Seven Ways to Change the World

I'm in the U.K. this week on a speaking and book tour.  It's always good to be here. My wife, Joy Carroll, is a Brit, and we frequently get across the pond.  Both of my children are "bilingual," speaking both the English of the English and the English of the Americans, and we love both countries.

The U.K. edition of The Great Awakening is titled Seven Ways to Change the World, and these commitments are already well under way in the U.K. The British people are generally much more globally aware and concerned than many Americans, and they have a strong sense of "the common good" in their social life together, which is a central theme of this book. The "Jubilee 2000" movement at the turn of the century around global debt relief and the recent "Make Poverty History" campaign in 2005 are discussed in the book as models for how people of faith can help catalyze social movements in society.

After being here again, I am still convinced that Britain's leadership on issues of global poverty, climate change, human rights, and a better path to security could significantly influence U.S. policies and offer a better kind of leadership "by example," rather than "by empire."  This morning's news of more 100 countries reaching an agreement to ban cluster bombs reinforced that belief, as the news stories reported:

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose personal intervention Wednesday led to final agreement among representatives of 111 countries gathered in Dublin, called the ban a "big step forward to make the world a safer place."

I've spoken to a variety of audiences this week in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh, Scotland.  There have been book launch events at several churches, World Vision leadership breakfasts, and media appearances.  Here are reports on the book launch in London  and the World Vision breakfast.  I was on one of BBC Radio Five's most popular broadcasts, the Simon Mayo Show