by Dr. Michael Oh, president and founder of Christ Bible Seminary and Christ Bible Institute in Nagoya, Japan.

I just finished a Skype video conversation with a friend who for security reasons I’ll call “Zhang” (which is the third most popular name in China according to my Google search which I performed wirelessly from my laptop borrowing a signal from some generous neighbor).

Zhang is a young house church pastor in China who I met at the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering that took place last Fall in Malaysia. I had the privilege of giving the opening night talk where I challenged the 550 young leaders from 111 nations (possibly the largest and most representative gathering of young global Christian leaders in the history of the church), “How big is your God?”

At the end of my talk, Zhang walked up to me and confessed, “Michael, sometimes my God is so small.” He shared about the great challenges Christians face in China. He confessed his struggles to persevere in the midst of persecution. That night, Zhang became my friend. So via Skype Zhang and I video-conferenced over the internet. I “met” his new wife. I mourned with him over the passing of his mother four days ago. We prayed for the salvation of his relatives who were together with him in his hometown for the funeral. We talked about his coming to Japan accepting my invitation to take three courses (taught by D.A. Carson, Robert Coleman, and Willem Van Gemeran) at the seminary I lead in Nagoya, Christ Bible Seminary. We planned for my Fall visit to China.

548 others just like Zhang and me met in Malaysia. Young. Leaders. Passionate. Weak. Hopeful. Sinful. Globally-minded. Unified.

Now I was told by Christianity Today that people generally won’t read articles about conferences. But I want you to know that this wasn’t a conference. In fact I declared during my opening talk, “This is NOT a conference!” Conferences are about organizations, are information- centered, and are isolated moments in time—all of which young global leaders are not interested in! Ours was a “gathering”—a gathering that was about people, relationships, and movement—all of which young global leaders are interested in! So let me take the opportunity in the context of this gathering to share some of the heart and priorities of the young leaders of the global church.

PASSION - UNITY - LOVE for CHRIST and People - ACTION - SACRIFICE

These are the words of my generation, the words of my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Most of you will never have the opportunity to know the young global leaders who are serving the Church, but I want you to know a few things.

First, be encouraged that this generation is one of tremendous potential. Not in a worldly sense (though many of us could easily pursue personal gain in emerging cities like Bangalore, India or Beijing, China), but in all the right ways that Christ taught and modeled. Creative and visionary almost to a fault. Defiant against meaningless protection of tradition. Fiercely committed to personal engagement and genuine relationships. Noxiously resistant to territorialism and denominationalism. Deeply passionate in faith and worship.

The future is in good hands. And those hands are God’s, held affectionately by the world’s younger leaders.

It’s easy to be unnerved by a generation that aspires to be “full-on” disciples of Christ—Jesus Freaks. This is not your 1960’s version, but instead is one that is more theologically-rooted, technologically savvy, educationally committed, socially-engaged, and relationally open-minded.

As one younger leader from Asia mentioned to me, “We must seek faithfulness to the Gospel and to God’s Word amidst a tendency towards pragmatism as young people.” Be encouraged that ours is a generation deeply committed to God and His Word— however colorful our display of faith might be!

Secondly, be challenged. I believe this generation of young Christian leaders is one that will seek to be orthodox in the Word but creative in service of that Word. We are not content to merely discuss problems; we must act on them!

At the Younger Leaders Gathering in Malaysia one participant shared about his evangelistic canoe ministry where he shares the Gospel with Muslims in Africa wanting a ride on the river. We rejoiced in hearing of life-transformation experiences of transsexuals who found Christ through a ministry led by a young Brazilian brother. We laughed as we heard that their ministry runs beauty pageants for the local transvestites with the winner receiving a Bible as a prize! We wept as we saw pictures of a drug-addicted young prostitute who lost her life to the streets before she could be brought to Christ. Small groups displayed the incredible diversity of the Body of Christ. One participant wrote about his group that included a Lebanese leader, a New Zealander, a Cuban, a Swiss, a Rwandan, a brother from Sierra Leone and himself. Their sharing about living through genocide and civil war provided both great challenge and encouragement to endure in faith.

Another participant shared with her small group about coming to faith because of finding a bag full of Christian tracts on a bench at the train station. The group wept and rejoiced as another member who was from the United States shared in shock that on a mission trip to that same country and city she had in the last moments before leaving left a bag full of tracts on a bench at the train station—hoping that God might reach out to someone, somehow.

