The Lausanne Movement endeavours to see a global mission movement by the global church which is intercultural, intergenerational, with different professional backgrounds without the sacred and secular divide, polycentric and polyphonic with men and women serving together for Christ in unity. We want Christ to be known far and near, uplifted in honour and glory.That is our vision.
Towards this goal, we will welcome participants to the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Incheon, South Korea, in September this year. The theme of the Congress is ‘Let the Church Declare and Display Christ Together’.
Lessons from Acts
The Fourth Lausanne Congress will be centred on the book of Acts. We will explore six specific themes from the book and seek to apply lessons from the early church to our contemporary context.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
We will examine the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. May God’s Spirit bring afresh his revival fire to the global church as he did in Acts chapter two. We will consider how the surprising movement of God continues in the power of his Spirit for global mission and evangelization in the 21st century.
Missional Community
We will look at new expressions of the church. As the early believers listened to the Apostles’ teaching, their faith was increased; in the breaking of bread, their hope was strengthened; in fellowship and in prayer, their love was deepened. It was a community marked by holiness, integrity and the fear of the Lord.
Persecution and Global Mission
We will examine how the early church responded to severe persecution and how God opened new doors as never seen before in the midst of suffering. Power shifted from the centre to the margins.
Christian Witness in the Workplace
There are numerous references in the book of Acts to the gospel advancing in a multiplicity of workplaces, from provincial centres of government and philosophical academies to the ordinary levels of everyday human existence. The impact on cities and beyond is even more relevant now than ever before.
Leadership as Servanthood
This is an essential subject in the book of Acts with its emphasis on humility, pastoral compassion, faithfulness, sacrifice, and dying to self-seeking. The book of Acts focuses on what servanthood consists of in the light of Christ’s teaching and example and how this is exemplified in the lives of the Apostles and those entrusted with the responsibility for the New Testament church.
Christ is Lord
As we sail into the storm of the unknown future, we acknowledge that Christ is Lord. The gospel is to be proclaimed to the ends of the world as Paul preached the gospel with boldness and without hindrance, even when he was under house arrest (Acts 28).
Let the Church
We want to see the Fourth Lausanne Congress bring a sense of urgency to the global church and the need for deeper and richer collaboration to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching—in every nation, in every sphere of society, and in the realm of ideas. Amidst world conflicts, wars, and plague, there is an urgent call to the global church to world evangelization, so that the gospel may reach the ends of the earth as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s new society is characterized by life in place of death, by unity and reconciliation in place of division and alienation, by the wholesome standards of righteousness in place of the corruption of wickedness, by love and peace in place of hatred and strife, and by unremitting conflict with evil in place of a flabby compromise with it.
The global church should be a living testimony to the world that peace is found in Jesus Christ. God’s new society is characterized by life in place of death, by unity and reconciliation in place of division and alienation, by the wholesome standards of righteousness in place of the corruption of wickedness, by love and peace in place of hatred and strife, and by unremitting conflict with evil in place of a flabby compromise with it.[1]
Throughout the Congress, we will be hearing the voices of the global church. While we celebrate what God is doing throughout the world, we seek God’s mercy and strength in places of persecution and conflict.
We believe that God is inviting the global church today to work together, shaping wise action that serves God’s purposes in our generation. The afternoon breakout sessions will give us an incredible opportunity to squarely face the major ‘gaps in fulfilling the Great Commission’ and find solutions. We commit to working together to accelerate global mission.
Declare and Display Christ
We want to see the global church again being stirred to declare and display Christ in the world. Perhaps our reticence is one of the biggest barriers to world evangelization. We must overcome our guilty silence as we face hostility toward the gospel. Peter, a changed man with the power of the Holy Spirit declared, ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). When Peter was commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus again, Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard’ (Acts 4:19-20).
‘If we ignore the world, we betray the Word of God, . . . If we ignore the Word of God, we have nothing to bring to the world.’
It is the preeminence of Christ that we are concerned about. It is a concern for his honour in the world, an ardent desire for the fulfilment of our prayer: ‘Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name be the glory’ (Psalm 115:1). It is a recognition that God the Father has exalted him ‘far above every name that is named’ (Ephesians 1:21) and indeed ‘bestowed on him the name which is above every name’ that ‘[every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Philippians 2:9-11).
We bear witness to the truth of Christ in a pluralistic globalized world. We build the peace of Christ in our divided and broken world. We live out the love of Christ among people of other faiths. We discern the will of Christ for world evangelization. We partner in the body of Christ for unity in mission. We yearn to see the whole global church declare and display the whole gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. The gospel is God’s good news, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for individual persons, for society, and for creation.
We demonstrate the gospel through our lives as well as preach the gospel in our words. We seek to declare and display Christ in the world with multi-dimensional creative expressions. All our mission must reflect the integration of evangelism and committed engagement in the world. ‘If we ignore the world, we betray the Word of God, . . . If we ignore the Word of God, we have nothing to bring to the world.’ [2]
At the plenary sessions of the Fourth Lausanne Congress, we will address how the global church declares and displays Christ in the current context, including, among many other issues, global conflicts, creation care, justice issues, sexuality and gender, persecutions and workplace ministries.
Together
Ten out of the twelve New Testament occurrences of the word homothumadon, a unique Greek word meaning ‘with one accord’ or ‘together’, are found in the book of Acts. It points to the uniqueness and unity of the Christian community. At the very first prayer meeting recorded in Acts, the early disciples prayed with one accord (Acts 1:14). When the church faced persecution, they cried out to the Lord together, ‘O Sovereign Lord . . . ‘ (Acts 4:24). The Jerusalem church decided with one accord, after much debate, to send the letter to the Gentile Church along with Paul and Barnabas to encourage them (Acts 15:25).
Paul teaches us that Christian unity is the creation of God, based on our reconciliation with God and with one another. This double reconciliation has been accomplished through the cross.[3] At this coming congress, we seek a deeper unity in our commitment to collaborative actions based on needs that emerged from the Lausanne listening process and the State of the Great Commission Report (to be released during the second quarter of this year).
These collaborative actions will fall under seven categories, though these are not exhaustive:
Reaching People: How can emerging population blocks, including diaspora, those with disabilities, the younger generation, international students, the elderly, tribal and indigenous people and others, be reached?
Ministry in a Digital Age: including Scripture, church form and discipleship as well as evangelism in a digital age.
Understanding Humanness: including AI, sexuality and gender and wholistic health.
Polycentric Missions: including polycentric resource mobilization.
Mission and Holiness: including spirituality and mission, integrity and leadership character formation.
Bearing Witness in Different Communities: exploring how Christians interact with those of other belief systems, both in working for the common good and sharing the gospel.
Societal Interaction: exploring the social dimension of the gap and kingdom impact, including education, media and entertainment, health and mental health, government/politics, science, environmental issues, technology and innovation.
It requires the whole church to engage in God’s global mission. This will include church and mission leaders, those from the workplace and professionals, individuals, couples and families, men and women, the young and the old, and Christians from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Only by being together can we move forward. May the Lord help us to pursue this vision through the Fourth Lausanne Congress. Let His Church Declare and Display Christ Together.
Endnotes
- J. R. W. Stott, God’s New Society: The Message of Ephesians (Westmont, IL:InterVarsity Press, 1979), 8–10.
- The Lausanne Movement, Cape Town Commitment (The Lausanne Movement, 2010),46.
- The Lausanne Movement, Cape Town Commitment (The Lausanne Movement, 2010),102.