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“Will there be room for brand spanking new voices, will there be house for shock?” requested Valdir Steuernagel in a speech he gave at a gathering of Latin American leaders within the lead-up to Lausanne’s Fourth Global Congress (Lausanne 4) in Seoul-Incheon, South Korea, that begins Sunday.
Calling for a renewed affirmation of the Evangelical identification and inspiring new conversations involving Evangelical leaders from each a part of the world, Steuernagel traced the historical past of the motion again to its beginnings in 1974.
He recalled important breakthroughs and ongoing tensions, provided new and timeless views on world missions, recognizing that the duty of the Great Commission continues to be unfinished. He concluded along with his prayer for what is predicted to be a big occasion in Church historical past.
Back in September 2023, the Lausanne Movement’s regional leaders in Latin America convened a session in Montevideo, Uruguay, that featured keynote audio system Valdir Steuernagel, Norberto Saracco (Argentina), Karen Bomilcar (Brazil) and Jaime Memory (United Kingdom). It was a part of the lead-up to Lausanne 4 the place every area would information members via a course of that might put together them for the worldwide occasion the place some 5,000 Christian leaders from each nook of the world will strategize about world missions.
Steuernagel’s speech captured the area’s perspective so nicely that World Vision Latin America, along with the regional Lausanne management, printed an edited model in English that would offer a dialog starter not just for Latin Americans but in addition for members from all over the world.
A outstanding theologian and esteemed Brazilian Evangelical chief, Steuernagel served on the Lausanne Central Committee for a number of years and has intimate data of the motion. He was additionally president of World Vision’s International Board in addition to a member of the World Evangelical Alliance’s International Council, amongst numerous different roles he held over the many years of his ministry.
The historical past and ‘Spirit’ of Lausanne
“For many years, the Lausanne Movement has been part of my life. I’m a type of ‘baby of Lausanne,’ though a belated one,” Steuernagel stated, noting that he wasn’t current on the International Congress on World Evangelization held within the metropolis of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974, these days known as Lausanne 1.
The world occasion convened by Billy Graham and Jack Dyan introduced collectively 2,300 members from 150 nations, and — beneath the steerage of theologian John Stott — produced the landmark Lausanne Covenant that is still influential to this present day.
“Lausanne 1 was certainly a breath of the Spirit that stunned the broader Christian household and left its mark on the Evangelical world, which was already rising as a big stream throughout the world Christian neighborhood,” Steuernagel stated.
The occasion “catapulted the Evangelical world, each internally and externally, into a brand new self-perception, right into a visibility hitherto unknown, and into the necessity to change into a dialogue accomplice with different Christian teams and with the modern world itself.”
It got here at a time of elevated missionary exercise, development within the Church, increasing useful resource mobilization and the emergence of worldwide leaders and revered personalities, such because the late Graham.
“Evangelicals now crammed stadiums, captivated massive audiences, and used tv as that they had beforehand completed with radio,” Steuernagel stated, noting that the Gallup report marked 1966 because the ‘Year of the Evangelicals’ in North America.
But as 1974 got here round, it turned evident that it was certainly a world phenomenon “as there was an Evangelical church flourishing in lots of different locations, notably in numerous African international locations, many Latin American international locations, and a few Asian international locations.”
Lausanne 1 acknowledged this modification on the occasion and tailored to the modern world, as was expressed within the Lausanne Covenant.
Steuernagel emphasised that it was completed “in an Evangelical model. A method that by no means thought-about giving up its identification, affirming, subsequently, the centrality of Jesus, the authority of Scriptures, human sinfulness, the missionary calling of the Church, and the hope for a brand new Heaven and a brand new Earth.”
But what additionally occurred on the occasion is that “the gate was open for brand spanking new conversations” and “open to intensify identification and mission,” he stated, as North American missionary and evangelistic organizations more and more turned worldwide, whereas nationwide church buildings introduced new views to the conversations.
