The Bride of Christ: The 2024 Lausanne Congress
Lausanne 50th Anniversary Painting "The Harvest" at the L4 Congress in Seoul
"The Harvest". A collaboration between Alexis Newsom and Bryn Gillette. 2024. Acrylic on panel. 20x32".
An Impact Foundation staff blog
This past September, an Impact Foundation team member had the unique opportunity to attend the Fourth Lausanne Congress in South Korea. In this blog, the author shares insights about what they saw and heard and a word of exhortation from the Conference for all believers.
The Lausanne Congress originated in 1974 when Reverend Billy Graham and other Christian leaders gathered believers from around the world to address the need to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission. Fifty years later, this past September, the Fourth Lausanne Congress was held in Incheon, South Korea.
As I worshipped with 5,000 believers from more than 200 countries, I was struck by the imagery of Revelation 19:7-8: "For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” In many ways, the Fourth Lausanne Congress was like a bride preparing on the morning of her wedding. Messy hair from last night’s sleep, no makeup, and still in pajamas, but the wedding, and even more so, the marriage is almost here. With so much to do, how will everything be ready in time? The excitement, the anticipation, and the disbelief that it will come together can be overwhelming. And yet, somehow, it will.
How is the Bride of Christ preparing? There is still much brokenness, even ugliness—selfishness, unforgiveness, pride, envy, and greed—but she is getting ready. Prayer, confession, unity, and obedience are her beautifying acts, and by “declaring and displaying Christ together”—the theme of the Fourth Congress—she is surely preparing for her bridegroom.
Several key themes emerged from the Congress, namely repentance, unity, and the work remaining before us.
Repentance must come first.
From the biblical revivals of Judah under King Josiah and Nineveh amidst the preaching of the prophet Jonah to the multitudes of revivals throughout history (the Moravian Revival of 1727 and the 1907 Pyongyang Revival, to name a few), God responds to prayer and repentance. As the global body of Christ, we must confess our individual and collective sins, be washed by the forgiving blood of Jesus, and ask the Lord to purify our hearts. He deserves a spotless bride.
Unity of the global Bride of Christ.
This gathering of believers was said to be the most diverse gathering of Christians in all of human history. As participants spoke on stage and engaged in table groups, the importance of diverse perspectives, skill sets, networks, languages, and access cannot be understated. Nothing in the world can unite such different people as the Gospel of Jesus Christ - this must not be taken for granted or worse, forsaken. Creating space and relationships with believers from different countries, ethnicities, languages, socioeconomic statuses, and backgrounds is paramount for the bride to be unified and purified.
The Gospel for every person.
Incredible strides have been made in Bible translation and the exponential sharing of the Gospel over the last century. The unreached still represent 40% of the world’s population yet are increasingly concentrated geographically in South Asia—principally India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, and Nepal, which are home to the most unreached people groups, in order from greatest to least. Thus, a change is paramount to our strategy, as only three percent of international missionaries go to the unreached, leaving 97 percent of missionaries being sent to people who already have access to the Gospel (Lausanne State of the Great Commission Report). U.S. church income is the largest in the world and yet barely a sliver is allocated to global mission work – such wealth must be increasingly channeled to believers in these areas rather than kept within our borders. You can learn more in Lausanne’s State of the Great Commission Report.
On one hand, lies the impossibility of the task before us, to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet, by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the totality of the body of Christ, it will happen. And we are getting close. Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
Read Lausanne's State of the Great Commission Report