Arguably one of the largest global evangelical meetings, the Lausanne Congress drew more than 5000 people from 200 countries and territories in Incheon, South Korea. With national alliances in 143 countries, many leaders of Regional and National Alliances participated in the congress physically or virtually. This included a significant number of participants who have attended the congress for the first time.
According to Patrick Fung, the programme chair for the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, “We want to see the Fourth Lausanne Congress bring a sense of urgency to the global church and the need for deeper and richer collaboration to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching—in every nation, in every sphere of society, and in the realm of ideas. Amidst world conflicts, wars, and plague, there is an urgent call to the global church to world evangelization, so that the gospel may reach the ends of the earth as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In preparing for the fourth Lausanne Congress, Lausanne published the The State of Great Commission Report. As described, this key document shares insights from more than 150 global mission experts and sheds light on how we as a global church can be obedient to Jesus’ Great Commission today.
The WEA shares the concern for the state of the great commission today. Key leaders at the WEA contributed to the congress in a myriad of ways. The Executive Chair, Dr Goodwill Shana sent a word of greetings to all participants during the plenary session, thanking Lausanne particularly for the State of the Great Commission report. Bishop Efraim Tendero, the Global Ambassador of WEA passionately called for reformation of the evangelical movement to bridge the gap in the great commission. Key to this reformation is Christ followers who are willing to be radical in their discipleship, following Jesus by displaying humility and practicing forgiveness.
Rev Esme Bowers, global Church Engagement director was part of a panel of Lausanne elders that reflected on the ethos of Lausanne. As the General Secretary of Lausanne before Cape Town 2010 and the Board Secretary thereafter, she described the relevance of the different statements that have been produced to date. The Seoul Statement, Cape Town commitment, Manila manifesto and the original Lausanne covenant have been developed to challenge the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.
Rev. Samuel Chiang, Deputy Secretary General, and Ryan Emis, Director of Office of the Future, facilitated the Gap session daily on ‘Integrated Spirituality and Mission’; Dr. Brad Smith, Alliance Engagement Director served to put together the Table groups for 1,450 participants at the Workplace ministry. The Global Day of Faith at work was launched for the 1st May. Other leaders related to the WEA and its commissions supported the congress in other ways.
As the congress ends, the WEA stays committed to collaboration for the sake of the great commission.
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