel, Senior Associate for Disability Concerns
Lausanne Consultation on Children at Risk
17-20 November 2014 · Quito, Ecuador
by Dave Scott on behalf of the Lausanne Consultation on Children at Risk Team
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Upcoming Gatherings
Tenth International Conference on Jewish Evangelism
16-21 August 2015 · Israel
Creation Care and the Gospel Conference: Latin America
08-12 September 2015 · Cuzco, Peru
Global Integrity Network Gathering 2015
19-20 October 2015 · Hong Kong
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Updates and News
Lausanne Movement Launches ‘Health in Mission’ Issue Network to Connect Health Influencers for Global Mission
The Cape Town Commitment on Disordered Sexuality
Michael Oh, Executive Director/CEO
Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians Envision Reconciliation
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Highlights from the Content Library
Atibaia Statement on Prosperity Theology
Recommendations from the Lausanne Global Consultation on Prosperity Theology, Poverty and the Gospel
April 2014 · Atibaia, Brazil
Women in Lausanne
Leslie Segraves, Senior Associate for Partnership of Men and Women at Lausanne's 40th Anniversary Celebration
May 2014 · Vevey, Switzerland
Christ Our Reconciler
Ed: J E M Cameron
Based on presentations made at the Third Lausanne Congress in 2010, this book pulls together substance from some of the finest evangelical thinkers from around the world.
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