Lausanne Congress 24
The fourth Lausanne Congress opened in Incheon, South Korea on Sunday 22 September.
With 5,000 participants from over 200 countries, Lausanne has gathered men and women, old and young, church leaders, business people, theologians, entrepreneurs, missionaries and artists from across the globe to consider the challenges and opportunities facing the global church.
The Congress marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of a remarkable movement committed to global mission. The First Lausanne Congress in 1974 brought together 2,700 church leaders from over 150 countries, who affirmed their shared conviction that the whole church must take the whole gospel to the whole world. This was followed by gatherings in Manila (1989) and Cape Town (2010).
The journey to Lausanne 4 began in 2019. Hundreds gathered online and in person across 12 regions of the world, across the generations and from all walks of life to consider, “What are the gaps as we seek to fulfil the Great Commission?”
This powerful listening process resulted in hundreds of thousands of words and ideas, common themes, issues and trends. Analysing the research, missiologists created the State of the Great Commission Report, laying the groundwork for this Seoul-Incheon Congress.
A second document, the Seoul Statement builds on the foundation of report produced at previous congresses to address key theological issues for the global church. These topics will feed into the discussions throughout Lausanne 4:
The Gospel – the story we live and tell
The Bible – the holy scriptures we read and obey
The Church - the people of God we love and build up
The Human Person – the image of God created and restored
Discipleship – our calling to holiness and mission
The family of nations – the peoples and conflicts we see and serve for peace
Technology – the accelerating innovation we discern and steward.
Participants from Ireland gather at the start of the fourth Lausanne Congress in Incheon, South Korea.
Throughout the Congress, VOX magazine editor Ruth Garvey-Williams will bring you updates of the key discussions taking place during the week.
The Opening Ceremony
Welcoming over 5,000 leaders to Incheon, Rev Jae-Hoon Lee, chair of the Asia committee co-hosting the congess, shared, “[Incheon} was the entry point for the earliest missionaries who brought the gospel to this country in the late 1880s.”
Just 25 years later at the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Rev Samuel Moffett spoke of the revival taking place led by the evangelistic efforts of the Korean church.
“…It is not impossible, I say, for God to bring through little, despised, subjugated, humiliated Korea a rich spiritual blessing to all the far East and to manifest His might by making Korea not a political power among the nations but a spiritual power.”
“Today you are here - 5,000 leaders in the same city where the first missionaries arrived, wanting God to do an amazing work of grace,” Rev Lee said. “And yet the world seems like it is being torn apart more than ever before. There are conflicts causing so much suffering sadness and strife. Could it be that God can bring peace an healing through our prayers? Can God bring about hope and transformation through our partnerships? Lord make this so!”
The creative and moving opening ceremony featured stunning music by a Korean choir and orchestra, worship led by Keith and Kristen Getty and by a Korean worship band as well as powerful video and digital art presentations.
Let the Church Declare and Display Christ Together
Introducing the theme of the congress - Dr Michael Oh, CEO and Director of the Lausanne Movement. spoke of the explosion of population growth and the scandals that have damaged the reputation of the church in recent years.
“We are deeply stirred by what God is doing in our day, moved to penitence by our failures and challenged by the unfinished task of evangelisation. We believe the gospel is God’s good news for the whole world and we are determined by His grace to proclaim it to all mankind and make disciples of every nation. God’s strategy is His body, His people. That is why you are here. That is why you are all needed.”
Together the church needs to become more visible and vocal in the world, not in fear but in faith, not in arrogance but in humility, not in competition but collaboration.
From the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 came a strong call for every participant to contribute to the process
These challenges are bigger than any one of us. But they are not bigger than Christ in us! It is not how much or what you bring, it is in whose hands you place it.