I share such stories not that you might be astonished at what God is doing somewhere else through someone else, but that you might be challenged to have expectation that the very same God can do something similarly powerful through you.

Regardless of what generation you might belong to we serve a God who works powerfully when His people step out in faith and in action. We each, like those whose stories I have told, have been given one life. Just ONE life. One WHOLE life. LIFE. At the end of your days it could be seen as a colossal waste if lived for self, comfort, and personal glory. Or it could be a truly inspiring, eternity-impacting, Christ-honoring treasure to lay down at the feet of our Lord. What will be YOUR life story? Be challenged!

Thirdly, be involved.

PRAY! These young people represent the future leadership of the global church. As I speak with young leaders I find tremendous transparency and awareness of their own weaknesses. In fact you could almost say that each area of strength of this generation is also a potentially fatal weakness.

Our action-orientation can border on hyper activity; the breadth of relationships threatens depth; creativity can overshadow commitment to orthodoxy; our irreverence towards tradition can leave us unanchored and foundationless. Some of these weaknesses and threats are unique to our generation; others have characterized young people for centuries. Pray that our strengths might in the hands of God be true strengths and that our weaknesses too might be strengths. I also call you to involvement through sacrifice. No—I’m not asking for donations. I’m asking that you have Kingdom involvement through a life of sacrifice.

The last day of our gathering I gave a dear brother from Uzbekistan two things. The first was a flash drive with Christian resources, my sermons, and notes from courses I’ve taught at my seminary. This brother—who was 35 years old (just like I was) and leads a theological institution (just like I do)—held the drive in his hands staring at it like I had given him a bag of diamonds. Living in a nation where Christian activities and training are illegal and resources are scarce, it was a blessing far beyond the gift itself. And then I gave him the last $100 in my wallet. He had shared with our group that it is his prayer that one day he might have a laptop computer so that he can keep Christian materials mobile and safer from possible raids from the security police. As I handed him the money he kept shaking his head saying, “No, no, Michael. It’s too much,” with tears in his eyes. Even on a missionary salary with a family of six, I could have given him ten times that amount and we would basically be fine.

In studying and meditating upon the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, I’ve come to believe that true offering to God begins at the point of sacrifice. It’s something that is almost completely foreign to American Christians, something so counter-intuitive to the “pain-free Christian life” that many in the West so often seek with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. We stingily offer the Lord in our finances, energy, aspirations, and life what amounts to the proverbial coins under the couch cushion and think that the lost, the church, and God should somehow be pleased.

In my limited exposure to the global church, I’ve sensed a subtle but undeniable growing cynicism towards America and the West. Though we in the West often think of ourselves as the leaders of the global church, the disciplers of the nations, and the teachers of the world, we must recognize that our ability to train leaders around the world is threatened by a perception that we in the West have lost our first love. We disqualify ourselves from training up the nations when those nations see our lifestyle!

The 2/3rds (Majority) world Christians see churches in the West filled with Christians whose primary instinct is the seeking of comfort; physical, emotional, spiritual and economic comfort—a Christian life of affluent capitalism with a dash of spirituality and beneficence.

Christian brothers and sisters around the world are sacrificing not just finances, comfort, and personal advancement but their very lives. In a world where tens of thousands of Christians are martyred each year and more than two billion people live in nations where there is little or no access to the Gospel what should the American Christian and the American Church look like? Be involved sacrificially with your whole life for the Kingdom. Be involved!

Lastly, be encouraged. The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (Lausanne.org…) and younger generation leaders make quite an interesting mix! It’s almost conceptually oxymoronic! Lausanne (and the 1974 Lausanne Conference) is known as one of the quintessential impacting movements and events of the previous Christian era. Called together by Billy Graham, 2300 world Christian leaders gathered and helped to stem the tide of liberalism that was sweeping through the world in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and reaffirm the global church’s commitment to world evangelization. Today the Lausanne Covenant which was produced from the gathering led by John Stott is used by more Christian organizations and ministries than other statement of the Christian faith.

Despite this document (that is one of the greatest of the modern church era) and this movement (that was one of the greatest expressions of the unified global Church in history), Lausanne is largely unknown to my generation. I can’t tell you how many young people and also seminary students that I’ve talked with have no idea what Lausanne is! So when the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering took place, it was a strange happening. But there’s something that was so right about it as well.

