It has only been a few months since the Fourth Lausanne Congress, but even so, the ripple effects of the Congress are being felt across the world. Last month a contingent of South African participants from three major cities, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, gathered to connect, reflect, and pray with one another. At each meeting, these leaders shared stories and testimonies of how God has worked in and through them since their time at the Congress.
I want to share just three stories that were shared at these gatherings that have personally inspired me and demonstrate how God has already begun catalyzing the South African church toward accelerating His global mission.
Each of these stories remind me of Jesus’ promise to empower all believers with the Holy Spirit to become his witnesses in “Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Inspiring a Denomination with a Vision for Mission
Sophia Roman – Assemblies of God
Sophia Roman shared how her Congress experience inspired her entire denomination in global mission. Years ago, Sophia became the first mission mobilizer for the Assemblies of God in Southern Africa, and she has long since felt a burden to see her church and denomination move beyond prayer and into action. Yet even she couldn’t have imagined the ripple effects her attendance at the Fourth Lausanne Congress would spark.
“When this opportunity was afforded to me to attend Lausanne, I was over the moon about it,” Sophia shared. “But you know, while I was at Lausanne, one morning when I got up in my hotel room, I just had a sense from the Holy Spirit that this is more than me being part of Lausanne. This is me being there by the Holy Spirit’s enablement because God is somehow going to use this for His glory back home.”
On her return to South Africa, Sophia shared her Congress experience with her local church and various denominational leadership teams, boldly challenging them to realign their vision with the Great Commission. Sophia felt compelled to challenge the leadership, “We have a national vision, we have a regional vision, and local visions, but none of our mission statements or vision statements gives you any inclination that we are for the nations or the Great Commission.”
The result? On the spot, the leadership revised the denomination’s vision and mission statements to include the nations and the Great Commission. They also decided that the denomination’s next national conference would focus on identifying mission opportunities toward greater obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission.Sophia’s local church hired a full-time missionary couple to start in January 2025 to help foster a culture of missions. Even the Assemblies of God children and youth departments have rallied around the call of global mission. The children’s ministry has decided to teach their children to identify and pray for each nation. “The little ones will now start to pray into the nations, which we’ve never had before,” Sophia shared excitedly. Their youth ministry is also gearing up for intentional gap years, sending young people to engage in mission trips and open their hearts to global missions.
When Sophia came to the Congress, she had no idea that God would use her to inspire and challenge her denomination. Her story is a beautiful reminder of how God can use each of us to inspire change within the spaces in which he has given us influence.
Theological Education Accelerating the Great Commission Thinking
Louie Naidoo – South African Theological Seminary (SATS)
Louie Naidoo serves as a local church pastor and a theological educator with the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), the largest seminary in Southern Africa. He attended the Congress with two other SATS colleagues: the Academic Dean and the Operational Manager.
“It was my first time attending such an international global gathering,” Louie noted. “I must say it was a tremendous opportunity to open my mind to understanding the global mission of the church and how God wants to use us as individuals and as a church to work together to achieve the Great Commission.”
When they returned, Louie and his colleagues shared their reflections with the SATS leadership. Their testimonies inspired an exciting new missional initiative at the seminary, in which all staff, academics, and postgraduate students have been invited to write blog articles addressing the gaps identified by the State of the Great Commission report. Louie expressed how these efforts have already fostered greater missional engagement among SATS staff and students. “To hear the response of those that are at SATS; academics, theologians, lecturers, staff, including our post-grad students, responding in such a positive way to what took place at Lausanne speaks well for the church, speaks well for the seminary, and speaks well for what God, is doing and will do even through Lausanne 4”
Louie’s story is a clear example of how a theological institution can play a vital role in inspiring ministry leaders in the mission of God. Theological education can be catalytic as it inspires leaders who inspire local churches.
A New Church Planting Initiative in Europe
Pieter Vermeulen – A church in every village in Switzerland
For Pieter Vermeulen, the Fourth Lausanne Congress became a launching pad into a new season of ministry. After 27 years of working among unreached people groups in the Himalayas, Pieter sensed God leading him to a fresh assignment—and the Congress provided the clarity and confirmation he needed.
“I’ve just finished 27 years working among unreached people groups in the lower Himalayas, and I felt that season of my life was finished,” Pieter shared. “God ignited a fire in my heart for Europe.”
Pieter’s journey of discernment began with a series of encounters at the Congress. During the Congress, he met someone from Switzerland who said, ‘Why don’t you come to us?’ Then, the next day at breakfast, he happened to sit next to another leader from Switzerland who said the same thing. Pieter felt God was clearly confirming Switzerland as his next step.
His calling became even clearer when Sarah Breuel shared about God’s work in Europe. “She spoke about Europe not being post-Christian but pre-revival,” Pieter said. “When she spoke those words, a fire in my heart just lit up.”
This clarity led Pieter to act in faith. “In obedience, I booked a ticket to Europe while I was still at the Congress,” he said. After Congress, he joined other Swiss leaders who had also been inspired by a renewed vision for Switzerland, and together, they have committed themselves to uniting together in planting an evangelical church in every village in Switzerland. “These different denominations and churches are coming together,” Pieter said. “I believe that prayer got ignited at Lausanne, where the church is coming together. To reach the whole world with the gospel, even our own nations that used to be Christian nations.”
Pieter’s story reminds us of how powerful “I met” moments can be. What may seem like a chance encounter (even at a breakfast table) may indeed be a God encounter that redirects our lives for his Kingdom.
God is on the Move
What about you?
What excites me most about these three South African stories is that I know that they are just the tip of the iceberg of the stories that can be told. Sophia, Louie, and Pieter’s testimonies of denominational, educational, and international impact are but a glimpse of what God has been doing across the globe since the Fourth Lausanne Congress.
But what about your story? How has God been at work in your life and ministry since the Congress? If you were a Congress participant, I invite you to share your testimony with us so we can celebrate His faithfulness and encourage one another in our shared vision to accelerate global mission together.