Welcoming some 5,000 participants of the Fourth Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization to Incheon, Korea, Rev. Jae-Hoon Lee, Senior Pastor of Onnuri Church and Co-Chair of the Congress expressed his hope that the event would lead to healing and change in a broken world. He also highlighted the historical meaning of hosting the event in a nation that had witnessed a remarkable transformation since the revival it experienced in the beginning of the 1900s.
“I give thanks to our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who has led us by his grace to gather on this historic occasion of the Fourth Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization,” Rev. Lee said and shared how leaders from all over Asia gathered four years ago to pray and plan for the event. Seeing the participants arrive is the fulfilment of these prayers, he said.
Pointing to the location where the event is held, Rev. Lee said, “As many of you may know, this Congress is currently taking place in the harbor city of Incheon. This historic city was the entry point for early Protestant missionaries who brought the good news of the Gospel to this country.”
“And now, here we are, with nearly 5,000 of the world’s evangelical leaders, meeting in the same city, wanting God to do an amazing work of grace for the globe. Praise be to God!”
Recalling the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh 1910, he said that delegates at the time believed that world evangelization required that churches and Christians from around the world needed to work together. Dr. Samuel Moffett, who served as a missionary in Korea at the time, spoke about the amazing revivals that were occurring in Korea known as the Pyongyang Revivals of 1907.
Lee quoted Moffett sharing his dream as he spoke to the Edinburgh conference: “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.”
Lee celebrated the Lausanne gathering as the fulfillment of Moffett’s prophetic word more than a hundred years ago.
“Friends, I believe that today, this very congress is a manifestation of God’s faithfulness and Dr. Moffett’s faith, hope, and love, for Korea. Thanks be to God for making this dream a reality!” he said.
Lee went on to lament that the world has become more polarized and torn since the last Lausanne Congress in Cape Town in 2010, with local and global conflicts and clashes of differing worldviews, which lead to suffering, sadness and strife.
“Could it be that we can bring about peace and healing through our prayers? Could it be that we can bring about hope and transformation through our partnership? Could Lausanne 4 be a place that cultivates and accelerates Gospel transformation around the globe?” he asked.
Lee then highlighted three reasons why he believed Lausanne 4 comes at an important moment in history.
Firstly, he pointed to the Congress as the first global mission conference in the hyperconnected era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “We are able to connect and communicate more quickly, and with more people, than ever before. I think we are only scratching the surface regarding the many benefits that technology can provide for our evangelistic efforts,” he said.
“But this hyperconnectivity is not all positive, is it? Though we’re more connected than ever before, we are also more lonely and more marginalized. Though we can communicate more efficiently than ever before, we are also more politically and culturally polarized.”
Lee believes it is time to not only think critically about the role technology should play in the fulfillment of the Great Commission but also time to “speak prophetically to this generation regarding what is right and righteous.”
“If there ever was a time for us to clarify what the Bible says is true and right, it is now,” he said.
Secondly, Lausanne 4 takes place in the context of a polycentric era of global missions with Christianity moving from North and West to the South and East. Mission today is multi-directional rather than one-way, Lee said.
He quoted Chris Wright as emphasizing the need to advance the relational, partnering, and reciprocal style of mission seen in the early church, and added that his prayer for the Congress is that it may be a time that “will bring about this kind of strategic yet humble collaboration for many years to come.”
Thirdly, Lee said the Congress is the first mission conference in an era of multiple digital generations.
“We have represented here people from multiple generations, from Baby Boomers to the latest generation. Working across generations and pooling all of our resources and skills, for the sake of collaborative action – this is the hope of the global missions movement,” Lee said.
He added that he is thankful for the development of the Young Leaders Generation and address younger leaders directly, saying: “We need you! We are praying for you. We thank God for you.”
Lee concluded by sharing his prayer for the Congress that “we will with one heart and one mind, strive to achieve significant paradigm shifts and missions progress through our time together. But this will only happen with deep humility before God and respect toward one another. Then this will help us recalibrate our own lives and ministries around what God wants.”
He said believers needed one another and he hopes that God would do “amazing work” through the conversations and intercession at the Congress.
“So, let’s encourage and empower one another this week, especially as we strive to strategize and innovate for global missions. God-honoring innovation is neither developed by solo geniuses nor developed in closed networks, but through humble and collaborative relationships,” Lee said.
“Join in me praying throughout this week, that God will do an amazing work as we humbly and sincerely work together for His glory and the good of the global church.”
