As I work on this article, I am flying high over the East China Sea on an EVA Air flight returning to Taiwan from Incheon, Korea. In the cramped cabin, with only a small tray table and limited time, I try to capture my thoughts and reflect on the past week.
Yes, I have just participated in the Fourth Lausanne Congress (L4), a historic gathering for the evangelical church, marking half a century since the first congress in 1974. The theme this time was “Let the Church Declare and Display Christ Together.”
From the first evening, Lausanne CEO, Dr. Michael Oh, set the tone for the event in his address by quoting the Lausanne Covenant. He called us to humility, repentance, and a renewed commitment to the unfinished task. His desire was to set a tone of unity, listening, and collaboration. He warned that the most dangerous words in the global church are: “I don’t need you.” His plea to work together to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth deeply moved all who were present.
However, just by the second night, an incident took place. It somehow demonstrated how fragile unity could be for the global church.
The theme of the evening was “Recommitment—Calling the Global Church Toward Faithfulness in Word and Deed.” Under the umbrella of “Peace and Justice,” this was presented by Ruth Padilla DeBorst, a respected Latin American theologian, who had only 15 minutes to speak. That morning, Israel had launched a surprise airstrike on Lebanon, killing 500 people, expanding the war. Among the dead many were children and women. She could not avoid mentioning these devastating realities. The issue arose on a couple of occasions during her message when she addressed some theological biases rooted in dispensationalism and offered an alternative perspective to the one-sided stance. Specifically, she said: “What makes God’s people such are not superficial expressions of religious piety, ‘Christianese’ jargon, worship jingles, or colonialist theologies that justify and finance oppression under the guise of some dispensational eschatology.”
At the time, I didn’t sense anything particularly problematic with her words. However, for some interest groups, they felt offended, strongly. Two nights later, after the issue had fermented, the congress director David Bennett released an open apology to all attendees. “…sometimes we have failed to review carefully enough in advance the precise wording or tone used by a presenter, or to anticipate how their words may be received by the diversity of the audience they are addressing.” It seems that the planning committee had expressed a position against her critique of dispensationalism, which implied that her message was in some way considered inappropriate. This decision, which was somehow made without Dr. Ruth’s consent, stirred even more controversy and discontent, especially from the majority world.
On the 28th, the final day, another letter was issued, this time a personal reply from Dr. Ruth herself. She stated, “We are sent into the world in all its messiness as Jesus was. We do not shy away from reality in spite of its complexity. Instead, we name what we see, recognizing that our perspective is marked by our experience and context, that others have different views, that we can only gain a fuller picture by listening humbly to one another and that, at the same time, we are to actively seek justice, echoing with God’s heart to make all things right.”
Nevertheless, L4 itself stirred quite a bit of unrest both inside and outside the venue. The worship led by two wonderful bands was very impressive but obviously “Western mainstream” (even for the Isaiah6tyONE, a famous celebrated Korean group). An entire evening was dedicated to a “performance” by the Korean church, recounting Korea’s modern missionary history. For some, it may have seemed like an obvious preference for the host country, which wasn’t the case for Switzerland, the Philippines, and South Africa, the previous hosts. Outside, there were protests by some ultra-conservative factions, accusing the Lausanne movement of promoting universalism and syncretism. Meanwhile, a left-leaning online group criticized the Seoul Statement for being vague and not clearly stating certain issues. In short, there was criticism from all sides.
Fourteen years ago, I attended the third Lausanne congress in Cape Town. I was much younger, idealistic, and appreciative of the opportunity to be part of such a significant event. The round table discussions, the 2000 years of church history video, the skits on believers of the first century, the colorful African choir on the opening night, even the stage itself all amazed me. At the time, I wasn’t aware of the tension among different interest groups, the politics involved with selection and budgeting, the cyber-attacks from certain countries, and quite a few hidden agendas behind the scenes. I clearly remember the testimony from a North Korean teenage girl who had lost her parents. The most powerful sermon on Equilibrium vs. Diversity by Patrick Fung has been my all-time favorite when it comes to theological insights for unity and collaboration. Meanwhile, the clips from Tim Keller (Urban), Paul Eshleman (UUPG), and John Piper for the third Lausanne Congress were circulated in our “business” due to Lausanne’s sphere of influence. These moments had shaped the worldview of many, myself included.
At the Younger Leaders Gathering in Jakarta in 2016, the presentation from Molly Wall and Jason Mandryk on the state of gospel was exceptionally informative and impactful. The encouraging message from Sarah Breuel still resonates powerfully with me today. I was also fortunate enough to meet Dr. TV Thomas and was invited to join the executive leadership committee of Global Mobilization Network after the event. Not to mention that I got to spend more than two years preparing for the 2019 East Asia YLG in Jeju with wonderful core members from Hong Kong, Japan, Mongolia, and South Korea. Lausanne had become an integral part of my life narrative.
Fourteen years later, not a “young” leader anymore, I found myself once again sitting in the arena of 5,000 delegates in L4. Having added many years of ministry experience, titles, and obligations, I found myself probably becoming more cynical, defensive, and critical towards Lausanne, or any of these major gatherings alike. Is it because of spiritual fatigue? Covid? Church politics? Insecurity? Ageing? Or a bit of everything? I don’t have a clear answer.
We are sent into the world in all its messiness as Jesus was. We do not shy away from reality in spite of its complexity. Instead, we name what we see, recognizing that our perspective is marked by our experience and context, that others have different views, that we can only gain a fuller picture by listening humbly to one another and that, at the same time, we are to actively seek justice, echoing with God’s heart to make all things right.
Dr. Ruth’s response in the letter was so powerful. I want to make a T-shirt just with that quote.
Yes, it is not easy.
The late founder of Operation Mobilisation (OM), George Verwer, famously wrote in his last book, “Put simply, messiology is the idea that God in his patience, mercy, and passion to bring men and women to himself often does great things in the midst of a mess…”
Amid the dazzling array of workshops, programs, group photos, pre-meetings, in-meetings, side-meetings, post-meetings, and encounter after encounter in hallways, cafes, corridors, and even in the men’s restroom, it felt as if a fish had been thrown into the main tank of a large aquarium, right in the middle. Overjoyed to savor the moment, yet constantly observing and sizing each other up, we became both the audience and extras in this epic movie shooting scene.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world,” a famous quote often attributed to Gandhi, but he probably never said it. What Gandhi actually said was:
We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.
Perhaps, before changing the world, we should first change ourselves.
Michael Oh, the Lausanne CEO, wrapped up the week by quoting a Russian proverb, comparing bees and flies in a garden. This will forever be remembered as the epitaph of this Lausanne gathering. Some might react quickly with anger, thinking, “Does this mean that criticism and suggestions are not allowed, and you’re comparing us to flies that are only attracted to filth?” Or, some may soon notice the flaw in this analogy’s logic. (Does the garden only have room for bees?)
But why not consider this: rather than getting entangled in imperfections, what kind of change can we become? What response are we willing to give for God’s will and God’s work? So that, together, we might declare and display Christ in a broken world.
Editor’s note: This article was originally written in Chinese and has been translated and edited by ChinaSource team with the author’s permission. The original Chinese version will be published in the first quarter of 2025 in Mission Pathway, under the column 差傳換日線 (Mission Daybreak).
Image credit: Ray Peng
Ray Peng
Ray (Su-rey) Peng is the founder/CEO of WE global initiative, a mobilization fellowship among the Chinese-speaking world. He has served in the leadership roles of CCCOWE, Kairos, Perspectives Chinese, and United Missions of Taiwan. He has been associated with Global Mobilization network since 2016 as a member of the executive …View Full Bio
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