In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the primary Lausanne congress held in Switzerland from July 16-25, 1974, the Lausanne Movement held a web based event on July 25 celebrating God’s faithfulness and the legacy of the movement, and searching ahead on the fourth Congress in September in Seoul, Korea.
The International Congress on World Evangelization, which was held in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974, was a landmark event for evangelicals who called for a renewed give attention to evangelism. Led by Billy Graham and John Stott, the congress featured voices from leaders who modified the considering in and direction of missions, including Ralph D. Winter, Samuel Escobar and René Padilla.
The resulting Lausanne Covenant, which was a declaration “intended to define the need, responsibilities, and goals of spreading the Gospel”, continues to influence Christian organizations today as many ministries use it as their Statement of Faith.
Welcoming near 800 online participants, Lausanne’s Global Executive Director and CEO, Rev. Michael Oh, said he was reminded of a John Stott quote where the late theologian said, “many a conference has resembled a fireworks display. It has made a loud noise and illuminates the sky for a number of temporary good seconds. What is exciting about Lausanne is that its fire continues to set off other fires.”
He referenced Psalm 89:2Â and Deuteronomy 8:2Â as he spoke about “the faithfulness of God and the pursuit of faithfulness by his people” over the past half century.
He then went on to focus on three particular sorts of faithfulness that stood out to him as he reflected on the fiftieth anniversary.
“Number one, biblical faithfulness. Honestly, without this as our place to begin, perhaps no other faithfulness matters, but we’re grateful for the faithfulness of the movement to the word of God and the way this also has influenced biblical faithfulness for the worldwide Church,” he said.
He pointed to the statements coming out of every event, including the Lausanne Covenant, the Manila Manifesto, the Cape Town Commitment “and the soon to be released Seoul Statement as well”.
Secondly, he spoke about relational faithfulness. “Friendships that began with Billy Graham and John Stott and so many others through the years. These are friendships which have bridged generations, denominations, organizations, schools, cultures, regions and more. And these have allowed for the fantastic variety and variety of the body of Christ to not be a cause for a division, but as a substitute for even greater beauty and strength.”
And finally, the third one was missional faithfulness. Oh pointed to the 8,000 unreached people groups which were reached with the gospel by the worldwide Church since Ralph D. Winter’s historic address at the primary Lausanne Congress. He also celebrated “the mobilization of collaborative partnerships to translate the Bible into every language that was sparked on the second Lausanne Congress and so far more.”
“And through this all and greater than the rest, we rejoice today the faithfulness of God,” he said.
Shift in global Christianity
Doug Birdsall, who led Lausanne as its executive chairman from 2004 to 2013 and continues as one in every of the honorary co-chairs today, then spoke about his memories, pointing to the Lausanne Younger Leaders Conference in Singapore in 1987 as the place to begin.
Naming several big evangelical figures who were present on the event at the moment, he said, “I used to be sort of amazed the best way those leaders that we admired so greatly, they simply frolicked with us younger leaders in very creative ways. None of them spoke. They were there to encourage us to assist develop us.”
“I often speak of the best way Billy Graham talked in regards to the spirit of Lausanne is a spirit of friendship and humility and study and prayer and partnership and hope, and my life has been greatly enriched by that,” he said.
Birdsall also spoke a couple of moment in his life where he realized the shifts in global missions that saw the influence move away from the Global North to the Global South where Christianity had grown exponentially over the previous a long time.
He admitted experiencing a crisis of purpose during a visit through several Asian countries in 1990. During his last stop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he shared along with his friend Ajith Fernando, a well known Sri Lankan evangelical leader, that he was discouraged by those that were saying “the day of the North American missionary is over.”
But Fernando’s response shifted his perspective, as he reminded Birdsall that “the Great Commission is for each church and each culture and each generation” and that everybody “must work out how we contribute to that”.
The whole gospel
Valdir Steuernagel from Brazil said that although the primary Lausanne Congress was held in 1974, “it was firstly of ’76 when Lausanne arrived in Brazil.”
“It arrived has the spirit of Lausanne, because the covenant of Lausanne. It arrived along with among the leadership of Lausanne and the methodology, the understanding and the practice of mission of Lausanne,” he said, highlighting the mission congress that 12 months, which was sponsored by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and was “inspired by Lausanne”.
“The whole gospel for the entire person made absolute sense to us,” Steuernagel said. “To us who were praying, searching a gospel and a Christian life with the flavour of Jesus and which might impact our society with the touch of the dominion of God. And that sort of emphasis, the centrality of the gospel, the message of the dominion, the collaborative sense of doing mission got here a lot to us from Lausanne as we lived inside the spirit of Lausanne.”
Several other speakers from Africa, Asia and Oceania shared their very own stories and testimonies how they were influenced by events organized by the Lausanne Movement over time.
A latest generation of leaders from Seoul 2024
Finally, Rev. Ramez Atallah, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Egypt who chaired this system committee for the third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town in 2010, closed the web event in prayer.
He thanked God for “50 years of faithfulness” acknowledging that “it wasn’t us, it wasn’t human effort, it was divine guidance”. He expressed his gratitude for the previous leaders in Lausanne and prayed for a latest generation of leaders to come back out of Seoul 2024.
“As we look ahead to the longer term, we pray that out of this coming Congress will come a latest vision for world evangelization, latest leaders who will take us into areas and directions that we cannot imagine,” he prayed.
Before concluding the event, Rev. Oh offered some closing remarks and specifically asked for prayer in the ultimate days leading as much as the Congress. He acknowledged that many individuals have faced financial difficulties to attend the Congress while others have struggled with obtaining visas. And he asked for prayer for defense and health for all those involved and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
“Our hope for the Congress is basically captured within the theme of the Congress, ‘let the Church declare and display Christ together’. And moderately than simply our hope for the Congress, it’s our hope for what happens after the Congress. We long to see the body of Christ activated rising up together in conviction, unity, effectiveness, passion and faithfulness.”
The fourth Lausanne Congress can be held in Incheon near Seoul, South Korea, from September 22-28, 2024. Up to five,000 participants are expected onsite, in addition to 5,000 who join online to have interaction in conversations on contemporary missional issues.
© Christian Daily International
