Bray-Missionaries.org: Changing the Nations

By Aubrey Beauchamp, R.N.
Special to ASSIST News Service

SAN CLEMENTE, CA (ANS) -- I recently read a copy of Loren Cunningham's new book, titled The Book That Transforms Nations (with Janice Rogers). I met Loren many years ago in Wales where he spoke at an International Hospital Christian Fellowship Conference. He's the founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a world-wide mission's organization with nearly twenty thousand full-time staff from more than 150 nationalities and a wide variety of denominations.

Cover of Loren Cunningham's new book
As I read this highly readable and fast paced book, filled with up-to-date and historical data, I was greatly moved. It opened my eyes to possibilities that were never discussed in my early years as a Christian but which I have been observing taking place in our world culture today. It reinforced my emerging convictions that Christians need to be involved in areas other than church affairs. The church, like school, is needed for basic training and growth, but members also need to mix and mingle in the world we live in and let their light shine among the nations in areas other than church life.

"If we want to build nations," Cunningham writes, "then we must build up people - families, tribes, ethics groups, entire countries. That's the job Jesus gives us in Matthew 28:19. He says His followers are to be nation builders. But how are we to do this?

Where do we start?

That's the question I was asking God in 1975. I was concerned over the direction my country and other countries were heading. How could we turn our nations around? How could we see basic foundations or morality and goodness restored? That summer I was in Colorado, vacationing with my family in the San Juan Mountains. Early one morning, as I sat beside the unlit fireplace, the Lord quietly spoke to me. There are seven areas of society that are like classrooms to disciple nations. I grabbed paper and pen as the thoughts came so quickly, fully formed. I could hardly write the seven areas fast enough on my yellow pad:

Family
Religion (church and missions)
Education
Celebration (arts, entertainments, sports)
Public communication (media)
Economy (including business, science, and technology)
Government

That's interesting, I thought, as I carefully folded the paper and put it in my pocket. Later that day, a forest ranger came to our cabin saying there was a phone call for me back at the ranger station. The call was from a friend who said Bill and Vonette Bright, the founders of Campus Crusade for Christ, were in the area and wanted to meet with my wife and me. The next day we sat down to visit with Dr. and Mrs. Bright. I was just about to take the yellow paper out of my pocket to share with Bill, when he said, "Loren, the Lord has shown me several ways we can change our nation."

He unfolded a piece of paper and read from it. His list was virtually the same as mine. Then I showed him my list. I knew this wasn't just a word for me or for YWAM. It was for the Body of Christ. A few days later, I spoke at a cathedral filled with hundreds of young people in Hamburg, Germany, giving them the seven spheres God wanted us to target to turn our nations around. Soon after that, my wife Darlene heard Dr. Francis Schaeffer, Founder of L'Abri Fellowship in a TV interview. Dr. Schaeffer gave the same list of areas for believers to target. Wouldn't you agree that whenever God speaks to three different people in three different parts of the body of Christ with the same message, He is trying to get His message through to His people? What I didn't know then was how many key men and women of God have been targeting these same spheres for hundreds of years to see their nations transformed." Cunningham writes. The rest of the book tells you how they did it. Fascinating and inspiring!

In the Christian Examiner, August 2007, I read an article by Hannah Elliott, 'Red-letter Christians' are a growing political force. Author and sociologist, Tony Campolo, Elliott writes, coined the term 'red-letter Christians'. These people, named after the red ink some Bible publishers use to denote the words of Jesus, hold to their traditional Christian beliefs and believe the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible, which they view as authoritative and relevant for faith and practice.

But unlike many evangelicals, the red-letter Christians have broadened their agenda to include issues that, in the past have seemed like the province of liberals, like environmental protection, gun control and opposition to war and capital punishment. They also affirm a Christianity that sees Jesus as transcending partisan politics. When asked about party affiliation, Campolo, says, the red-letter Christian is prone to answer, "Please, name the issue."

"Along with the grass-root current," Elliott writes, "several prominent voices have emerged in the middle ground between evangelical and progressive, including mega church pastor and author, Rick Warren and Richard Cizek, vice-president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals. Cizek, for instance, has urged evangelicals to make environmental stewardship central to their political mission. He has been attacked for that stance by prominent old-guard evangelical leaders.

Warren, part of the Southern Baptism affiliated Saddleback Church in Southern California, has held conferences, including one with special guest Obama, about combating third-World poverty, human trafficking and AIDS. Warren, like Cizek, dismissed criticism from far-right groups." concludes Elliott.

I remember last year's Saddleback World Congress on AIDS. Franklin Graham was a key-note speaker. So were leaders and dignitaries from around the world as well as high profile politicians, including Barack Obama. Their common concern? The global AIDS crisis. They all addressed the same issues to the huge, international crowd. On a live FOX Channel TV interview, Warren was asked about those who criticized him for inviting liberals to this World AIDS Conference. His response: "If I only work together on these pandemic world problems with people I agree with on every other issue, I would be alone for even my wife and I don't agree on everything."

Loren Cunningham
Back to Cunningham's book: A few years ago, he writes, while on a plane flight, I was talking with a fellow passenger who was one of the world's leading environmentalists. I asked her how we were doing overall in overcoming pollution. She said: "We are making headway motivating every group but one - evangelical Christians." She went on to explain that this is because evangelicals believe Jesus is returning any minute and that this has kept them form caring about pollution.

"If we could get this group on board," she said, "we could turn the situation around."

I knew what she meant. I've heard it described as "end-times paralysis." Many in the church are focused only on the present. They believe if they plan for the future, it means they aren't having faith that Jesus is coming soon. Some of us had believing grandparents and great-grandparents like this. They focused all their attention on simply getting people converted before the Second Coming. They withdrew from politics, the arts, education, and other influential areas. Withdrew from the effort it took to maintain a godly presence in those critical arenas. Instead of training their children for leadership in the world, they preached against such participation.

I recently heard a dramatic example, Cunningham writes, of the church's withdrawal. Dr. William Dyrness, professor of theology and culture at Fuller Seminary, tells of a producer at Twentieth Century Fox in the 1930. The producer wrote a letter to several evangelical colleges, asking them to send their graduates to become screenwriters, to help make good, wholesome movies. Did the church capture this golden opportunity? No. One college president wrote back saying he'd sooner send their young people to hell itself than send them to Hollywood." (Visual Faith: A Christian Recovery of the Arts. Cutting Edge. Vol. 6 mp. 1 Winter 2002)

Fortunately, some progress has been made and I applaud the many fine Christian colleges and universities who graduate professionals in all the areas of society Cunningham mentions. May their tribe increase!

Loren Cunningham takes us around the world in, The Book That Transforms Nations. He writes from personal experience, extensive interviews and a vast knowledge of history. It's an absolute must-read for every believer!

The Book That Transforms the Nations is published by YWAM Publishers and available through bookstores or from www.YWAMPublishing.com

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Aubrey Beauchamp, RN is the USA Coordinator of Hospital Christian Fellowship, an international and interdenominational organization founded in 1936 and active in over 100 countries around the world.

The USA HCF publishes a quarterly magazine, A New Heart. For a free copy contact her by e-mail at:HCFUSA@Juno.com.or log on to www.hcfusa.com or call (949) 496-7655.

Tax-deductible contributions for the support of Bill & Ivy's Missionary Ministry may be given online, or should be sent to CIS, INC. MISSIONS, P.O. Box 6511, Charlottesville, VA 22906. THANK YOU.