CT: So they are pivotal?
JE: Yes, very pivotal. It's like opening the windows.
CT: This is the first meeting between the UN Secretary General and church leaders on the MDGs. Why do you think it's taken this long to have this meeting?
JE: That's a very good question. Maybe it has taken a long time, but maybe it has just been a natural process that has led to this. Salil Shetty (Director of the United Nation's Millennium Campaign) always mentions the fact that Christians were at the very epicentre of movements like Jubilee 2000 and Make Poverty History, and those movements have changed the discourse on poverty. A part of that is undoubtedly the role of the church.
In addition to that, I think in 2007 we have established our credibility as serious critical partners, and that is important because we are not just here to beat up politicians on the behalf of the poor. We're here to work with politicians. We have practical ideas about what can be done and I think the Secretary General has seen this. The likes of Salil Shetty have seen that to ignore the church is an act of political vandalism in terms of efforts to alleviate poverty. And I think world leaders are also recognising the world class contribution of the church.
CT: So it signifies to you a change in attitude towards evangelicals?
JE: Yes, and I think for those involved with Micah Challenge, this was a hope from the outset. Our number one priority remains to deepen our commitment to the poor, but to actually offer the world a different perspective is one of the spin-offs we were hoping to achieve.
Evangelical doesn't have to be a dirty word. It has a servant posture that has been there for 200 years. We are here to bring good news.
CT: Why do many churches feel that it is together with the UN that we will break poverty? Why doesn't the church 'go it alone'?
JE: I was in Zambia recently and I found that people were doing MDGs without necessarily using the language of MDGs. I think that it's an important issue that we have been involved for a long time already, working together on issues such as child mortality and HIV and Aids.
The language of the MDGs has simply caught up with that activity. They are ten years old but our activity goes back a long way. I think what we are seeing here is a merger of an old behaviour which fits new language, and I think that's part of what we are celebrating.
