God at Davos

Limousines inched down crowded Promenade Street where storefronts had all been transformed into temporary corporate “houses”—hosted by companies like META, Google, and The Wall Street Journal—for the week of the World Economic Forum (WEF), when leaders of government, industry, and philanthropy descend on Davos, Switzerland.

For 55 years, WEF has brought together the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people in a bid to influence each other as well as the direction of societal trends and the global economy.

But this year, in the middle of this glitzy see-and-be-seen arena, Christians came to wield a different kind of influence. Local groups have long organized prayer meetings on the sidelines of WEF, but this year the House of God had its debut in a joint effort between founder Nicoleta Acatrinei and the local Swiss congregation of the Evangelical Free Church.

“Religion is more than belief,” Acatrinei says. “It’s a foundational ­operating system for societies, shaping values, decisions, and behaviors for millennia.” In a rapidly transforming world, Acatrinei says ignoring worldview is detrimental.

The wide range of speakers from across the European Christian landscape in political, business, technology, charity, and health sectors showed the organizers’ desire for faith to impact the public square. Speakers from the Institute for Family Europe, the Foundation for the Family, the International Society for Human Rights, and the European Centre for Law and Justice participated in panel discussions with titles like “Faith, Finance, and Economy,” “The Role of Family and of Civil Society,” and “Faith, AI, and Sustainability.”

Next to the House of God, the privately funded USA House set up headquarters in Davos’ old English-speaking church. Programming there combined themes of American greatness at its 250th anniversary with the desire to bring a Christian faith back to the public sphere. Richard Stromback, the longtime Davos organizer tasked with putting together the USA House, recommitted to his faith with a public baptism service two years ago. That reawakened faith came into play when planning the USA House’s speaker lineup, which included National Association of Evangelicals President Walter Kim.

Stromback spokesman Joshua Brockner said prayer was part of the planning: “We asked ourselves, ‘How can we layer that faith aspect into panels on finance and cybersecurity and AI?’”

This year Brockner was shocked at a shift in conversations. “The energy was different,” he said. “There was humility and vulnerability. In the middle of conversations about business goals and projections, suddenly people said, ‘This is my faith, this is what I believe.’”

By the train station, away from the main WEF hustle, Youth With a Mission (YWAM) hosted daily prayer and worship sessions called Salt & Light. YWAM has previously hosted candlelight prayer vigils during the Davos meeting week, but this year it expanded efforts, including a public café and panel discussions on topics related to WEF.

During the Thursday prayer time, international ministry leader Benjamin Moses reminded attendees that power is given not to abuse, but to serve, and that’s why being present at WEF is important: “We’re serving people who make world impact that can be for good or bad. That’s why God’s people need to be everywhere, to influence those making decisions.”

All three groups are already making plans to expand their efforts at next year’s WEF.