Christian faith centers on a specific, personal affirmation about power: "Jesus is Lord." Central to the Bible's understanding of the world — its health and its disease — are issues of power. The gift of God's grace is the power of God in Jesus Christ to redeem and renew the whole of creation.
Past and present, the Church makes some of its greatest contributions and commits some of its most audacious offenses out of its understanding and practice of power. Each day, people inside and outside the Church, across the U.S. and around the world, feel the impact of that complicated story. Little wonder that grappling with issues of power has been one of the Church's most important and most problematical issues. Evangelicals affirm the power of God, and then both speak and act in light of that power.
The political and social, economic and spiritual forces of American evangelicals land daily on the shores and doorsteps of people around the globe. American evangelicals make these issues front-page news. The words and actions of powerful American evangelical voices advocate and confuse, affirm and offend many, both inside and outside the Church.
For people of Christian faith, other faiths, and no faith at all, evangelical American voices and influences are heard daily. But how do they sound in Africa, or in Asia, or in Latin America? How do these voices and actions by American evangelicals clarify or distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What is the power of the gospel, and how does it relate to the social, economic, or cultural power of evangelicals? What is the meaning of power? What is the meaning of powerlessness? How does this hamper or help the mission of churches around the world?
The Opportunity
What do thoughtful evangelical voices within the national churches of Asia, Africa, or Latin America need to ask of or to say to their American evangelical brothers and sisters? What do brothers and sisters in the Majority World believe Christians in North America need to understand and be or do in order to more faithfully serve Jesus Christ? And what must they do in order to be more helpful to Christ's Body around the world, especially in relation to issues of power?
This conference is the opportunity to listen and to engage in just such concerns. The five primary speakers come from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Each of them would identify as one who simultaneously appreciates and critiques, identifies with and distances themselves from American evangelicalism. These speakers are significant theological voices in their own Majority World contexts. And they are voices American Christians need to hear and engage.
