2026 Chicago Conversation: Can Christians Be Leaders?
Anthenaeum Center, Paradiso Room, 2936 N Southport Ave. Chicago, IL 60657
First Things is pleased to announce Aaron Renn will join editor R. R. Reno for the 2026 Chicago Conversation to discuss “Can Christians Be Leaders?” The event will take place Monday, April 20 at 6:30 p.m at the Athenaeum Center. Their discussion will extrapolate from Renn’s December essay in First Things on evangelical elite formation and leadership outside the church.
Aaron Renn is a writer and consultant in Indianapolis, and author of the book “Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture.” His writing appears in a number of leading global publications, including First Things, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and others.
Called “a kind of Malcolm Gladwell of conservative Christianity” by the New York Times, Renn is an opinion leading, market moving thinker and writer on American culture. His “three worlds” framework describing the decline of Christianity in America has become the “dominant framework” (NYT) many people use to understand this moment. It was called “among the most thought-provoking ideas pertaining to American evangelicalism this century,” by Christianity Today.
He’s a Senior Fellow at American Reformer, a former Senior Fellow in urban policy at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and a former Managing Director at Accenture.
To read Renn’s articles in First Things, click here.
Please register for the event here.
