Two striking quotes from a Christianity Today article about WorldVision:

All that said, I was surprised and encouraged by the Christian conviction I found among World Vision’s top leadership. The 2004 Triennial Council in Bucharest was emphatically, unapologetically, and enthusiastically Christian. The strongest impetus seemed to come from African and Asian leaders, who make a growing impact within the organization.

More evidence (it keeps mounting and mounting) that just as the center, the energy, and the momentum of Christianity in our world moved from Europe in the 1800s to North America in the 1900s, it’s moving to Africa and Asia in the 2000s.

Former InterVarsity Christian Fellowship president Steve Hayner, who serves on World Vision’s international board, finds “surprising strength of commitment to Christ” at the leadership level. “It’s center-defined, not boundary-defined,” he says, meaning that World Vision emphasizes loyalty to Jesus, without using a detailed statement of faith to define who is an acceptable Christian.

Evangelicals are boundary-defined. We focus on who’s in and who’s out, probably because it makes us feel safe and secure (since we self-define ourselves as being “in”). I need to learn to be center-defined.