“It is price noting that Lausanne 1 was a pioneer in permitting the rising Evangelical variety, with a robust ethnic-geographic aroma, to take the stage, with out forgetting how a lot this variety was already current within the viewers.”
According to Steuernagel, the event introduced “a component of shock and shock” to Evangelical tradition that traditionally struggled with variety. And he added that “[this] shock and shock manifested as a latent and steady stress within the Movement.”
It is necessary for members of the upcoming Congress to grasp these historic dynamics as they proceed to this present day and can probably be felt at Lausanne 4 as soon as once more, he asserts.
‘Evangelization’ versus ‘complete mission of the church’: Emerging voices from the Global South
It turned clear early on that Lausanne 1 could be adopted by a Continuation Committee, which then met for the primary time in January 1975 in Mexico City. It was there that “stress emerged with important visibility,” Steuernagel stated.
In looking for to outline Lausanne’s mandate, the query arose whether or not it ought to be particularly centered on evangelizing the unreached, i.e. proclamation, or whether or not it ought to emphasize the “complete mission of the church,” i.e. a extra holistic method, which the Lausanne Covenant already affirmed.
The committee struck a steadiness, saying they understood that “‘the advance of the church’s mission’ means encouraging all of the folks of God to enter the world as Christ was despatched into the world, giving themselves to others in a spirit of sacrificial service, with evangelism being main on this mission.”
Tensions endured, nonetheless, as leaders from what then turned generally known as the “Global South” continued to talk up.
“These voices mirrored the journey of younger church buildings and rising Christian leaders in quest of a related Christian expertise for his or her context and in pursuit of a dialogue with their respective realities, questions, cries, and experiences,” he stated. “Voices that raised vital questions on an evangelistic follow that emphasised soul salvation on the expense of residing an incarnate religion.”
These considerations had been raised at Lausanne 1 by Latin American leaders René Padilla and Samuel Escobar, with Padilla addressing the theme of “Evangelization and the World,” and Escobar discussing “Evangelization and the Quest for Freedom, Justice and Fulfillment by Man.”
They advocated for an evangelistic follow with cultural sensitivity, a missional expertise expressed in social duty and the pursuit of justice, and a life marked by simplicity and sacrifice, as discovered and modeled by Jesus, Steuernagel stated.
Global South leaders celebrated the Lausanne Covenant’s emphasis on mission “that encompasses all areas of life all through one’s life.” Leaders primarily from North America, nonetheless, raised considerations “about the necessity to preserve a concentrate on the verbal proclamation of the Gospel and on religious and private conversion.”
Steuernagel recounted that in 1975, John Stott responded to a few of these considerations by noting the dearth of Global South illustration on the Mexico assembly and the “insensitivity with which some North Americans” emphasised the necessity to “limit to evangelism” and never concentrate on broader considerations as expressed within the Covenant. And in an article titled “The Meaning of Lausanne,” Stott later wrote that he believed regional teams would discover their manner in line with their very own discernment.
Lausanne 1 ‘opened the gate.’ Will Lausanne 4 preserve it open?
Steuernagel went on to spotlight Lausanne 1 as a historic second, “a type of opening of the gate” that articulated “an Evangelical identification and stance that represented all Evangelicals and proved related to the lived actuality.”
The Gospel of Jesus Christ as the excellent news was affirmed, and it was highlighted that the Gospel ought to be proclaimed in every single place and always as common and enough, and “in such a manner that individuals can acknowledge Christ in us.”
In addition to those foundational truths, nonetheless, Steuernagel highlighted that the Lausanne Covenant additionally emphasised that the Scriptures “should be embraced of their entirety. Hence the expression ‘the entire Gospel,’ necessitating a departure from any reductionism, segregation or dilution of the Scriptures.”
It additionally affirmed Jesus as the middle figuring out all areas of life. “Hence the expression ‘the entire Gospel for the entire particular person.’ Therefore, any separation between physique and soul, particular person and neighborhood, current and future is rejected, as it could be a denial of each the Gospel and humanity.”
