How the Evangelical church has changed- Reeflections from the Micah Conference 2006

1) The passion that is there in responding to humanitarian concernsand being out there in the market place trying to shape and influencepublic opinion – be it on globalization, the war on terror , religiousfundamentalism or any other was missing may be even a decade ago. Then it was a small and motley collection of people who did social work andhumanitarian response of any kind - World Vision and Tear Fund andtheir camp followers and even they did – safe, sanitized social work –feeding the hungry and the poor – instead of asking uncomfortablequestions about inequitable distribution of resources, armsmanufacture in the West and their subsequent export and these sort ofthing. World Vision, Tearfund and their partners are still there andhave evolved but others have joined—so many that there is a need for anetwork likes Micah.

2) The gap between the liberals and the evangelicals is narrowing. Inthe India sub group meeting it was mentioned that what Micah istalking about today was embraced by mainline churches like the churchof North India in the 1990s under the acronym – THUM(Towards aholistic understanding of mission). Today , evangelicals havejourneyed a long way from just planting churches to also caring forthe material , human needs and the liberals have also journeyed toaccept that fundamental sustainable development does not happenwithout a corresponding development of the heart.

3) A decade ago, evangelicals had the war cry that they had all theanswers and the answers had been given to them to deliver- today weare prepared to accept that we might have to learn from others, thatwe have questions too – hence the expressed desire to learn the true
WCC affiliated denominations and churches.

4) The Evangelical church today is a evolving, dynamic and a learningcommunity. There are no more rigid positions in the evangelical worldany more. As evidenced by positions on matters like HIV and AIDS , thefact that there are diverse positions within the church shows thatthere is no rigidity in positions and opinions held and that churchleaders and opinion makers are ready to unlearn and adopt newpositions provided a biblical framework is provided",meaning of incarnation from the Catholics – to pray together with theWCC affiliated denominations and churches.