Attending the Fourth Lausanne Congress in South Korea has been one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. I’ll be contemplating its significance for weeks and months to come. How can I capture the beauty of gathering with more than 5,000 believers—representatives from more than 200 nations—in a single room to worship the true and living God together? Nothing I say here could do the experience justice. Still, I’d like to offer a few reflections on the Congress, along with thoughts on the Seoul Statement and the future of evangelical mission work around the world.
Over the past 50 years, the Lausanne Movement has been the catalyst for key shifts in global evangelical mission strategy. The first Lausanne Congress in 1974 laid the foundation for pursuing unreached people groups with the gospel and drafted a Covenant that has proven highly influential among evangelical churches and organizations. The gathering in Manila in 1989 emphasized cross-cultural ministry and contextualization in church planting, while directing attention to the 10/40 window. At Cape Town in 2010, the Congress reinforced the integration of evangelism (gospel proclamation) and social action (gospel demonstration), a perspective that has become foundational to many evangelical efforts today.
Polycentric Mission
One of the most evident takeaways from this year’s Congress is polycentric mission—mission activity is now a truly global endeavor, with people being sent from everywhere to everywhere. This concept, foreseen by missiologists at Cape Town in 2010, has now become reality. The era of missions being led predominantly by North America and Europe has passed; the global church has taken up the mantle, sending and supporting mission work across every continent. A few examples: One of my table mates from Kenya shared about his support for mission work in other areas of Africa. I got the chance to meet René Breuel, a missionary from Brazil now serving in Italy (whose book on the paradox of happiness is terrific). And, of course, the Korean church stands as a testament to the shifting paradigm, being one of the largest senders of missionaries outside North America.
This shift has profound implications for the church’s approach to mission. No longer should we see ourselves as primarily sending from the West to the rest. The reality now is that churches everywhere—whether in Nairobi or New York, São Paulo or Seoul—increasingly understand their role in advancing the gospel. Missions isn’t a Western export; it’s a shared calling of the whole church to bring the whole gospel to the whole world.
Along these lines, Sarah Breuel’s message to delegates was a highlight for me. She described the ways God is at work across the globe, and she urged each continent to engage wholeheartedly in the mission to proclaim and embody God’s grace. To North America, she warned about losing our boldness in missions, in part due to the notion that the missionary movement was just the product of colonialism. To a discouraged Europe, she called for a shift in perspective, reframing today’s challenges not merely as “post-Christian” but as “pre-revival.” I remember Tim Keller acknowledging we have yet to see a revival in a post-Christian context, while emphasizing the word yet, since every revival is unprecedented . . . until it happens. With God, the impossible is possible.
Conversations Across Contexts
The Congress was marked by rich and enlightening conversations with colleagues from around the world. As a table group leader, I had the privilege of meeting with my group multiple times a day. Our table included participants from Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, and India. The latter was a converted Sikh who introduced himself by saying, “A greater Seeker found me.” When I asked him when he was “found,” he replied, “Before the foundation of the world!” Such encounters deepened my connection and appreciation for those who worship the same Lord as I do.
As expected in any large gathering covering so many complex issues, some presentations resonated well with participants while others provoked consternation. There were the expected calls to reach the next generation, challenges toward a stronger focus on discipleship, integrity in leadership, and the connection of the gospel to its implications. A couple presentations on justice-related issues would have been stronger if they’d been more not less holistic, going beyond causes that (in Western contexts at least) code “left” instead of “right.” If it’s true that Christianity blows up manmade categories—holding tightly to principles that political coalitions apply only selectively—then it’s a miss when a speaker who devotes attention to a litany of unjust atrocities in the world doesn’t see the scourge of abortion as a significant injustice that must be named.
One of the highlights of the week was participating in a collaboration session with dozens of believers from around the world on the topic of gender and sexuality, specifically how this issue presents a “gap” that impacts our efforts in evangelism and discipleship. My table included participants from England, Canada, the Netherlands, Ghana, Malawi, and Greece. An interesting debate broke out on the second day, because, while the majority immediately saw “gender and sexuality” and assumed we’d be focusing on LGBT-related challenges, a handful of people, primarily from Africa and Asia, chose the topic because they wanted to explore the relationships between men and women and broader issues related to marriage and family. We debated whether to realign into different groups based on those broader issues, but in the end decided to keep everyone where they were. This diversity pushed the conversation beyond cultural flashpoints, prompting a deeper examination of Christianity’s theology of the body—what it means to be made in God’s image as male and female. Such dialogue underscores the need for a more profound, biblically rooted framework that can speak to these challenges in every context.
