CT: What do you think the global body of Christ should be making a missional priority?
BM: To me, the idea of disciple-making is most central - and most holistic and hopeful. If we have been transformed by Jesus' radical good news of the kingdom of God - a message more and more Christians are grappling with, I'm glad to say - then we can seek to be and make disciples of Jesus who live and communicate that message.
When we live and share the gospel of the kingdom of God, we help people be reconciled with God, within themselves, with their neighbours and strangers and enemies, and with God's creation as a whole. That message of the kingdom integrates personal spiritual formation with social transformation. So it produces not just converts or Christians or church-goers, but rather disciples of Jesus, citizens of God's global kingdom - people who both pray and seek to help the poor, people who both worship and work for peace, people who both study the Bible and study ways to care for the planet, people who pursue both personal holiness and social holiness.
CT: You spoke of paradigm shifts. What can the Global North and the Global South learn from each other about effective evangelism in today's world?
BM: What a great question. People in the Global North can learn about joy and courage and hope and resilience from the Global South. They can learn about being rich towards God rather than rich in this world's economy. They can learn about living the gospel in conditions of poverty and war and disease and pluralism, rather than simply talking about the gospel in comfortable church buildings and classrooms and websites.
And perhaps people from the Global South can learn from their neighbours to the North some of the dangers, toils, and snares that await them as they "advance" - a term I have mixed feelings about - in terms of economics, education, entertainment, and so on. Because I think history teaches us that it is not easy for faith communities to go from pre-modernity to modernity to whatever comes after ... and that you can have thriving "Christian" societies at one point that are in decline and collapse a century or less later.
Most importantly, I hope both North and South can learn together about how to face our shared global challenges, because more than ever before, we are part of one integrated, linked, interdependent system, and we must face real crises together. The good news of Jesus Christ, I believe, gives us exactly the resources we need to face those crises in collaboration and faith.
CT: You suggested a new era for Christianity. What else do you think we can expect?
BM: I am just one small person with a very limited perspective in the face of such a huge question. But let me offer four small thoughts.
First, I think our future is more about the Christian way of life than it is about a rigid and polemicized systems of belief. Second, I think our future is mission-oriented - meaning that we focus on forming disciples who advance God's mission in their daily lives.
Third, I believe our future is ecumenical - with Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Eastern Orthodox, and Evangelical Christians taking a humble posture as fellow learners and collaborators for the common good rather than as competitors or us-versus-them enemies.
And fourth, I think our future will also require us to join humbly and charitably with people of other faiths - Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, secularists, and others - in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for all people, things that matter greatly to the heart of God.
