On the Lausanne Congress, God’s strategy and the 3.4 billion

Dear friends,

This issue comes later than planned after two weeks in South Korea for the Lausanne Congress, a much needed family break, speaking at several events and navigating both the loss of my wife’s grandfather and a few sick days.

Thank you for your patience, I appreciate you sticking around!

Here are this week’s curated insights—thoughts, concepts, and questions to support your leadership around mission, discipleship and renewal:

On the Lausanne Congress:

The fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (L4) in Seoul was an extraordinary experience. Its significance for me personally is hard to put into words, and I will be reflecting on it for months and years to come.

It was truly a privilege to be among more than 5,300 Great Commission leaders and advocates, and to serve with the Congress team. A reminder that we are but a very small part of the larger story that God is writing.

Here are a few bullets and highlights from L4:

• The overwhelming beauty of gathering and worshipping with over 5,000 believers from over 200 nations and territories, including brothers and sisters from some of the most persecuted countries, was profound — a powerful glimpse of the Revelation 7:9 vision.

• Instantly forming deep connections with people I’d never met, simply because of our shared love for Jesus and His mission.

• The challenging witness of the persecuted church. L4 had an entire day dedicated to persecution and mission with stories and reports that moved us all. Many tears flowed around the room. Many of us were struck by their joy and the stunning work of God among them, but nothing stayed with me as much as their deep concern for the purity of the Gospel.

• The Seoul statement: a recommitment to the Gospel, the authority of the Scriptures, the importance of the local church, a call to radical discipleship, sexual holiness, the Christian response to technology, war and more contemporary challenges. This is a theological gift to the global church. I highly recommend you spend some time reading it.

• Connecting with Lausanne Spain and Lausanne Europe leaders.

• The breakfasts, coffees and hallway discussions around holistic mission and the need to pioritize evangelism. In an age of documented mission drift, this is a very necessary conversation.

• Elevating Evangelism: very grateful I got to be a part of a recorded panel discussion for the Elevating Evangelism series with Dr. Desmond Henry. This series of discussions will be distributed through the Lausanne Movement network.

• The focus on raising and championing Gen Z and the next generation. Watch this space!

On collaborative action, God’s strategy and the 3.4 billion people who have never heard:

One of Lausanne’s key takeaways was the emphasis on collaboration and unity as evidenced by the Congress’s theme: “Let the Church declare and display Christ together” and one of its slogans: “The Whole Church taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World”.

Previous Lausanne congresses have historically been idea-driven: Unreached people group theory, the 10/40 window, the priority of world evangelization and (vs) holistic mission, the Gospel opportunities of cities and diasporas and more. L4 seemingly did not give us such big ideas (yet?) or missiological paradigms, rather it gave us an invitation to commit to “collaborative action”.

Many speakers conveyed this powerfully, yet Lausanne’s CEO, Dr. Michael Oh, was perhaps the most incisive.

“The most dangerous words in the church today: ‘I don’t need you,’” he said in his opening address, highlighting that God's strategy for His mission is not merely about a what, but a who. “God’s strategy is His body, His people — us”.

A clear picture of this was seen in the more than 5,300 leaders from over 200 nations and territories, collaborating around the current gaps and opportunities to further the Great Commission.

However, this strategy cannot be limited to geographical centers, polycentric mission, or interdenominational collaboration — important though they are. There was significant emphasis on mobilizing the 99%: “workplace Christians” who, implicitly or explicitly, have been told, “we don’t need you.”

Another speaker made this point forcefully, calling for a reformation from “clergy-dominated ministry” to “every believer ministry”. This reflects the New Testament pattern in Ephesians 4:11-12, where apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers equip all believers, irrespective of their vocation, to do the work of the ministry. Together, every disciple making disciples, declaring and displaying the gospel within their spheres of influence.

This echoes many of today’s missiological conversations and reflects the rapid growth and mobilization within disciple-making movements and modern church planting paradigms. Thank God, for this! We emphatically need every believer mobilized in their respective contexts - communicating the gospel with clarity and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And yet, this is not enough.

Dr. Michael Oh reminded the L4 delegates in every one of his addresses that 3.4 billion people have never heard the Gospel, and that 86% of Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus do not know a single Christian.

“Should we not bring the Bread of Life to the hungriest people on earth?”

In a time of missional fog, the billions who will live and die without hearing the Gospel remind us of the need for beautiful feet.

Ted Esler, president of Missio Nexus, poses a thought-provoking question in his book The Innovation Crisis: “What if we not only preached financial tithing but also tithed each gathering of Christians such that a missionary movement greater than any other exploded across the world?” Figuratively, the question has stayed with me.

10% stands in stark contrast to the current reality, where less than 1% of Christians are sent as missionaries (see graph). The graph also highlights where missionary sending is increasing (the Global South), stagnating (North America), and declining (Europe and Oceania).

What would it take to see a radical shift and see the number of cross-cultural missionaries increase by 200-400x? What innovation opportunities exist to reach this scale?

Billions have never heard. Let's get to work. Let's pray.

PS: thank you for your feedback so far. I also appreciate everyone who has shared this newsletter and also promoted some of these reflections on other platforms.

Much love and until next week,

Timo Anzalone
timoanzalone.com