It inspires in me greater encouragement and confidence about our times and the future that such a synergy and organic confluence of generations could occur. It’s the kind of thing that must be from the Lord. It gives me great hope that the present and future generations of leaders and the church can be involved in much less fissure and much more cooperation and love in Gospel partnership and leadership transition.

Today the Lausanne Movement (it’s not an organization) is regaining some of the strength, unity, and mobilizing role that it once had. I was won over by a leader, Doug Birdsall, who serves as the Executive Chair of the Lausanne Committee and by the vision that the WHOLE CHURCH bring the WHOLE GOSPEL to the WHOLE WORLD.

For myself and other young leaders who have become involved with Lausanne I can say that we are seeking to learn humbly from the previous generations. While young people may always have some degree of organizational phobia, we know that we shouldn’t fear organization, movements of God, and lessons from the past. In 1987 a smaller but similar group of young Christian leaders met in Singapore organized by Lausanne. Among the alumni from that group were Doug Birdsall, Paul Borthwick, Peter Kusmic, and Ajith Fernando.

Currently other gatherings of young leaders are being planned all around the world. I have the joy of leading preparations for a North and East Asia Younger Leaders Gathering where young people from North and South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia, Hong Kong, and China will come together. In 2010 Lausanne III will take place in Cape Town, South Africa as Lausanne seeks to continue its calling from the Lord to be a unifying, inspiring, and challenging movement for the global church.

I too am a younger leader defying the traditional mold and path of leadership of previous generations. I serve as president and founder of Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, Japan. Our ministry was motivated by a passion to see Christ known among the 130 million people of Japan (the largest unreached people group in the world) and also by a burden to see authentic Christianity experienced in Japan with a key role played by Japanese young people. We’ve had to negotiate treacherous waters to establish a pedagogically progressive seminary in a nation (and church) where traditionalism is often idolized. For a 33 year-old to start a seminary in one of the oldest, most Gospel- resistant, and most Confucian nations in the world is just the kind of radical, tradition-defying, absolutely-gonna-fail-unless-God-is-in-it ministry that my generation loves to be a part of.

A few years before my seminary opened I was shooting down the Japanese coast on the bullet train at over 100 miles per hour talking with a senior Japanese pastor. I knew that unless he was supportive of our proposed ministry it would never happen. Weeks before I sent him a large pile of business plans that laid out the goals and hopes for our seminary. I turned to him and hesitantly asked him, “What do you think?”

He paused and then asked me, “Michael, do you know what a furoshiki is?”

I responded, “Yes,” knowing the square cotton cloths that Japanese use to hold things in.

Then he said, “We have a saying in Japanese, ‘Your furoshiki… is too big.’” I knew exactly what he was saying to me. There’s no way that this happens. It’s too ambitious and difficult of a project. This is Japan! There’s no way that you can do this, Michael Oh. After thanking him for his feedback, I turned to him and said, “Sensei (teacher), we have a saying in English, ‘Your God… is too small.’”

It was one of those crazy moments where I knew I had overstepped my bounds culturally, logically, and generationally. But inspired by either the Spirit or my own insanity without thinking I said what I said. But then the most amazing thing happened. The pastor turned to me and said, “You know, you’re right. I’ve been ministering in this country and leading Japanese churches for over 30 years. I can’t even imagine more than what we’ve had, but surely God is able to this ministry and much, much more.” Because of the faith of that man, Christ Bible Seminary exists.

If the older generations (whether this pastor, the Lausanne Committee, or other Christians) are willing to take such faith risks for our young generation, how can we not also humbly learn and join in partnership with them?

I believe that God has great plans for my generation. This confidence is not based on our gifting and abilities but upon the bigness of our God and the whole-hearted faith with which our generation pursues such a big God.

We are a weak, idealistic, defiant, and sometimes overly rebellious generation of young global leaders, but perhaps through our passion, unity, love for the Lord and the lost, and our willingness to sacrifice all for the sake of the Gospel, God might once again show this world that He is a very, very BIG God!

Relational methods are key

Let us first consider a generalized Muslim context. Which method of evangelization should we consider when thinking about outreach to Muslims?

To begin with, any method which does not promote a relationship between the evangelist and the Muslim is one that is less than biblical. After all, the gospel itself, the good news we want to share, is that God has provided a way for humans to have a restored relationship with Him through Jesus! And how did He evangelize humankind with this good news? He became a man who was able to meet us where we are and explain this good news in ways which we as humans can understand. In other words, Jesus gave first-century AD Jews a “culturally sensitive, spiritually authentic opportunity to discover Jesus Christ and decide whether to submit to him”!1 This, as well, must be our attitude as missionaries or evangelists. Any method which does not establish relationship (between the evangelist and the evangelized) misrepresents and corrupts the good news of right relationship with God.

