State of Global Missions Movement 2013
The following is a first-hand report on the Lausanne Global Leadership Forum held June 17 – 21, 2013 in Bangalore, India.
By Grant McClung
As my Air France flight touched down just before midnight in Bangalore, India, my mind went back to a Pentecostal missionary pioneer, Robert F. Cook, who arrived in the same city 100 years ago in 1913. Cook was among the seekers in the altars of the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, California in the early 1900s. After receiving his own personal Pentecost, he was approached by a missionary who invited Cook and his wife to join his work in India.
Mrs. Cook, however, was reluctant and needed Divine reassurance. That is where the Holy Spirit got involved. Here is how Cook would later recall the incident:
He gave her the name of a town in South India, of which she was quite ignorant at the time. She and a friend, Esther Lampert, were sitting on the floor while Esther was tuning my wife’s guitar; suddenly my wife spoke out, “Bangalore.”
Sister Esther looked up and said, “Did you say ‘Tune Lower?’”
“No,” my wife replied, “I heard a voice saying ‘Bangalore’ and I repeated it.”
When I came home, they told me of this, and I said, “Why, that is the town where the missionary with whom we are going has lived” (As recounted in the first edition of Azusa Street and Beyond: Missional Commentary on The Global Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement. Bridge-Logos Publishing 2012).
Seismic shifts in missions have taken place in the world and in India over the last 100 years since Cook’s arrival. Bangalore is not only the, “Silicon Valley and IT Capital of India,” but also a major epicenter of evangelical outreach across this vibrant nation. Over the past two decades, Indian evangelicals in the south have initiated hundreds of missional outreaches to the north of their country that has spilled over into a revival movement in the Himalayan country of Nepal. Now, what was once reported as the “graveyard of missions” (North India) is now nicknamed, “the vineyard of missions.” In addition, the Indian diaspora is making major impacts globally.
This refreshing news was only one of many reports and informative presentations given at the Lausanne Global Leadership Forum in Bangalore during the exciting days of June 17 – 21. Some 400 missions and marketplace leaders were convened from over 80 nations representing every world region. There, we studied God’s Word and prayed together and met in strategic interaction over the desperate challenges and unprecedented opportunities that are before the international Great Commission community.
The Forum was called and planned by the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization. The meeting represented Lausanne’s commitment to be held accountable for priorities and goals articulated at “Cape Town 2010,” the Third International Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa). It also acknowledged our need to continually identify emerging leaders, discover new resources and learn from each other as we wrestle with new challenges in a world of dynamic change. Delegates were asked to come equipped to exchange ideas, learn from one another, and seek ways to collaborate.
Historical Perspective
The story of Lausanne begins with Billy Graham who, during the broadening influence of his global evangelistic ministry, developed a passion to unite all evangelicals in the common task world evangelization. Graham’s vision converged in the 1966 World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin, Germany. It was more fully developed into a larger, historic congress in Lausanne, Switzerland in July, 1974. The location of the congress in the city of Lausanne would ultimately provide the name Lausanne Congress and the title of The Lausanne Covenant (one of the crowning achievements of the congress). In addition, a continuation committee formed out of the gathering was eventually named as the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE). Subsequent conclaves were held again in Manila, Philippines in 1989 and in Cape Town, South Africa in 2010.
Program Structure and Format
The GLF program design was similar to that of the Davos World Economic Forum and the Oxford Analytica Global Horizons Conference. For each participant, the program was designed to: (1) Provide global analysis and insight from the best minds in the church addressing the greatest missions challenges in the world; (2) Connect with CEOs, scholars, pastors, and influencers from leading evangelical institutions and businesses around the world; (3) Engage in small group discussions, Bible study and prayer, networking, and private conversations with policy makers who are world experts on global issues; (4) Introduce the Lausanne Global Analysis, a new publication designed to provide insight and guidance on the pressing issues of our day.
Diversified, yet Focused Mission
Throughout the forum, reports were provided by the wide variety of 35 Issue Groups which are approaching world evangelization through their emphases upon: Arts, Buddhism, Business as Mission, Care and Counsel as Mission, Children at Risk, Church Research, Cities, Creation Care, Diasporas, Disability Concerns, Evangelism among Children, Evangelism Training, Freedom and Justice, Hinduism, Holistic Mission, Integrity and Anti-Corruption, International Student Ministry, Islam, Jewish Evangelism, Leadership Development, Least Evangelized Peoples, Marketplace Ministries, Orality , Partnership of Men and Women, Proclamation Evangelism, Reconciliation, Religious Liberty, Resource Mobilization, Scripture Engagement, Strategic Evangelistic Partnerships, Study of Global Christianity, Technology, Tentmaking, and Women in Evangelism.
Global Trends
From my perspective, the GLF reminded me that the Lausanne movement for world evangelization is (to note just a few observations):
• Inclusive of the whole people of God: women and men working together, senior leaders with younger leaders, multi-ethnic, international.
• Relational: a movement of colleagues and friends who work together in harmony across denominational and international lines. Billy Graham called this the “spirit of Lausanne.”
• Strategically pointed toward proclamation evangelism with a high priority upon making disciples among the least evangelized, unreached people groups.
• Not limited to “missions professionals,” but affirms the leadership of laity in the marketplace (business, academics, the sciences, media, etc.).
• On the theme of workplace/market place influencers, one of the presenters cited a quote attributed to Billy Graham, “The market place will be for this century what the medical profession was for the last century.”
• Appreciative of the indispensability of the local church in world evangelization.
• Centered on scripture – every Lausanne gathering places high value on the study and obedient application of the Bible together.
• Active in and dependent upon intercessory prayer.
• Constantly committed to their grand and visionary theme of, “The Whole Church taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World.”
Personal Reflections
• I am encouraged with the multi-faceted potential of information technology and the use of the internet, social media, cell phones for the proclamation of the gospel and for relational and ministry networking – especially among the younger generation.
• I am challenged and informed with the consecration and talent of younger leaders and their outreach to senior leaders who are being sought as mentors to the next generation.
• I am overwhelmed with amazement at the wide array of gifted women and men who are strategically placed by God for missional influence in every public arena (media, business, the academy, government, etc.). The sovereign God superintends His mission to insure that there is no sphere of influence untouched by the salt and light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I came away with a renewed vision to ask God for fresh ways to resource/mentor marketplace/workplace disciples.
• I am impressed once again to join in the call of the Lord Jesus Himself that, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9.38).
Future Projections
Dr. Michael Oh was presented as the incoming Lausanne Executive Director. Oh is a 42 year Korean – American missionary to Japan who currently leads a seminary there and will continue to be based in Japan. He said Japan was the least evangelized nation on earth and that the greatest percentage of unreached people groups are located in Asia. He noted that moving Lausanne offices to Asia is significant and symbolic since 60% of the global church lives in that region.
The new director indicated that the Lausanne movement will be more and more global and younger. He desires to re-introduce Lausanne to a new generation and is projecting a global younger leaders gathering for 2015 in Kiev, Ukraine. There is a new vitality expressed in worship and intercessory prayer among his younger colleagues, he noted, and specifically called the international missions movement to intensive prayer for him and the Lausanne leadership. More on the Lausanne movement and a complete GLF report is available at www.lausanne.org.
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Dr.Grant McClung, President of Missions Resource Group (www.MissionsResourceGroup.org), is an International Missionary Educator with Church of God World Missions. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Global Diaspora Network (a Lausanne initiative), and serves as Missiological Advisor to the World Missions Commission of the Pentecostal World Fellowship.
