In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first Lausanne congress held in Switzerland from July 16-25, 1974, the Lausanne Movement held an online event on July 25 celebrating God's faithfulness and the legacy of the movement, and looking ahead at the fourth Congress in September in Seoul, Korea.
The International Congress on World Evangelization, which was held in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974, was a landmark event for evangelicals who called for a renewed focus on evangelism. Led by Billy Graham and John Stott, the congress featured voices from leaders who changed the thinking in and direction of missions, including Ralph D. Winter, Samuel Escobar and René Padilla.
The resulting Lausanne Covenant, which was a declaration “intended to define the necessity, responsibilities, and goals of spreading the Gospel”, continues to influence Christian organizations today as many ministries use it as their Statement of Faith.
Welcoming close to 800 online participants, Lausanne’s Global Executive Director and CEO, Rev. Michael Oh, said he was reminded of a John Stott quote where the late theologian said, “many a conference has resembled a fireworks display. It has made a loud noise and illuminates the sky for a few brief brilliant seconds. What is exciting about Lausanne is that its fire continues to spark off other fires.”
He referenced Psalm 89:2 and Deuteronomy 8:2 as he spoke about “the faithfulness of God and the pursuit of faithfulness by his people” over the past half century.
He then went on to highlight three particular kinds of faithfulness that stood out to him as he reflected on the 50th anniversary.
“Number one, biblical faithfulness. Honestly, without this as our starting point, perhaps no other faithfulness matters, but we are grateful for the faithfulness of the movement to the word of God and how this also has influenced biblical faithfulness for the global Church,” he said.
He pointed to the statements coming out of each event, including the Lausanne Covenant, the Manila Manifesto, the Cape Town Commitment “and the soon to be released Seoul Statement as well”.
Secondly, he spoke about relational faithfulness. “Friendships that began with Billy Graham and John Stott and so many others through the years. These are friendships that have bridged generations, denominations, organizations, schools, cultures, regions and more. And these have allowed for the glorious variety and diversity of the body of Christ to not be a cause for a division, but instead for even greater beauty and strength.”
And finally, the third one was missional faithfulness. Oh pointed to the 8,000 unreached people groups that have been reached with the gospel by the global Church since Ralph D. Winter's historic address at the first Lausanne Congress. He also celebrated “the mobilization of collaborative partnerships to translate the Bible into every language that was sparked at the second Lausanne Congress and so much more.”
“And through this all and more than anything else, we celebrate today the faithfulness of God,” he said.
Shift in global Christianity
Doug Birdsall, who led Lausanne as its executive chairman from 2004 to 2013 and continues as one of the honorary co-chairs today, then spoke about his memories, pointing to the Lausanne Younger Leaders Conference in Singapore in 1987 as the starting point.
Naming several big evangelical figures who were present at the event at that time, he said, “I was kind of amazed the way those leaders that we admired so greatly, they just hung out with us younger leaders in very creative ways. None of them spoke. They were there to encourage us to help develop us.”
“I often speak of the way Billy Graham talked about the spirit of Lausanne is a spirit of friendship and humility and study and prayer and partnership and hope, and my life has been greatly enriched by that,” he said.
Birdsall also spoke about a moment in his life where he realized the shifts in global missions that saw the influence move away from the Global North to the Global South where Christianity had grown exponentially over the previous decades.
He admitted experiencing a crisis of purpose during a trip through several Asian countries in 1990. During his last stop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he shared with his friend Ajith Fernando, a well-known Sri Lankan evangelical leader, that he was discouraged by those who were saying “the day of the North American missionary is over.”
But Fernando’s response shifted his perspective, as he reminded Birdsall that “the Great Commission is for every church and every culture and every generation” and that everyone “must figure out how we contribute to that”.
The whole gospel
Valdir Steuernagel from Brazil said that although the first Lausanne Congress was held in 1974, “it was at the beginning of ‘76 when Lausanne arrived in Brazil.”
“It arrived has the spirit of Lausanne, as the covenant of Lausanne. It arrived together with some of the leadership of Lausanne and the methodology, the understanding and the practice of mission of Lausanne,” he said, highlighting the mission congress that year, which was sponsored by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and was “inspired by Lausanne”.
“The whole gospel for the whole person made absolute sense to us,” Steuernagel said. “To us who were praying, searching a gospel and a Christian life with the flavor of Jesus and which would impact our society with the touch of the kingdom of God. And that kind of emphasis, the centrality of the gospel, the message of the kingdom, the collaborative sense of doing mission came so much to us from Lausanne as we lived within the spirit of Lausanne.”
Several other speakers from Africa, Asia and Oceania shared their own stories and testimonies how they were influenced by events organized by the Lausanne Movement over the years.
A new generation of leaders from Seoul 2024
Finally, Rev. Ramez Atallah, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Egypt who chaired the program committee for the third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town in 2010, closed the online event in prayer.
He thanked God for “50 years of faithfulness” acknowledging that “it wasn't us, it wasn't human effort, it was divine guidance”. He expressed his gratitude for the former leaders in Lausanne and prayed for a new generation of leaders to come out of Seoul 2024.
“As we look forward to the future, we pray that out of this coming Congress will come a new vision for world evangelization, new leaders who will take us into areas and directions that we cannot imagine,” he prayed.
Before concluding the event, Rev. Oh offered some closing remarks and specifically asked for prayer in the final days leading up to the Congress. He acknowledged that many people have faced financial difficulties to attend the Congress while others have struggled with obtaining visas. And he asked for prayer for protection and health for all those involved and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
“Our hope for the Congress is really captured in the theme of the Congress, ‘let the Church declare and display Christ together’. And rather than just our hope for the Congress, it is our hope for what happens after the Congress. We long to see the body of Christ activated rising up together in conviction, unity, effectiveness, passion and faithfulness.”
The fourth Lausanne Congress will be held in Incheon near Seoul, South Korea, from September 22-28, 2024. Up to 5,000 participants are expected onsite, as well as 5,000 who join online to engage in conversations on contemporary missional issues.
