Virtually every college or university touts its capabilities to produce leaders, men and women who will provide vision, energy, and competence to transform society and culture in some way or other. In recent years, Christian colleges have been especially interested in this focus, and some have even made this the centerpiece of their mission statements: “________ College produces leaders!” The underlying idea is that the church and the cause of Jesus Christ need more characters such as William Wilberforce who take on the challenges of living and leading Christianly in the broader culture, so that the values of the Kingdom of God would permeate every dimension of human life and work.

In one sense this is clearly acceptable and laudable: Christians throughout the ages have been God’s instruments in bringing profound impact for good. We rightly take joy in Wilberforce’s relentless drive to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire, and we also rightly acknowledge others across the centuries who have provided leadership not only in government but also in the arts, in business, in education, in significant religious movements, and in justice and mercy. Click to continue »