Six Core Issues

A mentor of mine passed on the following recently:

The Lausanne global leadership has identified six core issues that they believe are among the key global challenges of our day:

1. Making the case for Truth in a postmodern, pluralistic world and making the case for the uniqueness of Christ.
2. Responding redemptively to the fundamentalism of Islam and Hinduism.
3. Realizing that the Church itself may be that the biggest obstacle to the progress of world evangelization—the need for a 21st Century Reformation.
4. Celebrating the new realities of the global Church—a new face and a fresh voice.
5. Developing a robust theology of suffering and of reconciliation.
6. Establishing priorities for partnership in the unfinished task of world evangelization.

I would like to take the next few blog posts and work through this list... It is astounding to me, and makes the case even stronger for The Outer Court, that these things are collectively seen by the Evangelical missions community as issues to be dealt with. All of these (1-6) relate to Islam, and relate directly to material I've been writing, and intend to write about here.

Related to this... several people have commented to me that they would like to see an in depth analysis of fundamental Islam... I agree this is needed.  It may seem to readers that I have a rose-colored view of Islam.  I assure you this is not true, though I strive towards grace and understanding, instead of criticism.  There are legitimate concerns (from the Christian perspective) that need to be dealt with in regards to fundamentalist Islam. There are also some things we can learn as Christians. In fact, fundamentalist Christians, and fundamentalist Muslims are not really that different... but more on that in coming posts.  

Please feel free to email me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or to post comments, start threads in the forum if you wish to discuss any of the material found here in The Outer Court.