Authors: John Stonestreet | Jared Hayden
Today, too many Christians have a privatized understanding of faith, believing that we are called to keep our heads down and avoid controversy at all costs. In some circles, controversy itself is a sign that we’re doing something wrong. But this is not the life or kind of opposition that Jesus warned us about.
Doing the right thing is seldom popular and never easy. From William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect to Egyptian Coptic martyrs kneeling on a Libyan beach, the commitment to a Gospel faith that impacts every part of life is going to cost us something. In other words, it’s going to require courage.
Courage is the commitment to both speak and live the truth about God, the world, people, and His plan for redemption—no matter what the consequences are for us. Without it, we’ll end up with a shriveled and ineffective faith, one that has no power to impact the wider world. Or, as C.S. Lewis put it, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”
Today, especially, I think we’ve hit a cultural moment where many of us will face that testing point at a new level. It’s where the rubber hits the road in finding out where our faith really is. We are going to need courage if we are going to succeed in sharing our hope and living out our faith.
Of course, courage doesn’t just happen. Courage is a virtue, and virtues have to be cultivated. Given our need for courage, this year, we’ve centered the entire Colson Center National Conference around the theme of Courageous Faith. The conference will take place May 30 to June 2 in Arlington, Texas, at the brand-new Loews Arlington Hotel. The conference will explore the theme of courage with the aim of strengthening believers to live their faith courageously. Our speakers and breakouts will equip you to develop the kind of courage you need by displaying how to be agents of restoration right where God has placed you.
After quickly selling out earlier in the year, we are very excited to announce we’ve been able to acquire additional space and open an additional round of tickets. If you were hoping to come to CCNC ‘24 but missed your chance, here is your opportunity!
Those who attend will be connected with like-minded believers who are committed to living out their faith courageously in our time and place. Together, we can step into that same trajectory as that list of heroes in the book of Hebrews. We will be able to, as the author of Hebrews describes, spur one another on to “love and good works.”
The lineup of speakers this year shows the same courage in the public square. From Canadian palliative care physician Dr. Margaret Cottle to apologist Professor Sean McDowell to seminary president Dr. Albert Mohler, each of these individuals has demonstrated living out his and her faith in the public square while still treating others with decency and respect.
We will also host an optional Worldview Intensive Thursday night on courageous citizenship, an important emphasis for the coming election year. We’ll feature Father Calvin Robinson, who has bravely stood for truth in the United Kingdom; Rod Dreher, author of Live Not by Lies; and one of Dreher’s subjects, Kamila Bendová, a dissident in the former Communist Czechoslovakia, who will show us how to parent intentionally in the midst of anti-Christian state-mandated ideology. On Saturday night, we’ll present the 2024 Wilberforce Award to someone who exemplifies the same courage, principles, and passion exemplified by the great William Wilberforce: Hobby Lobby owners David and Barbara Green.