On the United Nations’ International Anti-Corruption Day on Thursday 9 December from 09.00-11.00 EST (see your time zone), the Global Network on Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIN) held an online conference titled ‘Integrity—Fighting the Evil of Corruption’.
Highlighting the role of the church in fighting corruption, speakers included Manfred Kohl (Co-Catalyst, GIN) on ‘Integrity Begins with Me’; David Bennet (Global Associate Director of Collaboration and Content, Lausanne Movement) on ‘The Church: A bastion of integrity and a bulwark against corruption’; Thomas Schirrmacher (Secretary General, WEA) on ‘A Global Strategy against Corruption’; and Livia Krings (Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, UN Office of Drugs and Crime), who presented UN initiatives on anti-corruption. WEA Global Ambassador and GIN Co-Catalyst Bishop Efraim Tendero moderated the conference.
Based on the biblical perspective on integrity and reflecting God’s call for his people to live righteously, speakers explored practical responses beginning at the personal level, then within the church, and up to a global strategy to respond to corruption, which the UN describes as ‘a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries’.
The conference was the third in a series of online events organized by GIN, a joint initiative of the WEA and the Lausanne Movement that together educate and mobilize their members to address the issue of corruption in society. The conference built on the success of the two previous conferences that brought together evangelical leaders from some 70 countries, focusing on ‘strategies for living in integrity’ and ‘anti-corruption: perspectives and practices’.