The 2024 Lausanne Global Congress is described as the largest gathering of evangelical leaders since Pentecost. Jeannie Banter, Professor Rob Lim, Dr. Sam Kim and President Kevin Brown had the pleasure of attending this conference in Incheon, South Korea.
“This was the fourth Lausanne conference, the first one was started and co-founded by Billy Graham” said Banter. She expressed that they were all keenly aware of the importance of this moment, given that it is such a diverse meeting of church leaders. “It is incredibly humbling that we would be invited to the room for such a poignant moment. There were over 200 nations and territories represented in the room and thousands of people in attendance as well as watching online.”
Asbury University was deeply ingrained in the conference and was mentioned even on the opening day. “It was quite moving to know that this little community here has had such a monumental impact on arguably the most influential evangelical gathering of people in the world” explained Lim. “The way I like to describe it is you could feel Asbury’s thumbprint on this gathering. For those of us that had been at the Outpouring and then at this, there is very much continuity in themes and focus points for the church. I think it was very encouraging to see how these things as much as they were potent in impacting us as a community were equally as potent among 5,000 of the most influential evangelical leaders of today.”
Dr. Brown also echoed many of Lim’s sentiments, stating “I was also very encouraged by Lausanne’s focus on the next generation. Like Asbury faculty and staff, Lausanne recognizes the important role Gen Z will play in the future of Christian institutions. It reminds me of the significance of Asbury’s mission and our privilege to educate and shape the next generation.”
Collaborative action to fill the gaps within the church was also heavily emphasized. The conference included breakouts where they assessed the status of the global church and how it is tracking relative to The Great Commission as outlined in Matthew 28. Each group then made action plans about how they will work to help fill those gaps. They highly stressed the importance that we collaborate for the sake of the gospel.
The conference was a mixture of plenary sessions and breakout sessions focusing on specific topics. The conference was also incredibly diverse. Dr. Brown remarked “My assigned table, for example, represented Japan, Africa, India and France (I was the lone American). Truly a beautiful picture of ‘every tribe, tongue, and nation’ worshipping together as reflected in Revelation 7:9!”
Lim went on to explain that “The ecumenical spirit that was in the room was strong. Very rarely in society do you use the word ‘unified church’ because you don’t see it, but having the humble privilege of being in a room like that with every evangelical group being represented in the Church at this gathering—you can’t walk away from that and not believe in the ecumenical church and not believe in the unified church.” Lim also explained that the mix of people was not just based on ethnic diversity but denominational, generational and vocational diversity.
He also stated that the unity in caring for people from all different languages, vocations and cultures was “almost unconscious because it was normal. It was an unconscious respect to your brothers and sisters in Christ.” Lim continued “It made you believe that the church could be united even in a world where division is so prevalent.”
Banter also commented on how the global church was being represented “Heaven is not going to be boring. When I think about all the nations worshiping together in tribe and tongue and all of the cultures represented it’s going to be such a beautiful time and we’re not going to get tired of it. It’s so easy, especially in our Western culture, to get focused on a lot of things that do matter but aren’t the main thing. It was refreshing to be in that room with global leaders and global brothers and sisters and just fix our eyes on Jesus to get a bigger fuller perspective of what God is doing around the world.”
Historically, the Lausanne conference has had large ripple effects that have impacted Christianity all around the globe. Those who attended the conference from Asbury all echoed a similar sentiment that there is no doubt his conference will influence the shape of Christianity for many years to come.
