Three Lessons from Lausanne 4 By R. Scott Rodin

My Lausanne Experience and Next Steps

Last week, I attended the Fourth Lausanne Congress on Global Evangelism in Seoul, South Korea. Over 5,200 leaders from 202 countries gathered to discuss and strategize how to collaborate to complete the Great Commission. There was powerful worship, excellent speakers, and the opportunity to engage in smaller group work to help craft a vision for the way forward. Along the way, in addition to reconnecting with dozens of friends and former work colleagues, I sat at tables of six. I worked alongside leaders from Nigeria, Kenya, Finland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, Slovakia, and Panama. The meetings were diverse and covered with Christian love and mutual respect. Sometimes I sensed a small taste of heaven – from every tribe and nation.

Easy Assumptions

I took three lessons from the experience. The first was the critical importance of intentionality that leads to action. I was also reminded how easy it is to assume things will happen without a concerted effort. Here are a few.

• If we preach good sermons and offer some adult education classes, discipleship will happen.
• If we talk frequently about the importance of evangelism, enough people will do it.
• I’m about as far along in my walk with Jesus as he probably wants or needs me to be.
• Even though we’re not doing it now, I’m sure my ministry is willing to collaborate on important kingdom work.

Intentional Action

These misleading assumptions keep us stagnant in our faith and impotent in our impact on the kingdom of God. What is missing in each is intentionality with action, which looks like this.

• Discipleship requires an intentional commitment to particular people over time. It never just happens. We can’t disciple by osmosis. Jesus commanded us to ‘make disciples of all nations’. That is our purpose, our rallying cry, and our chief vocation.

• Evangelism is the first step in making disciples. Before starting their discipleship journey, they need to hear the gospel and come to saving faith in Christ. And how will they hear unless someone tells them? That someone is us, all of us. It’s not left to those more gifted in speaking, more learned in the Bible, or more mature in their faith. We are called to proclaim Christ until he comes again intentionally.

• Spiritual formation, being formed into the image of Christ, is a journey every follower of Jesus must travel. The Holy Spirit wants to take us deeper into this relationship, and we must seek it with all our hearts. Spiritual formation is an intentional desire to be disciplined by Jesus. It flows from a surrendered heart and a thirst for him. It is the abundant life Jesus wants for every one of us, but it must be sought intentionally.

• Collaboration is the key to mission accomplishment and obedient stewardship of our ministry. Such collaborative relationships must be sought out, forged, and nurtured to bear the fruit they promise. They don’t happen casually. They result from an intentional process of seeking out those with whom we can do more together than we can apart. It requires compromise, shared credit, patience, grace, and humility. When done well, they yield more fruit for the kingdom and better stewardship of God’s resources.

I came away from the Lausanne Congress committed to intentional discipleship, proclaiming Jesus, journeying deeper with him, and seeking out opportunities for collaborative kingdom work.

Generational Relevance

The second lesson came from a formula shared by the Harvard Business Review that goes like this:

Organizations will decline when the velocity of change outside them is greater than the velocity of change inside them.

This sums up well why so many ministries are struggling for relevance and losing the attention of the younger generations. They are failing to change at anything near the pace of the world around them. We provide a strategic planning process called DISCERN©. One outcome is helping ministries become more agile and responsive to the changing culture, not in conformity but in clarity and boldness in pursuit of their kingdom mission. L4 reminded me that unless we are willing to move at the pace of the Spirit, we will languish in our insecurities and fears.  As one person put it, our planning will be nothing more than an escalation of commitment to a losing course of action.

Display and Declare

Finally, much of Lausanne 4 reminded us that we do all of our work in humility, lifting up Christ, relying on his power, and proclaiming his reign over all the earth. This leads us to serve with compassion and love without reservation.

The one piercing question I will most remember from L4 is, “Will you live to be forgotten so Christ will be remembered?” This is a challenge indeed.

There is so much more to say about this amazing week. Still, my prayer for you is that you might recommit yourself to being intentional as disciples, proclaimers of the gospel, spiritually formed into Christ’s image, and working collaboratively for the kingdom. I pray you to embrace change and move adeptly as the Spirit leads to remain a relevant, impactful ministry standing boldly for Christ in the culture in which we live. And finally, I pray that you will adorn yourself with humility and that people will always see Jesus in all you say and do. In doing so, may we live out the theme of the Fourth Lausanne Congress: Let the Church Declare and Display Christ Together.

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R. Scott Rodin is the Senior Consultant/Chief Strategy Officer for The Focus Group. Over the past thirty-eight years, Scott Rodin has helped hundreds of organizations improve their effectiveness in leadership, fund development, strategic planning, and board development. His books and articles have been translated into over twenty languages, and he has taught and consulted with ministries across five continents. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Association of Biblical Higher Education and as board chair for ChinaSource.

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