When I am out on the road and have the opportunity to meet supporters and people interested in Acton, I often get a lot of questions about our international projects. There have been a lot of new developments since I addressed this topic in the 2006 winter issue of Religion & Liberty.
Acton recently participated in the 2010 Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa. The Lausanne Movement is an evangelical effort to promote global evangelization, and it has recently launched a formal partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance. Combined, these two organizations represent some 430 million Christians. A special edition of the NIV Stewardship Study Bible was made available to attendees at the Cape Town conference and additional translations of the study Bible will soon be available in popular languages. At Lausanne, we were asked to provide editorial input, facilitate dialogue, and publish resources for leaders at the meeting. The subjects of stewardship, generosity, and work were recurrent themes at the conference, allowing us to play an important role because of our focus on economics and theology.
Participation in global evangelistic events such as the Cape Town Congress has been very successful in drawing religious leaders from around the world to Acton University. They can in turn put our resources to work in feeding and equipping their denominations, congregations, and parishes in building the "free and virtuous society."
In 2010, we put together a very inspiring slate of international conferences drew hundreds of attendees at many events. In May, we held a conference that examined the commercial society of former Eastern bloc nations in Kraków, Poland. In November, Acton held a conference on free-enterprise solutions to poverty in Lisbon, Portugal.
These are just a few examples of our international conferences, which experienced showed a tremendous uptick in attendance and visibility. Many of our invited speakers at these events—as well as Acton speakers—have been interviewed by major foreign news outlets. We are planning three economic development conferences in the coming months in Nairobi, Rome, and London.
For 20 years, the Acton Institute has helped shape the perspectives of thousands around the world, empowering and inspiring moral leaders to connect their good intentions with sound economics. Increasingly, that work reaches new leaders and communities around the globe.
