Highlights from Day One

Head of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, Dr. Jooseop Keum:

“We want to change, we want to transform the world, and so we are doing two revolutionary things with this CWME- we have brought it home to Africa, to heart of missions, for the first time in 60 years. And we have made all of the young leaders here, all of you, full [voting] delegates at this conference. We want to hear from you. We want to learn from you. We want you to lead us.”

Rev. Dr. Liz Vibila Vuadi:

“How many of our mothers have read our books? [None.] Our libraries are full. We need to theologize in a way that is more practical.”

“Conversion is not our responsibility or concern. We must witness.”

And because the internet reaches all corners of the world, from the New York Times, Tim Kreider:

"One of my students once asked me, when I was teaching the writing of political op-ed essays, why adults should listen to anything young people had to say about the world. My answer: because they’re afraid of you. They don’t understand you. And they know you’re going to replace them.

My message, as an aging Gen X-er to millennials and those coming after them, is: Go get us. Take us down — all those cringing provincials who still think climate change is a hoax, that being transgender is a fad or that “socialism” means purges and re-education camps. Rid the world of all our outmoded opinions, vestigial prejudices and rotten institutions. Gender roles as disfiguring as foot-binding, the moribund and vampiric two-party system, the savage theology of capitalism — rip it all to the ground. I for one can’t wait till we’re gone. I just wish I could live to see the world without us."