Swords into Plowshares

There is a fascinating article in this past Sunday's NY Times magazine about what I see as very exciting changes within the evangelical churches. You can read the whole thing here , but below is an excerpt.

[On] the eve of the Iraq invasion, Hybels [Bill Hybels, founder of Willow Creek Church] preached a sermon called“Why War?” Laying out three approaches to war — realism, just-wartheory and pacifism — he implored members of his congregation tore-examine their own thinking and then try to square it with the Bible.In the process, he left little doubt about where he personally stood.He called himself a pacifist.

Hybels traced the “J curve” ofmounting deaths from war through the centuries. “In case you arewondering about this, wonder how God feels about all this,” he said.“It breaks the heart of God.”

At his annual leadership conferencethis summer, Hybels interviewed former President Jimmy Carter. To someChristian conservatives, it was quite a provocation. Carter, after all,was their first great disappointment, a Southern Baptist who denouncedthe conservative takeover and an early critic of the Bushadministration. Some pastors canceled plans to attend.

“I think that a superpower ought to be the exemplification of acommitment to peace,” Carter told Hybels, who nodded along. “I wouldlike for anyone in the world that’s threatened with conflict to say tothemselves immediately: ‘Why don’t we go to Washington? They believe inpeace and they will help us get peace.’ ” Carter added: “This is just asimple but important extrapolation from what a human being ought to do,and what a human being ought to do is what Jesus Christ did, who was achampion of peace.”