Some experiences are so overwhelming and rich that it is difficult to say what was the “best” or “most memorable” part. So, I’ve let it simmer for a few weeks and now feel more ready to reflect with you on my takeaways from the Fourth Lausanne Congress in South Korea.
It was a once in a lifetime, awe inspiring, faith-refueling, mission-focusing privilege. Thank you for praying and for those who contributed financially, you gave me a gift that is like a seed planted or a vision glimpsed or a foretaste to be savored. I now live with an expectancy of seeing God work and a longing for the Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you.
Here are five takeaways that I will expound on over time as the Spirit leads:
#1: God Wins!
There are simply too many Christians in too many places from too many different walks of life, fully engaged in advancing the Gospel in every way to everyone for the Liar to overcome the Truth of Jesus as The Way and The Life. If the Enemy ever tempted you to imagine there was ANY kind of real contest, let me assure you right now: God Wins!
The experience of prayer and fellowship and worship at L4 was all at once an experience of Pentecost (Acts 2) and the worship in the Kingdom in Revelation. God is getting His glory from people of every tribe and tongue and the Church is on the move in every direction, through every available avenue. Celebrate with me! God Wins!
#2 The world is both very big and very small.
The calling or challenge of L4 is that every Christ follower in every place will declare and display the Gospel of Jesus Christ, every moment, every day in every place to everyone. This happens as the world that has been reached, reaches into and across the gaps in coverage that now exist in fulfilling the Great Commission.
The bigness of the world was felt as I walked and ate and sang and listened among 5500 believers from more than 200 countries. The world is big – and the world is so very small. We are One in the Spirit, we are One in the Lord. God has people everywhere! And at the same time, there are people everywhere in the world who do not yet know Jesus.
#3. The Light is real and the darkness is real. Light and dark are categories that still matter.
The darkness continues to press in against the Light. It is something you FEEL in Korea. Christians in the South strain in prayer for those in the North.
The history of missionaries arriving and cycles of oppression and war, liberation, hope and tyranny are real. They are living with persecution in real time and they remember when Pyongyang Theological Seminary was founded by Samuel and Eileen Moffett in 1916. They remember when pastors were trained there. And they pray for the Light to penetrate there again.
#4. The Great Commission is yet to be accomplished and belongs to every Christian in every place and God calls and sends His people to and fro across the earth.
Word for the week: polycentric mission. Meaning, Jesus sent His followers to bear witness to the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And now, the Church is making laps! That’s how I think of polycentric mission. You can no longer point to one place on the globe and say, “the mission goes forth from here.” The mission – and missionaries – now emerge from everywhere and go everywhere. Like a starburst!
#5. It’s high time to mobilize and equip the 99% and to use every available technology to reach and teach.
Historically, participants in Lausanne Congresses have been people you would recognize as “missionaries,” “church planters,” “clergy.” They constitute 1% of Christians in the world. And the Great Commission belongs NOT to the 1% but to 100%. Which means that the 99% need to be mobilized, equipped and loosed in the workplace, in educational institutions, in the military, and at home. Moms need to be on mission in their homes and men and women need to be on mission whenever they are working outside the home.
Your ministry environment, your mission outpost, is your place of work. The people who are proximate to you throughout your day are the people God intends YOU to reach.
In the end, Lausanne is a process, not an event. It’s an invitation to come to a table and join together with other Christians interested in seeing the Great Commission advanced and accomplished. There are a few conversations started at L4 that are developing back at home, such as a conversation about generational evangelism and the need to collaborate across generations to genuinely reach the world today; how are we leading our kids in Christ and equipping them as missionaries in their schools? How are we equipping them to be missionaries online? And, how are we equipping the greatest generation by empowering them with digital tools to the missionaries who never leave home but go to all the world through digital technology? “How am I going to make my own mom a mentor to that girl I met from France?”
So, everyone who participated in L4 now has the experience and tools to draw together collaboratives in their own context. I’m doing it Oct 24-25 in Nashville. Others are doing it at Wheaton. I expect others are doing it in their places and spheres and online. Who is doing what to advance the Great Commission in your community, city or workplace? Where are the gaps? What ministries already exist to close those gaps and how do we collaborate with them? How do we invite them to this table in order that those who are not currently in the room – not currently Kingdom connected – will be the next time Lausanne gathers?
In 1974, Billy Graham, Frances Schaeffer, John Stott, Carl Henry and 2500 other evangelical Christians concerned with the Great Commission gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland. Ralph Winter introduced a term we all know and use: “unreached people groups.” They also identified gaps including the 10-40 window and Bible translation. Following that first gathering, Christian missions changed dramatically. Collaborations were forged and redundancies reduced because real relationships grew in the 10 days they spent together in worship and the Word. The gaps are different today. Technology is different. The challenges are different. But there are still unreached people and the Great Commission remains the primary calling of every Christian. L4 sought to gather, connect and mobilize a new generation of global Christians for the one and only thing we can do here that we cannot do in heaven: share the good news of the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ with everyone.
I’m in. How about you?