Seoul Statement and a Theology of the Body
It’s no surprise the Seoul Statement generated considerable discussion, including praise for its presentation of the gospel story and guidance in biblical interpretation. (See my highlights.) Its emphasis on human anthropology and a biblical view of sexuality also struck a chord, highlighting the urgent need for a robust theology of the body amid ongoing debates over gender and sexuality. While some criticized the statement for overemphasizing this issue, I believe the drafters were wise to direct their attention here. The questions What does it mean to be human? and What is the meaning of our bodies? are essential. The statement’s focus on these themes isn’t merely a response to Western cultural controversies. From my conversations with believers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, it’s clear these issues are being debated worldwide.
Yet the rollout of the Seoul Statement wasn’t without its challenges. Within a short span of time, a paragraph on the church’s failures toward believers who experience same-sex attraction underwent revision, with the removal of the notion that church failures could be attributed to “ignorance” (which likely received pushback from African churches) or mere “discrimination” (a term critiqued, rightly in my view, by Korean church leaders who recognize its shift from a discipleship-focused perspective to legal connotations). The incorporation of edits raised the question of further amendments and the process of revision. I recommended the addition of a single sentence that would reiterate Lausanne’s historic commitment to evangelism as a “chief concern” (Manila 1989), especially when in parts of the world most marked primarily by relativism and pluralism, Christian presence and practice is welcomed, while proclamation is not.
Many will continue to offer feedback, but frankly, I hope the Statement doesn’t change much more from this point on. I sympathize with the leaders of the Theology Working Group, Ivor Poobalan and Victor Nakah, in grappling with so many perspectives. Having been part of committees responsible for resolutions or charged with wordsmithing certain documents, I know the headaches associated with trying to make sure you’re comprehensive and concise, not to mention clear-headed amid critique.
Despite the concerns expressed over its rollout, I’m grateful for the Seoul Statement and pray it will become a vital resource for the church. It grounds its anthropology in the biblical story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, reminding us the Christian vision isn’t reactionary but a positive proclamation of God’s good design for humanity.
Holding Together Evangelism and Social Action
One of the ongoing challenges for Lausanne—and indeed for global evangelicalism—is maintaining a proper emphasis on both evangelism and social action. The history of the modern missions movement shows a trajectory of downplaying evangelism and conversion in favor of social action. Unless you beat the drum of evangelism and discipleship, you lose that drum over time.
John Stott and Billy Graham themselves weren’t on the same page as to what the focus of Lausanne would be. Looking at Lausanne today, it’s clear Stott won that debate. But perhaps Lausanne would benefit from more of Graham’s reticence to extend the organization’s focus to everything good the church might be involved in. Even though on the question of holistic mission I’m more of a Stott-guy myself, I felt the burden of Graham at this Congress. Lausanne would do well in the future to tighten up its areas of focus to the issues most closely related to world mission, discipleship, and the evangelization of unreached people groups so that this central aspect doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of so many competing priorities.
One way for Lausanne to stay on track would be to reiterate the apostolic teaching on Christ’s return to judge the living and the dead—the notion of eternal stakes in accepting or rejecting Christ—as one of the central motivations for urgency in evangelism. Though the Cape Town Commitment is right to ground our evangelistic fervor in love, not in the threat of eternal judgment, the latter aspect mustn’t go missing from our proclamation, lest we no longer sound like Jesus, whose teaching struck this note of warning much more often than this Lausanne Congress did.
Vision for the Future
Despite the challenges, what stood out most from the Fourth Lausanne Congress was the glorious messiness of people all around the world coming together. Discussion and debate is one of the great lessons of Lausanne over the years. Collaboration doesn’t happen without some measure of conflict. Doug Birdsall’s telling of Lausanne’s history shows how the whole movement began with and has endured conflict from the start. What’s important is to avoid controversies that fail to speak to the substantive issues under the surface.
The global church is a multifaceted multicultural phenomenon. I wept during many of the worship services (led primarily by a well-known Korean band called Isaiah 6tyOne, and the Gettys), standing side by side with so many believers from so many parts of the world, our hands raised high in worship of our Triune God. I don’t know that I’ll ever recite the Apostles’ Creed line about “the communion of saints” the same way. Walking through the halls, especially on the day when many wore the traditional dress of their native countries, I was deeply moved by the rich variety of cultures on display, something that made me homesick for a home I’ve yet to encounter—the new heavens and new earth, where every tribe and nation will bring their cultural tributes to the feet of King Jesus.
Another highlight was meeting with readers from Ethiopia, Kenya, India, and Korea who shared how my work has affected their lives and ministries. These conversations gave me a fresh perspective on my writing and filled me with resolve to look beyond the North American horizon to the needs of the global church.
The Fourth Lausanne Congress reminded me that no matter how crazy the world seems right now, the church is going to be fine. God’s people are alive, thriving, and pressing forward—everywhere to everywhere—with the good news of Jesus Christ. Even amid the disagreements and controversies, the Spirit of God is at work, drawing people to himself and uniting his people for the task ahead.
Let the church declare and display Christ together!
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