Civil society is very hard to define because it involves both philosophical idea and structural form. One can define civil society based on his/her idea of what civility means, such as freedom, justice, and equality. Or, one can define it as public organization outside the government and the private sector or business. We combine those two definitions here.
Civil society organizations are motivated by divine and transcendence ideals; while government and business main concern are power and money. Because power and money tend to corrupt, the presence of civil society is needed to guard the institutions of government and business. The civil society organization fights corruption by challenging the wrong policies and by supplying next generation leaders in those institutions. Many times, the civil society fails because of intense pressure and inability to generate leaders with character and integrity worthy for its cause. The failure of civil society ultimately will result in the deterioration of both the government and businesses.
We, as part of civil society community, failed miserably as revealed by the speakers during OMC XIII. We had infighting among ourselves; while some of us serving in government and businesses are perpetrating the corruption and the injustice to gain more power and wealth. We did not fulfill our priestly and prophetic duties to lift the suffering and voice the truth. Instead, our church and other civil society organization leaders adopted the practice and idea from the government and business leaders.
The theme of OMC XIII highlighted that as Christian intellectuals we had a stake in the vitality of our civil society and thus the health of our government and businesses. We realized that we had to engage not only in the church or civil society but also in government and businesses for 2 primary reasons. One, we have to lead by serving like Jesus did. It was not enough to just criticize or point finger on the rotten tomatoes. We needed to show that negative impacts of rotten and sinful behaviors. Second, long lasting impact had to touch the heart and renewed the mind. As we struggled together alongside others already in government and businesses, we would be able to bear that our hearts rest and will always be in the hand of our Lord Jesus.
OMC XIII in 2006 was critical for FICA because it helped us to see the big picture clearly and enabled us to determine the main challenge. The main challenge is us. We, as Christians, do not model Christ either by staying in the sideline or by participating in corrupt practices. We cannot be like King Solomon that failed to disciple his heir, Rehoboam. King Solomon failure was not because of the lack of resources or wisdom, but because of his inability to transform the heart of Rehoboam. Rehoboam showed without doubt where his heart lay was very far from God. The only way King Solomon could change the heart of his son was by modeling what it meant to follow God. Clearly, King Solomon did not do both. King Solomon showed that his heart was concerned about worldly things and because of that he did not concern about being good role model to his son.