|PIC1|In a world where secularism and mysticism are the new religion, the Christian faith must always challenge rather than be challenged by other faiths, world views and ideologies, says the head of the Asia Evangelical Alliance.

Addressing the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Pattaya, Thailand on Monday, the Rev Dr Richard Howell said that belief in the supreme, universal and trans-cultural Triune God and an identity rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ were evangelical non-negotiables in an age of pluralism.

"We have but one agenda: obedience to the Triune God revealed in Jesus Christ," said Dr Howell. "We are evangelical Christians for the sake of God."

He added, "Our identity has to be related back to God. Unless we do that, we will never know who we are. Our identity comes from God and God alone."

Dr Howell, who also leads the Evangelical Fellowship of India, spoke at length on the trans-cultural nature of God.

"The Christian belief in the oneness of God implies God's universality, and the universality implies transcendence with respect to any given culture," said Dr Howell.

"Christians can never be first of all Asians, Africans, Europeans, Americans, Australians and then Christians."

The Christian identity was first and foremost connected to Christ, he continued.

"The secular world promotes individual identity but the Christian identity is affirmed through relationships in the body of Christ.

"Only in Christ can people be given that new identity as sons and daughters of God the Father.

"Identity cannot be provided by relief, welfare, or development projects. Identity is provided by the Gospel."

Dr Howell, who was appointed head of the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia earlier this year, urged evangelicals to follow the example of Jesus' first disciples and leave behind the cultural contexts they are found in.

"At the very foundation of evangelical Christian identity lies an all-encompassing change of loyalty, from a given culture with its gods to the God of all culture.

"When disciples respond to God's call it necessitates a reordering of an entire network of commitments ... indeed a whole new reordering of relationships. Leaving is part and parcel of Christian identity."

He assured, however, that leaving need not mean a lack of direction for Christians.

"We choose wisely when we select goals in accordance with God's revealed values and purposes. We choose to be salt and light of the culture we dwell in.

"Churches in mission must seek to transform and enrich all cultures for the glory of God thereby fulfilling their mandate to be the salt and light of the world."

Dr Howell concluded with a reminder to evangelicals that the fundamental purpose of the church was to proclaim Christ above all others.

"The church is called to invite people to acknowledge the lordship of Christ personally and not privately. This requires accepting the lordship of Christ over total life, personal as well as social. The lordship of Christ relates personal conversion and social responsibility. The church is a sign and a signpost of the Kingdom of God."