These and different affirmations led to pleasure and expectations but in addition tensions, Steuernagel stated. The presence of God and the breath of the Spirit was felt, which “led the Church to a brand new second of fellowship, integration and assimilation of recent management and voices.” There was anticipation of the Church waking as much as its true calling.
At the identical time, there was stress as a result of the “extra customary leaders have been not the one ones” who might specific their views. Certain biblical interpretations in addition to a number of the mission and strategic agendas appeared much less related or in want of reassessment. And “new leaders, particularly from the Global South, have been rising and wanting to sit down on the desk and have entry to the microphone.”
Despite fluctuations through the years and modifications in Lausanne’s management, Steuernagel stated the gate that Lausanne 1 opened “didn’t (utterly) shut once more.”
Padilla and Escobar are illustrations of the stress as they represented the “new and stunning voices at Lausanne 1” however then “didn’t have the identical house, neither personally nor by way of the proposed agenda, at Lausanne 2.” At Lausanne 3, nonetheless, the long-lasting figures returned and have been “acknowledged and affirmed,” Steuernagel stated, including: “The ‘gate’ remained lifted.”
Looking forward at Lausanne 4 contemplating these previous dynamics, “the query is whether or not it stays open,” Steuernagel stated.
He wonders if there will likely be room for brand spanking new voices, emphasizing that “there are new voices” to be heard. And he asks if there will likely be house for shock.
“Surprise that bears the mark of the Spirit and leads the Church to rethink its missional expertise primarily based on a brand new encounter with the scriptures, a crucial dialog amongst church buildings from in every single place and in each place, and a brand new studying and appropriation of the context we dwell in,” Steuernagel stated.
“If the Spirit blows, there will likely be shock and there will likely be stress, and that is one thing we must always know and settle for.”
Lausanne 4 should reaffirm the Evangelical identification in as we speak’s context
Steuernagel emphasised {that a} key final result of Lausanne 4 should be the reaffirmation of the Evangelical identification in consideration of as we speak’s context in order that the Church’s testimony will likely be related and efficient.
“Christian religion offers beginning to identification,” he stated, however cautioned that this identification is “by no means summary, conceptual or theoretically doctrinal.” Instead, it’s “at all times communal and relational.” Furthermore, whereas the Christian identification doesn’t rely on the context, it doesn’t assert itself with out a context both.
It is “nourished and impressed by the identification of the God of revelation and incarnation.” And He is “the one God who makes Himself identified.”
“He is the God with a reputation — the God of our fathers and moms, the God of Jesus Christ; has a presence — the Jesus of Nazareth; and has an tackle — Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the Earth,” Steuernagel stated. “Each of those locations must be recognized, encountered, named, revered, liked, and established in widespread coexistence.”
He provides that the Christian religion identification “takes form within the expertise of vocation via which God calls us to Himself and sends us in His identify.”
“Identity is at all times missional as a result of God is at all times missional; He is the God who goes out of Himself, meets the opposite, and divulges Himself because the God of affection. He is the incarnate God who calls us to sit down round Him, as He did with the disciples (Mark 3:14-15), and from this place reveals us the way in which: ‘go’; signifies what should be lived and what should be completed: proclaim the Gospel, heal the sick, and forged out demons (Mark 3:14-15, Matthew 10:1).”
Steuernagel believes one of the vital important affirmations of Lausanne 1 was that identification and context go hand in hand. But the identification that was formulated was clearly Evangelical and subsequently clearly distinguished itself from the ecumenical Christian world that was marked by “a bent in direction of a extra liberal and political theology.”
“In Lausanne 1, the Evangelical identification was affirmed, and that was the route Lausanne needed to take,” he stated. “By the time Lausanne 3 came about in Cape Town, South Africa, the context had modified, however the Evangelical identification could be reaffirmed.”
Steuernagel felt that Lausanne 3 affirmed an identification and mission paradigm that was marked by the language of affection. This was a noticeable shift from the earlier language that centered on discerning duties, packages and sources.
