Global mission leaders gather

“Can you tell me your greatest legacy as an evangelist?” an aging Billy Graham was once asked.

His answer: “Lausanne.”

From September 22-28, over 5,000 Christian leaders from more than 200 countries gathered in South Korea for the 50th anniversary gathering of Lausanne. It was a rich variety of nationalities, traditions and languages (even though everything was in English, with headsets for others). The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization is its full title, and the preconference reading was a document entitled The State of the Great Commission Report. Started by Billy Graham and John Stott, this congress has Western evangelical origins but truly transnational ambitions for mission worldwide.

I flew to Seoul on September 17 as part of my work for Global Scholars Canada. I was truly overwhelmed by the experience. Although it was an emotionally charged week, I would say my overall impressions were quite positive. It was humbling to be among such dedicated Christians, many working in lonely, poor or persecuted places on the planet. It was also tremendously enriching to meet so many diverse people from across the planet: we were all seated at tables in a giant auditorium and my table consisted of people from Uruguay, Malaysia, Norway, India and the USA. In the hallways I took up conversations with people from such places as Nepal, Latvia, Belarus, Kenya, Malawi, the UK, Kazakhstan, Israel, Denmark, China. My favourite was meeting Daniel, a young theology student from The Gambia! In fact, that there were some 100 delegates from China was a first for a Lausanne gathering. I hope their voice was heard, even if their photographs were not taken.

Blood and tears

One day was dedicated to the persecuted church, and all participants were asked not to take any photos as people gave testimonies from China, sub-Saharan Africa, Iran and India. Over 50 countries were named in a solemn ceremony that acknowledged Christians who are persecuted, tortured and killed primarily for their faith in Jesus. It is a universe away from our consumer religion practices in the West.

God’s mission has two parts

Lausanne had all the trappings you can expect from an evangelical conference: enthusiastic singing, mostly of praise and worship songs coming from Western sources, although sometimes a verse would be sung in another language like Korean or Spanish; an emphasis on prayer, especially spontaneous prayers; a general egalitarianism, with few bishops present and more celebrities, like Rick Warren and the Getty family band; many reminiscences of the great revival moments around the world where conversions came in large numbers, an emphasis on church planting. There were some dramatic comments from the front from time to time about “unreached people groups” and “every hour 4,000 people perish in the darkness of hell,” but not as a rule.

Some things one may not anticipate when the focus is on the Great Commission more than the Greatest Commandment or the Cultural Mandate: a constant reminder that God’s mission is both evangelism and social action, spiritual care and justice work. There were stirring presentations on subjects like climate change, social justice, sexual ethics and a personal account given from the underworld of sex trafficking. There was little time given to discuss these arresting speeches, but they did remind all those present that the demands of love and care for others are pressing in on the church from many sides.

Furthermore, one of the strongest themes of the conference was collaboration, and we worked in groups focused on 25 “gaps” in the Great Commission. While this is too many to establish any sort of strategic focus, it is noteworthy that many of these gaps have to do with social issues like AI, sexuality and gender, secularism, Islam, religious freedom and holistic health (think of the plague of mental illness in the modern world). I was in a working group on “developing leaders of character”– brainstorming about ways to mitigate our scandal-ridden church. So the gathering had a wide focus on what mission means in this deeply troubled, topsy-turvy world.

Hope in technology?

“We must embrace and utilize the digital,” said CEO of the Lausanne Movement, Michael Oh. “It is not the answer but a tool,” he added, emphasizing stewardship. He spoke of “intelligent recommendation engines” to help forward global mission. While the Seoul Statement (a theological manifesto generated for the congress) seems a little less enthusiastic about technology, there was an implicit embrace of the power of the technical in mission.

A whole digital future display was set up in the convention centre with tech company displays and personnel filling the space to consult with congress delegates. One of the motivations named at the outset was that people of the next generation are born and live within this digital world, so in order to reach them, we need to navigate the same space. This is my concern, however: are they “digital natives” or digital prisoners? If a people group is captive, is not the natural response to be emancipation? If they are living disembodied lives, is not the solution embodiment? We know the new devices affect everything from mental health to social isolation and even nearsightedness – is this the extent of our missional imagination today, that technology becomes our medium of choice?

Technology, strategy, new hardware and software – these all have a place, but the current state of the planet requires adaptive, cultural changes, not so much technical innovation. Technology is as much the problem as the solution.

Evangelism and ecumenism

Jacob, a retired pediatrician from Southern India, said it was good to be at Lausanne to meet people from around the world “struggling with the same issues of how to live in a multicultural society and still be a clear and authentic witness for Christ.”

Then he added, “But this should be more ecumenical. I’m surprised there are so many Pentecostals here but no Catholics.”

Indeed, the evangelicals who operate at the core of Lausanne actively court Pentecostal Christians, the fastest growing part of Christianity today. Some speakers emphasized this collaborative partnership and told stories of getting together in mission. But Catholic, Orthodox and mainline churches – which make up over 80 percent of Christians today – are not officially part of the Lausanne endeavour.

One might argue that there is already enough difference to navigate when 200 countries are present, and so some doctrinal and spiritual affinity make sense. There are other groups that tend to be more representative of the whole of Christianity – maybe the World Council of Churches with its 352 member churches comes closer, though it leans toward more mainline (liberal) denominations. At WCC the emphasis is different – less on evangelism and more on ecumenism, interfaith relations and social justice. When the WCC met in Korea in 2013, conservative Korean churches protested it. Polarization is global.

A clearer sense of the tasks ahead

There is no doubt that the American presence and leadership at Lausanne remains central. American delegates were by far the most numerous attendees and most prominent on the stage. When we were asked to discuss at our tables what we need to confess in our local Christian circles, one Global South representative immediately said, “We struggle with negative feelings toward the American church. They have dominated too much of our Christian mission.” Then he added, “We are trying to recognize that we are brothers and sisters, and not ‘us’ and ‘them.’”

A prerequisite to global mission is reconciliation. This was a constant theme, right up to the last moment on the last day when we did communion, led by two pastors: one Korean, one Japanese. There is history there.

Overall, this congress gave me a deeper sense of the diversity and dynamism of global evangelicalism. I also developed a new recognition of the shared experience of the malaise of secularism, church decline and faith deconstruction that is corroding the older established church around the world – including such places as Uruguay and South Korea.

This suggests a clearer sense of the task that lies ahead of the church in such contexts: how to partner together across the secularized milieu of our planet to dream in fresh ways of how the good news and its herald the church might offer a wired and weary culture some of the healing, help and hope it so desperately needs. A balm that originates and flows from nothing less than God’s grace in Jesus Christ.