September 26-27, 2008
The New Evangelical: Profile, Policy, and Practice 

The fall Great Room Conference Series will feature conversations among leading evangelical thinkers and representatives from other faith traditions on the diverse challenges facing evangelicalism in this new century. How does our faith govern our engagement in the public square? What is the identity of “new evangelicalism,” and what are the global trends influencing it? What defines this new movement, and what are the future implications?

The Institute for Global Engagement’s (www.globalengage.org) Dr. Chris Seiple will be asking these questions as he moderates each of these 90 minute sessions at Fairfax Community Church. Come and hear perspectives from those serving across the church, government, the media, the academy, and the world.

Profile of the New Evangelical

So what is “new” about evangelicalism in America? How much of it is actually “old”? What is the influence of gender and generation on this “new” identity? How will that identity influence American politics? How does this “newness” relate to such global trends as social justice, global Christianity, and anti-Americanism?

Mark Galli - Senior Managing Editor, Christianity Today
Jay Hein - Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
D. Michael Lindsay - Author of Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the Halls of Power

Policy Views of the New Evangeilcal

What impact might “new” evangelicals have on US foreign policy? Will their policy positions persuade them to vote for one political party over the other? Or will it be a generational thing, where younger, “new” evangelicals vote one way, and older, “new” evangelicals vote another?

Suhail Khan - Islamic Free Market Institute
George Ward - Senior Vice President for International Programs at World Vision
Colleen Carroll Campbell - Fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Ethics and Public Policy

Practice of Being a New Evangelical in a Changing World

The conference concludes with a conversation about how behavior might (not) change as the result of this “new” evangelicalism. Will “new” evangelicals work with others who don’t believe or vote the way they do, in order to build new coalitions and communities of the willing that tackle the world’s most pressing issues?

Paul-Gordon Chandler - Author of “Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road” 
Nicole Bibbins-Sedaca - Former Senior Advisor for Global Affairs, U.S. State Department
Bethany Hoang - Director of the IJM Institute for International Justice Mission