Lausanne 3 and the ensuing Cape Town Commitment acknowledged “that many instances up to now, our attitudes and missionary practices have been marked by a divisive spirit, a belligerent angle, and conquest objectives, generally enveloped in colonialist and civilizing practices,” he stated.
“Now, we have been saying that it was essential to convert to the language and angle of affection and the follow of welcoming and caring, in order that new generations and communities might consider, and with them, we change into an expression of the Body of Christ. Believing in a loving God. A caring and reliable God. A God of shalom.”
Fourteen years after the Cape Town gathering, Steuernagel stated it’s essential to reaffirm the Christian identification once more at Lausanne 4. “And we have to do it in concord with the breath of the Spirit that leads us to take heed to the voice of God anew and to take action prophetically within the time and context through which we dwell.”
Doing so is necessary as a result of identification is just not one thing that’s inherited, fairly it comes “because the fruit of conversion.”
“Identity wants to search out its house for testimonial gestation in every technology and in every context as a result of our identification is just not disconnected from our mission. Identity is a missional affirmation,” Steuernagel said.
He described how the method resulting in Lausanne 3 included a season of listening and discerning the challenges of mission within the first decade of the brand new millennium. Similarly, members in Lausanne 4 should “as soon as once more discern the time and context, in addition to inner and exterior challenges and alternatives that require us to affirm our identification in agency and loving testimonial conversations.”
A Latin American perspective on as we speak’s points the Church wants to handle
Steuernagel himself highlighted a variety of as we speak’s key points, a few of which he says will not be new, together with the “superficialization and syncretism of religion” because of the fast development that Church skilled. “Faced with this actuality, it’s essential to reiterate and emphasize the Scriptures, reacting to biblical illiteracy.”
However, he additionally cautioned that “this emphasis on the Scriptures must strike the tone of enchantment, acceptance, and charm, overcoming the tough, dry, separatist, and authoritarian language by which we now have characterised ourselves many instances and for a very long time. The Scriptures want and wish to be encountered because the Word of a caring God.”
A second concern revolves across the widespread divisions throughout the Church. “Our identification wants to guide us to talk with one voice and specific a standard sentiment,” Steuernagel stated.
“In the day-to-day of our historical past, we now have specialised in divisions that, in lots of circumstances, characterize conflicts of egos and pursuits and don’t have anything to do with the breath of the Spirit and the decision to unity by the voice of the Scriptures. We want to beat our separatist and individualistic tradition to generate a unity that turns into a sworn statement, even when it could discover completely different organizational paths. Our identification must make outsiders say about us: ‘See how they love one another!'”
As a 3rd concern, Steuernagel emphasised that “our identification must be multifaceted and inclusive.”
The development of church buildings in numerous locations and amongst completely different cultures alerts the transformation of the ‘face of the Church’ right into a multifaceted and multicolored one, “bringing honor to the Gospel and worth to God’s invitation to all folks in every single place.”
He laments that “for a very long time, in fashionable instances, the Christian religion was perceived as one thing related to the white, fueled by white male management, and sustained by the inexperienced cash of the white empire.”
He goes on to emphasise the urgency of addressing different urgent points, corresponding to the necessity to take care of God’s creation, to acknowledge the fact and significance of migration and the significance of welcoming refugees, and to emphasise affirming life amid a tradition of demise that celebrates abortion and euthanasia, amongst others.
Open conversations might result in new paradigm shifts in missions at Lausanne 4
Looking again on the first gathering in Lausanne, Switzerland, Steuernagel highlighted how mission views and the understanding of the “activity” shifted as Evangelicals encountered new frontiers and contexts.
“When Lausanne 1 was conceived and arranged, what was desired was very clear,” Steuernagel stated. “This was expressed within the occasion’s identify — ‘International Congress on World Evangelization,’ within the occasion’s theme — ‘Let the Earth Hear His Voice,’ and in its goal, which said: ‘Mobilize the entire Church to proclaim the entire Gospel to the entire world.’ The focus was on world evangelization, and there was a studying relating to this risk and necessity.”
