[Update on the time in Singapore and Indonesia will come next week. This week I want to focus on what is happening with the Lausanne Congress.]
Today, in Seoul, South Korea, 5,000 people from around the world will gather to begin a week-long discussion as representatives of the global church, seeking to address how the church can engage in global opportunities and challenges. An additional 5,000 people will be online.
But this is not an event that happens as a one-off conference. The work and build-up to this started a year ago, and the expectation is that those who are engaged will continue to do this work of networking and collaboration for the foreseeable future. The effort to pull this off has been significant and as one of the attendees, I have deep appreciation for the work that has gone into this through the efforts of more than 1000 volunteers.
Just two weeks ago, Lausanne released the State of the Great Commission report, which can be downloaded
here. Be aware that this report is over 500 pages, so it isn't for the faint of heart! But there was a lot of research that was done with more than 100 authors and there is a lot of great content.
In this report, Lausanne has identified twenty-five "gaps" in fulfilling the Great Commission, which will be addressed during the week. These 25 gaps come out of the following seven questions:
- How can emerging population blocks be reached?
- What is ministry in a digital age?
- What does it mean to be human?
- What is polycentric mission?
- How can spirituality and holiness define missions?
- What is community?
- What is our influence on society?
If you are interested in learning more about these gaps, you can go
here for brief videos and descriptions of each. I have been assigned to #7, looking specifically at "Societal Trust and Influence of Christianity," asking this question:
How might the church, parachurch, and workplace reach and disciple others in a Christlike way which rebuilds societal trust and demonstrates the gospel's plausibility through Kingdom influence? Research shows that the church is either maintaining or losing trust in society. How do we rebuild this trust? How can we live as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God in every sphere and sector of society?
Important questions to wrestle with and even more important that there is collaboration going forward. Societal trust and influence seem to be at an all-time low for the global church, due to many different issues.
While this past year has been a flurry of activity, reading, learning, communicating, and meeting with people around the world, I have been so very encouraged by all the ministries and individuals that I have met who are trying, in their own way, to make this world a better place and to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Please pray that we may lay our egos and personal ministry agendas aside, to network and collaborate for the building of the global church, for the flourishing of all of creation, and for the glory of God.
