EGN NEWS DESK
Over 5,000 Christians have gathered in South Korea for the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization to strategise about how you can fulfil the Great Commission.
The as soon as in a era congress is happening throughout seven days on the Songdo Convensia in Incheon, a metropolis bordering the capital of Seoul. Thousands extra are collaborating within the congress nearly.
Delegates from over 200 international locations will hear from over 50 audio system and contributors on key points affecting the worldwide church and missions as we speak, together with intergenerational ministry, rising know-how, and God’s mission in cities, areas of battle and persecution, and the office. Other classes will mirror on the state of Korean Christianity and the state of affairs in neighbouring North Korea.
Speakers embody Dr Patrick Fung, Global Ambassador of OMF International, Purpose Driven Life writer and pastor Rick Warren, Dr Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University, and Egyptian professor Anne Zaki.
Lausanne 4 is happening below the banner of ‘Let the Church declare and show Christ collectively’, with an emphasis on collaborative reflection and motion.
Commenting on the Congress theme, Dr Fung, mentioned, “A divided church has no message for a divided world. God has known as us to a unity of the Spirit within the bond of peace.”
Sharing the imaginative and prescient for the congress on the opening ceremony on Sunday night, Lausanne world govt director, Dr Michael Oh, mentioned that as evil turns into “extra vocal and visual on this planet”, now will not be the time for the Church to “cower” or retreat however somewhat to declare and show Christ in religion.
“Not arrogantly however humbly. Not in competitors however in collaboration,” he mentioned.
Dr Oh laid naked the size of the problem as he instructed delegates that the duty of sharing the Gospel with the entire world stays “difficult” regardless of “an unimaginable quantity of excellent Gospel work” within the half century for the reason that first Lausanne Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974.
He mentioned, “In the final 50 years, over 9,000 unreached folks teams have been reached with the Gospel. We’ve seen unimaginable progress within the Church in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We’ve seen new evangelistic methods and theologies and methodologies developed.
“But with the explosion of inhabitants progress in lots of of those similar areas of the world, the trajectory will not be an acceleration of the sharing of the Gospel however a deceleration.”
Later he added, “Eighty-six per cent of each Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu on this planet have no idea a single Christian.”
This Lausanne congress differs from earlier ones in its emphasis on coaching and equipping Christians to be witnesses to the Gospel of their locations of labor. Dr Oh mentioned that the worldwide Church could be “ninety-nine instances more practical” if Christians have been correctly supported for office ministry and evangelism.
“There are gloriously lovely and efficient elements of the physique which were marvellously outfitted and strategically despatched to each sphere of society in each nation of the world. They are the ninety-nine per cent of the physique [of Christ] who’re artists, technologists, athletes, attorneys, baristas and extra,” he mentioned.
“We have for too lengthy uncared for to fee and practice and bless and equip the ninety-nine per cent of the Church who’re really facet by facet with the folks on this planet we are attempting to succeed in.”
He continued, “Too many office Christians have been instructed implicitly and even explicitly ‘we do not want you’. But we do.
“Can God actually do His work by attorneys? Oh sure He can. Can God actually do His work by home staff? Oh sure He can – and He is, by a whole lot of Filipino believers within the Muslim world. And can God actually do His work by a mere carpenter? Oh sure, I believe everyone knows he can.”
He cited quite a few different challenges resulting in “ineffectiveness and ugliness” within the physique of Christ, together with a way of “isolation” and competitors between ministries, “combating” over monetary sources, and extremely publicised scandals involving Christians.
“The fame of the bride of Christ in lots of locations around the globe will not be good. Rather than folks stumbling over the message of the Gospel as we see in Romans 9, too many are stumbling over the messengers,” he mentioned.
“Too many scandals of delight, energy and impurity have robbed the Church and compromised our witness.”
He known as for repentance and humility over the Church’s “flawed witness on this planet” and “flawed mission to the world”.
“This will not be a second of triumphalism however sober repentance and contemporary resolve,” he mentioned.
Elsewhere in his tackle, Dr Oh paid tribute to Korean Christianity, noting that the nation is dwelling to a few of the largest church buildings on this planet and that it’s the second largest missionary-sending nation on this planet.
Also addressing delegates in the course of the opening ceremony was Rev Jaehoon Lee, senior pastor of Onnuri Church and chair of the Lausanne motion’s Asia Co-Host Committee that helped to organise the congress.