The historic understanding of mission that shaped the backdrop to Lausanne 1 was rooted within the fashionable missions motion that was marked by William Carey. However, new views got here to the fore when Donald McGavran started to talk about evangelizing human teams fairly than solely people.
“He argued that particular person evangelism wouldn’t full the duty of world evangelization and that it ought to keep in mind realities through which conversion might and even ought to be collective, aiming to come across human teams with the Gospel and their doable conversion,” Steuernagel highlighted.
Similarly, Ralph D. Winter’s idea of Unreached People Group’s (UPGs) contributed to a paradigm shift in mission technique.
“Winter performed a big position in Lausanne 1, the place he was one of many audio system,” in line with Steuernagel. “[He planted] the seed of the motion round figuring out these unreached folks teams and pointing to the necessity to attain them and set up a church amongst every of them. This motion marked the historical past of world evangelization and energized the mobilization towards a missionary effort via which these folks teams might be mapped and reached.”
At the identical time, folks like Billy Graham efficiently used mass media, crammed stadiums and introduced loads of visibility to Evangelicals.
Thus, Lausanne turned a motion that emphasised open and public evangelization, whereas additionally nurturing next-level mission methods like Winter’s UPGs and contemplating the expansion of the Church exterior the Western world.
Lausanne “created house for brand spanking new and rising church buildings, particularly from the Global South, to be seen and even, in some circumstances, invited to occupy a seat on the platform and use the microphone,” Steuernagel stated.
This led to richer and concurrently extra demanding and difficult conversations as a result of as these church buildings discovered their very important house and discerned their vocation amid the development of recent partnerships, they started asking questions. “Questions concerning the nature of the evangelization being operationalized, the mission being carried out, and the church buildings being established vis-à-vis their transformative or accommodating impression on society,” he stated.
The ensuing conversations have been marked by a “simultaneous tone of gratitude and criticism” and broadened and enriched the Evangelical Church, which continued to “develop and present itself as a residing power in a lot of our societies.”
Steuernagel stated that within the lead-up to Lausanne 4 and through the Congress, “there are actually new conversations that must occur, recognizing that the duty is unfinished.”
“The robust mobilization of recent generations, the reconfiguration of missionary vocations marked by an entrepreneurial bias, the rising notion of mission as multifaceted — these are some indicators of life in a missionary journey towards a brand new and steady obedience. Obedience to the mandate of Jesus,” he stated.
Considering new Bible passages for missions that transcend Matthew 28 and Acts 1
Following his personal reflection on biblical passages that talk to missions, Steuernagel suggests contemplating the relevance of Luke 10:1-20 for as we speak’s world.
He famous that traditionally, Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 had been “key within the hermeneutics of the missionary vocation as expressed and skilled by the Evangelical neighborhood in its numerous traditions and expressions.”
It was John Stott who later drew consideration to a special side of missions by pointing to John 17:18 and 20:21. “By saying, on two events, ‘As the Father despatched me, so I ship you,’ it turns into clear and essential that Jesus himself fashions the mission of the Church,” Steuernagel stated, including: “Our mission, subsequently, is to observe Jesus and, in following Him, be despatched into the world; to be like Him — incarnate — and to do the mission the way in which he did it.”
“The mission is just not one thing of ours that may be completed in our manner,” he emphasised.
Steuernagel notes that every Bible passage that was highlighted was particularly related to its time. Carey pointed to Matthew 28 “at a time when the Church was hesitant and even denied its missionary vocation past borders.”
Stott, then again, spoke concerning the verses within the Gospel of John “at a time when the expertise and follow of missions had gained traction, expanded, and even risked dropping focus and being enchanted with its personal tasks and techniques.”
“Thus, we uncover that biblical texts encourage us, mobilize us, warn us, right us, and put us in tune with our time, buying a mobilizing power for obedience that bears the mark of Jesus,” Steuernagel stated.
