The Lausanne Movement has just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on the Lausanne 4 Congress in Incheon, South Korea. Christian Today spoke to Lausanne Honorary Co-Chair, Doug Birdsall, about among the challenges for Christians today and what is perhaps next for the movement.
What do you are feeling most grateful for once you look back during the last 50 years of Lausanne?
I just feel grateful that Lausanne has continued to prioritise rigorous study and considering on the one hand, and strategic motion on the opposite. It’s a matter of using the brains and minds that God has given us, and in search of to grasp how we are able to best steward those gifts and exercise the opportunities He brings our way.
I appreciate the indisputable fact that Lausanne may be very strong on theology, as we see within the Lausanne Covenant. At the identical time, Lausanne may be very light on its feet and has never tried to develop into a giant organisation, which makes it agile in responding to recent opportunities.
I also appreciate that Lausanne is absolutely generous in its spirit; whatever we now have, we share. And the indisputable fact that Lausanne has helped the Church discover a balance between proclamation of the Gospel and incarnation of the Gospel – balancing proclamation evangelism with an illustration of compassion to the poor and the needy.
What do you’re thinking that are among the biggest challenges for the Church on the earth today?
One of the largest challenges is to do with human sexuality – what does it mean to be a person or a girl? The world has lost its bearings on this and we’re being taught to affirm something that’s to date out of God’s plan. How will we articulate our convictions on this issue with clarity, persuasiveness and compassion? In so many places, it’s quickly labelled as hate speech and folks pay a price for it, so we now have to work out the right way to try this.
The second thing when it comes to human identity pertains to among the questions being raised by artificial intelligence, like what it means to be an embodied person versus some type of a technology. Those are really huge challenges.
I used to be born within the 50s and it was just just a few years after the top of World War II, which was the war to make the world protected for democracy, and now we see that being challenged. How did people like Mussolini and Hitler come to power? It was because they ate up things that were happening in society. There’s a lot unrest on the earth today and the way is it that we now have so many bad people being elected in what were very stable parts of the world like Europe and North America?
What we as Christians have to organize for is how we live under individuals who threaten our rights. There’s a way inside parts of the American Christian Right that if we are able to just get enough power in the federal government then we are able to use it for society and get society to do what we would like, but in the long run society resists and it backfires. The query as a substitute is: how can we live in such a way that the federal government acknowledges our right to operate as a redemptive unit? Those are big challenges for us.
Lausanne is firstly a world mission movement. On the balance of things, are you kind of hopeful concerning the fulfilment of the Great Commission?
For a few years I used to be an optimist and I’ve since moved from being an optimist to being an individual of hope. On the surface they give the impression of being quite similar but I’ve come to understand that optimism is essentially a function of personality and more to do with being a cheerful person. I’ve been through some experiences in life which have made me less optimistic but more hopeful.
The Apostle Paul was the good missionary and theologian of the early church and it’s interesting that he ends his biggest book, Romans, talking about hope: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, in order that you might overflow with hope by the facility of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NIV).
Isn’t it interesting that Paul, because the leader of this tiny little sect, was by some means making Caesar nervous? And within the midst of that, Paul was saying: be hopeful. I believe within the US it’s probably going to get harder – as an American I can hardly imagine we’re fascinated with potential instability and social unrest at an election, and the mistrust in the essential institutions may be very concerning to me – but at the identical time, we will be more hopeful.
The people of God have been in a position to survive in all types of socio-economic conditions so while I believe it is going to get harder for the Church I’m hopeful that God will proceed to lift up men and girls who may have courage, vision and wisdom to steer us.
The next phase of Lausanne’s work will construct towards 2050. What is your hope for Lausanne looking forward to that point?
Personally, I believe it’s hard to project out that far since the world changes a lot and so fast. When we left Lausanne 2 in 1989, no one could have anticipated the collapse of Communism. In just a few years the world had modified dramatically and it was shocking and earth-shattering. Then once we left Lausanne 3 in Cape Town in 2010, nobody could have anticipated the Arab Spring.
But a recent conversation involves mind. This person didn’t know much about evangelicalism but he did find out about Billy Graham and he asked me if there was anyone alive today like him. I said, not that I do know of, however it could thoroughly be that there may be someone somewhere on the earth who remains to be in highschool or college or out preaching somewhere tonight who’s being shaped and ready for igniting renewal.
The thing about revival is that it all the time comes as a surprise. No one ever says revival got here on such and such a date because they planned it that way. Our part, because the people of God, is to be humble, hopeful and faithful to Scripture, because revival is as much concerning the character of who we’re. Christlikeness and our giftings are vital but these cannot be fully activated unless we now have a heart that is in tune with God and inflamed with a passion for God.
So authentic Christian living is absolutely vital, and for that we want faithful Christian teaching. I pray for more people like John Stott who were so sensible and trusted by virtually everybody. And I hope that in the same way Lausanne could possibly be a mediator that has the trust of individuals and is understood for its humility, its generosity, and the strength of its ideas and convictions.
But one other thing so as to add is that fulfilling the Great Commission isn’t only about checking off groups we’ve not reached yet. We also must take into consideration how we renew the places which have already heard the Gospel, because we are able to check off a complete bunch of places after which find that abruptly Europe and America have turned away from the Gospel. There’s a saying amongst Reformed churches: ‘the Church reformed, all the time reforming.’ The Reformed Church must continually reform and in the identical vein, my hope is that we might live out effective submission and authenticity of life.
You’ve been in many alternative leadership positions over time. Sadly, it looks like we now have had so many bad leaders these days, each inside and out of doors the Church. What lessons have you ever learned about being a very good Christian leader?
Good Christian leaders recognise that each one that they do is for the glory of God and never for themselves. They realise that each one that they’ve – their gifts and abilities – are gifts of God to be stewarded for God’s glory and to point people to Him. That’s not false humility; it is a healthy sense of who God is that recognises we are able to do that only due to Him.
I actually have an exquisite mentor who’s 84 and remains to be starting recent things. When I used to be younger, he would tell me there is not any limit to what we are able to do for the glory of God if we do not care who gets the credit. Now, that would sound like a cliché, but once you watch the person live that out like I’ve watched with him during the last 45 years, I can see how true it’s.
Some Christian leaders all the time wish to be front and centre, however the individuals who must be on the front are the young people, because they’re the long run.
During Lausanne 4, you and other ‘elders’ of the movement spoke concerning the importance of constructing way for the subsequent generation. How do you are feeling as an older Christian who has reached that stage in life and ministry where you might be beginning to step back and pass on the baton to the subsequent generation of leaders. Is it difficult?
Yes and no. I used to be talking to someone today about my age they usually said ‘you are not old’. But I’m, I am unable to deny it. I’m now 71 and most of the people at this age are beginning to move out of organisational leadership. That does not imply I would like to simply sit in a rocking chair and pine for the old days, but what it does mean is that I’m considering more about: how can I take my life experience and share it back? Because I used to be a child once, too, and folks took a likelihood on me and believed in me. So my desire now’s to offer away all of my wealth – and my wealth is absolutely all of my experience from life. I do not know the way a few years I actually have left but I have the desire to make them count.
Do you are feeling the preciousness of time?
Yes, I feel the preciousness of time – thankfully not the pressure of time! When you are young, you’re thinking that a lot about getting things done and counting what number of projects you have finished. I haven’t got that type of pressure on me anymore and that is given me the liberty to spend time meeting and talking to people without rushing on to the subsequent thing. So I’m loving this stage of life. And that features being a grandparent to my grandchildren who’re aged three months to 13 years. It’s wonderful to have the option to do all of the things that grandparents do and help my children raise their children.