He mentioned that in an more and more polarised world, the congress provided an essential second to suppose critically about a few of the modifications affecting the Church, like know-how, the shift within the centre of Christianity to the Global South and East, and the challenges of elevating up a brand new era of younger leaders.
“The world looks like it’s getting extra torn aside than ever earlier than … Can it’s that God can ship peace and therapeutic by our prayers? Could it’s that God can result in hope and transformation by our partnerships?” he mentioned.
The metropolis of Incheon is critical to the unfold of Christianity in Korea as the primary international missionaries to the nation arrived at its port within the nineteenth century to unfold the Gospel.
Congress delegates have been welcomed to Korea by the Mayor of Incheon, who paid tribute to the Lausanne Movement’s “50-year legacy of world evangelisation”.
Underpinning the congress are two paperwork, The Seoul Statement and The State of the Great Commission report, each printed to coincide with the gathering.
The Seoul Statement is the work of the Lausanne Theological Working Group and attracts on suggestions from regional gatherings during the last 18 months.
Co-author Dr David Bennett known as the doc an “thrilling milestone” that can construct on earlier Lausanne statements, notably the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, the 1989 Manila Manifesto, and the 2010 Cape Town Commitment.
The Seoul Statement identifies seven key areas that the worldwide Church should collaborate on to be able to fulfil the Great Commission: the Gospel, the Bible, the Church, the human particular person, discipleship, know-how, and the ‘household of countries’, which focuses on folks residing in areas of battle.
It rejoices in what God has already carried out by the Church to proclaim the excellent news of Jesus Christ, however says that the duty of evangelisation “stays pressing as billions stay outdoors the attain of the message of God’s love and charm in Christ”.
“Moreover, within the face of this expansive progress, the church in lots of elements of the world has struggled to successfully nurture the religion and discipleship of tens of millions of first-generation Christians,” it reads.
The assertion expresses “remorse” that “over the last 50 years of evangelistic harvest, the worldwide church has not adequately supplied the educating obligatory to assist new believers develop a really biblical worldview”.
“The church has typically didn’t nurture new believers to obey Christ’s name to radical discipleship at dwelling, at college, within the church, in our neighbourhoods, and within the market,” it reads.
“It has additionally struggled to equip its leaders to reply to trending social values and to distortions of the gospel, which have threatened to erode the honest religion of Christians and to destroy the unity and fellowship of the church of the Lord Jesus.”
The assertion expresses alarm on the “rise of false teachings and pseudo-Christian life”, each of which it says are “main quite a few believers away from the important values of the gospel”.
The assertion calls Christians to resume their dedication to the centrality of the Gospel and the trustworthy studying of Scripture.
“Only on this approach can we meet the precise challenges that now face the worldwide church as we search to bear trustworthy witness to our crucified and risen Lord — from in all places, to in all places, for the sake of generations to return,” it says.
Dr Bennett mentioned the doc was each “strategic” and “action-oriented”, and would tackle key theological “gaps” recognized as obligatory for strengthening world mission as we speak.
“What do we have to do collectively? … Are there areas of the fulness of God’s want for the nations [and] His want for His Church the place now we have not listened rigorously sufficient or the place our altering world is elevating new questions that weren’t answered totally sufficient in our three foundational paperwork?” he mentioned.
The State of the Great Commission report considers 10 key questions that the worldwide Church should think about because it appears forward to the 12 months 2050.
These embody questions across the impression of synthetic intelligence, altering societal attitudes in the direction of gender and sexuality, the world’s getting old inhabitants, radical politics, Islam and secularism, and the expansion of Christianity throughout the Majority World.
“Sub-Saharan Africa’s youthful Christian inhabitants ensures the area’s centrality to world Christian progress for many years to return,” the report says.
“Christianity will more and more be a faith of the aged in Europe and North America,” it reads, including that “mission is now from each continent to each continent”.
“With the exception of Europe, each area on this planet each sends and receives extra missionaries than fifty years in the past. Mission is more and more decoupled from its Western colonial legacy, with extra missionaries coming from international locations that lack Christian majorities.”
The report additional notes that “apart from Africa, all areas will witness a rise within the proportion of the inhabitants that’s unevangelized within the coming a long time”.
“This is a stark reversal of a century of rising gospel entry around the globe,” it states.
During Lausanne 4, group classes can be held to debate 25 of essentially the most urgent points raised by the report.
The congress is being held in shut partnership with a whole lot of Korean church buildings. Some 4,000 Christians throughout the nation have dedicated to praying for its success.