While preserving these historic views and related passages in thoughts in transferring towards Lausanne 4, he stated he felt God main him to meditate on the which means of Luke 10:1-20 and “present in it a paradigmatic textual content for this mission within the mannequin of Jesus in our time.”
The textual content echoes the sending explicitly said in Matthew, takes steps towards the mission outlined within the mannequin of Jesus, and factors to necessary dimensions in as of late, in line with Steuernagel.
“Days through which we have to concentrate on a mission that expresses itself as incarnation, displays the totality of the Gospel, reconciles life nicely with verbal testimony, discerns the necessity for mission with religious authority and its origin, and is lived in a motion of sending and rediscovery of the Jesus who reminds us of what’s elementary — to be identified by the Father,” he stated.
He considers Luke 10 an necessary addition to as we speak’s missional hermeneutics “in mild of the tensions we expertise in our personal Evangelical neighborhood with its programmatic outbursts and illusory certainties, in addition to in mild of challenges which have change into as advanced because the world through which we dwell.”
While admitting {that a} fuller remedy would require more room than what was obtainable in his tackle, he pointed to some “clues” that stood out to him. These embody the announcement and expertise of peace and “peace because the end result of the mission.” This seems particularly related amid as we speak’s local weather of division, polarization and anger.
He additionally highlighted the transformation via sharing the Gospel, therapeutic the sick, and liberating from demonic oppression. “This mission seeks the unreached, the forgotten, and the discriminated in opposition to.”
Other themes embody prayer, readiness for sacrifice and persecution, the centrality of accepting the message proclaimed because the Kingdom of God, and the return to the one “who sponsored the sending.”
“Returning is critical as a result of, upon returning, we’re reminded of our precedence and our identification,” he stated.
Approaching Lausanne 4 with repentance, a dream and a prayer
Steuernagel concluded by highlighting what he hopes to see at Lausanne 4: repentance and a dream, and he provided a prayer for the appropriate ambiance on the occasion.
He first pointed to Chris Wright’s presentation at Lausanne 3 concerning the acronym HIS: humility, integrity and ease, through which he known as members to an angle of “repentance and renewal of dedication.”
The identical was mirrored within the Cape Town Commitment, which states: “Since there isn’t a biblical mission with out biblical life, we urgently renew our dedication and problem all those that profess the identify of Christ to dwell radically in another way from the methods of the world, to ‘placed on the brand new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness'” (Ephesians 4:14).
Secondly, Steuernagel spoke concerning the dream that ought to encourage members, saying “the phrase dream is supposed to resonate on the journey to Seoul, Korea, in 2024.”
“A dream marked by the love and charm of God. A dream that envisions church buildings marked by restoration, hospitality and care. A dream of communities with out borders that takes us so far as the unreached borders. A dream in which there’s a spot for everybody and for all of nature. A dream and never a program, for a program is at all times imposing and excluding. A dream that opens the doorways to shock,” he stated.
According to Steuernagel, “Lausanne I used to be a shock, and Lausanne 3 was a dream.” And he inspired members, “Let us transfer in direction of Lausanne 4 in prayer that finds its fertile floor between this and that.”
He completed his speech by reciting a well-known prayer of Francis of Assisi that he hopes will encourage and problem those that will likely be in Korea this time:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there’s hatred, let me deliver love
Where there’s damage, let me deliver pardon
Where there’s discord, let me deliver unity
Where there’s doubt, let me deliver religion
Where there’s error, let me deliver reality
Where there’s despair, let me deliver hope
Where there’s unhappiness, let me deliver pleasure
Where there’s darkness, let me deliver mild
O Master, grant that I could search
To console fairly than to be consoled
To perceive, fairly than to be understood
To love, fairly than to be liked
For it’s in giving that we obtain
It is in pardoning that we’re pardoned
And it’s in dying that we’re born
To everlasting life.
Amen
© Christian Daily International
