INTRODUCTION
Various surveys indicate that by the middle of 2005, 2.14 billion people made up the world’s Christian population accounting to one-third of the world. And for the last 100 years, the proportion of Christians against the world population remained the same, but significantly increasing in global south. This is a new era of global Christianity with the third world taking the reigns of global leadership through a renewed vision and energized passion.
As the world is undergoing dramatic shifts and transformations like never before, huge challenge lies before the church to respond to the present realities. Emergence of new economic powers, astonishing inequalities and degrading moral values etc- all these place new demands on us. Our global institutions need to be transformed to produce better, quicker and sustainable results.
We need to get the global economy to work for all the world’s people, we need lasting solutions for the increasing conflicts around the world, we need more effective partnerships between all the global players, we need policy guidance and regulatory frameworks for a vast array of new and complex issues. In addition, we are also frightened by a range of new-generation challenges like climate change, terrorism and corruption
While the church is expected to provide leadership to address these exigent concerns, it is found divided with around 34,000 separate Christian groups[1]. Various studies also indicate that over 90% of the evangelistic efforts are aimed primarily at other Christians[2]. As the world continues to grapple with these challenges, thoughtful and prayerful global responses is the need of the hour. There is a great need to reflect back and see where the Global Church is moving and what needs to be done.
One such effort is the recently concluded III Lausanne World Congress where 4,200 evangelical leaders from 198 countries gathered to gather for the purpose of challenging the global church to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all His teaching.
Lausanne III brought forth the historic ‘Cape Town Commitment’ which calls the church for:
- Bearing witness to the truth of Christ in a pluralistic, globalised world
- Building the peace of Christ in our divided and broken world
- Living the love of Christ among people of other faiths
- Discerning the will of Christ for world evangelisation
- Calling the Church of Christ back to humility, integrity and simplicity
- Partnering in the body of Christ for unity in mission
- Calling the Church of Christ back to humility, integrity and simplicity Partnering in the body of Christ for unity in mission
As a response, ‘Transbiblica’ is formed by a group of Christian professionals who are deeply committed to accelerate establishment Gods Kingdom in various parts of the world. Transbiblica is being registered under the societies registration act with an Executive Board, who looks after the affairs of the society.
In today’s world, God is actively working through millions of committed men and women who are providing leadership in the society through various offices, businesses and other agencies. Transbiblica aims to bring together those people by providing an opportunity to deliberate, strategize and promote various activities which bring transformation among the nations. Transbiblica also facilitates such people to convert their ‘dreams into realities’ by raising prayer support, technical support and financial support through various means.
Transbiblica remains a ‘Think Tank’ focusing on its core areas of deliberation, strategizing and promoting. All the activities will be undertaken by ‘Implementing agencies’ like NGOs, Companies, Partnership firms, Business establishments, Institutions, Trusts etc., which will be set up by the members.
[1] David Barrett et al, “World Christian Encyclopaedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions – AD 30 to 2200,” Oxford University Press, (2001)
[2] Barrett, David and Todd Johnson; (Update 2007) World Christian Trends, AD 30-AD 2200