If the good news is right relationship with God, then it follows the best medium for communicating this message is a relationship. The means, in this case, is the same as the end: authentic relationship. What better way to share the love of God than by loving the one who does not yet know what that love means?

More than theologically or biblically, though, this idea has utilitarian benefits, as well. “Many studies show that the personal relationship between evangelizer and evangelized is of chief importance.” 2 The kind of relationship promoted in this article is a direct, face-to-face relationship, because this is the kind which Jesus had with the people in the Jewish culture when he walked the earth. “The most effective method of evangelism and the most widespread, in the long run, in its results, is conversation evangelism, where one who has found Jesus shares his discovery, his problems, his joys and his sorrows with one who is still groping in the dark.”3

Focusing on relationships is especially important when dealing with Muslims, for their mindset in general is much closer to the Middle Eastern culture into which Jesus came. Because he focused so much on developing relationships with the Jews in his setting, this shows us we must, at the very least, consider the idea people groups with similar cultures to the first-century Middle East would be most receptive to the gospel when it is presented that way. Additionally, from my own experience working with Muslims and learning from missionaries who have much greater experience in Muslim cultures than I, I recognize the importance of developing relationships and propagating the gospel along these relational lines.

Another consideration in evangelization is: people movements to Christ always happen along existing relational lines. This is the very definition of a “people movement.” After all, the missiological definition of a people group is a group of people through whom a church-planting movement can spread without encountering significant barriers of understanding or acceptance.4 Therefore, no unreached people group will be penetrated with the gospel unless it prioritizes how the gospel may be transmitted along relational lines (through networks of friendships). This is true for all people groups—not just Muslims. This points out again that the gospel must be communicated in a way that values relationships and is easily and quickly transferable between friends (that is, along relational lines). The missionary to a Muslim culture must also understand the importance of relational networks, which means valuing community as much as Muslims do.

It is axiomatic that people in Muslim cultures identify more with their specific community than most people in Western cultures, where independence and individualism is praised. People (that is, friendships) are valued higher than tasks in these Muslims cultures.

Therefore, forming personal relationships with Muslims is paramount. As someone who identifies somewhat with this subculture, I suggest that believers from a “postmodern” setting may fit this task.

Postmodernism is…

What do I mean by “postmodern”? I mean mainly a mindset that rejects the idea (defined by “modernity”) that truth is ultimately best understood rationally and propositionally.

In other words, “Postmodernity doesn’t mean a mere adjustment of modernity. It is a quantum leap into a new world of ideas, values, and ethics. All of Western society has been impacted, and nothing is really the same. Rationalism, faith in the future, and many of the ideas that fueled modern Western life have been discarded or, at least, reinvented.”5 Instead of seeing truth propositionally, American college students (for example) see it in the context of relationship with other persons. “Nothing is more attractive to them than honest and authentic relationships.”6

This naturally leads to an emphasis on community, life shared with others. “Students regularly express how their community is central to their identity.”7 Members of this Western subculture have in general realized that meaning in life is not found by well-argued rational propositions or dogmatic assertions of truth; rather, inspiration by and pursuit of the mystery of a relationship with God through Christ holds more promise for real life.

These types of believers are also more willing than most other believers to dialogue with an unbeliever while evangelizing, and in a Muslim’s eyes, this helps establish a relationship and give credibility to the message of the gospel.

This should sound familiar to anyone who has spent time in a Muslim context! As mentioned, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a Muslim people group where personal relationships and community are not paramount.

The ideas mentioned in this article should give a good starting point for considering how people from an under-mobilized subculture of the Western church can use their values and gifts to spread the gospel in ways which can be received by Muslims. Specifically, the evangelist must remember the importance of relationship—that is, life-on-life sharing and teaching. Any methods or philosophies which do not emphasize this, besides being sub-biblical, are not likely to work in a Muslim people group.

In conclusion, we must remember that God wants the knowledge of His glory to fill the earth like the waters in the sea. This will happen, but He desires to use us to do it. Therefore, as stewards of His resources and gifts, it is our delight and act of worship to take advantage of His provision to communicate God’s love and truth to all peoples!