Friday’s theme was “Leadership and Servanthood.” The text was Acts 20:13-38. Philip Ryken, President of Wheaton College and a good basketball player (so I hear), was the speaker. “Serving the Way of Jesus” was the title and a much-needed reminder.
A highlight for me was Rula Khoury Mansoura, Palestinian Christian lawyer from Israel, who spoke about living as a second-class citizen in her own land and processed issues of justice and reconciliation though that light. She called the L4 Congress to stand with her for peace-building in Israel-Palestine. Honestly, I don’t think many people even know that Palestinian Christians exist.
Today (Friday) Conference Organizer David Bennett wisely emailed all L4 participants the letter written by Ruth Padilla DeBorst from the controversy of Wednesday. Interestingly, this controversy has really served to highlight the plight of Palestinians and issues surrounding dispensational Zionism within Evangelicalism. Yet there is still a lot of work to do.
After living in the Middle East and working with several Palestinian colleagues and students, this issue has been close to my heart. Even as I write this, the IDF continues their attacks on Lebanon. It is heartbreaking. Pray for the Lebanese Church who is stepping up to serve many internally displaced peoples from the South.
One of my favorite resources for understanding the Israel-Palestinian conflict through a theological lens is Skye Jethani’s interview with Gary Burge on YouTube.
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Saturday’s theme was “The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth Under Christ’s Reign.” The sermon was given by Ronaldo Lidório, a Brazilian church planter in the Amazon. Five waves of reaching the unreached in the first century:
- Wave of Spiritual Power (Acts 1-2)
- Wave of Suffering (Acts 5-8)
- Wave of Sending Out Workers (Acts 13)
- Wave of Church Multiplication (Acts 16-21)
- Wave of Reaching the Ends of the Earth (Acts 27-28)
There was further emphasis on Ralph Winter’s Legacy today in in bringing awareness of unreached peoples. One comment was interesting to me: churches who do not send missionaries have little spirituality to offer the world.
Unfortunately, there has been some unnecessary noise concerning the Seoul Statement. I found this article from CT to be helpful and edifying. The Great Commission belongs to the Global Church.
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Some Final Thoughts on L4
There has been a kaleidoscope of topics this week, as L4 is about “collaboration” (not missiology) and very issue-driven. Previous Lausanne events have been criticized for being all talk and no action.
The overall impetus of L4 leads towards the holistic discipling of all peoples for the exaltation of Jesus. In that sense, both the apostolic and indicative aspects of mission have been addressed, although it is indeed impossible to please everyone. For example, sometimes my kids make fun of me for being old – and I’m upset that the Seoul Statement didn’t address ageism! (Hopefully you get my sarcasm.)
Floating around the congress, at least in my circles, have been a couple petitions of the Seoul Statement. But petitions should really be last resorts when dialogue has failed. I considered linking to them here but decided against it. At the least, people care deeply about the direction of Lausanne as it plays a large role in global Evangelicalism.
I’ll just offer a couple more thoughts and then take a break from blogging for a while.
MBBs. I don’t think there has been a single MBB on stage or leading an interest group. Many Arab CBB Arab leaders are here. I believe the situation in L5 will be different. The Muslim background Church will reach the Muslim world – we have much to learn from them. In my “Islam” gap, conversations were still quite basic.
Pastors. Even though the workplace track was highlighted often, with over 1,500 participants, there is still an emphasis on Pastors and pastoral ministry in context of attractional churches. Even missionaries are envisioned in a pastoral role – preaching to unbelievers. For me, the office of Pastor in a local church is a remnant of Christendom. We need more work on the APEST (Eph 4:11) leadership distribution and vision.
Movements. With the incredible explosion of Christianity in the Majority World there is much to celebrate. I wouldn’t say that movements are the only or even the primary way God is working today. With that being said, there is still an over-emphasis on institutional ecclesiology and even big flashy success stories like revivals. These are important, but we must find ways to increase movemental intelligence in the body of Christ.
Furthermore, the old social justice vs evangelism debate is still happening with different tribes feeling marginalized at different times and in different ways (Lausanne is either seen as too evangelistic or too social justice oriented depending on who you ask – maybe this is the sweet spot?). But I believe movements – especially as they manifest in the Majority World – seem to solve this tension.
The Acts of the Apostles and the Holy Spirit. Immersing in Acts reminds us that the early church’s faith should be our guiding blueprint:
Acts 28:30-31: For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance.
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