Recently, I was in Indonesia with 1,000 Christian leaders from 160 countries for the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering that is convened once every decade. (Fortunately, at 34 years old, I just barely qualified as a “younger” leader!) The Lausanne Movement first began in 1974 under the initiative of Billy Graham, John Stott, and other key Christian leaders to help focus the Church on the fulfillment of the Lord’s great commission to make disciples of all nations. At the Younger Leaders Gathering, our aim was to take stock of the worldwide evangelical Church, learn from one another, and dream for the future.
That future is both exciting and challenging. On one hand, it was amazing to be part of such a diverse representation of the world’s 2.3 billion Christians who are the result of the diligent, Spirit-empowered work of that small band of Jewish disciples who watched the Lord ascend from the Mount of Olives 2,000 years ago. On the other hand, massive change in our world brings new challenges requiring fresh faith to follow Jesus. For the first time in history, more than half the world’s population lives in cities. Technology simultaneously connects us and isolates us. Religion is on the rise–secularism peaked in the 1980s and has been in decline worldwide since. 1% of the world’s population holds half its wealth. There are currently 232 million migrants, a number expected to increase as birthrates, poverty, and conflict drive people to seek security and sustainability.
Many of these statistics may seem far, far away from Snellville, Georgia–an idea that quite literally crossed my mind as I traveled two full days to get home this week. But whether we realize it or not, the global connectivity of our world means these massive changes impact our daily lives, even in Snellville or Lilburn or Lawrenceville or Grayson. How might we respond to these changes in technology, politics, urbanization, globalization, and radicalism?
As Os Guinness said to us in Jakarta, “The Church goes forward best when it looks backward first.” And so, this fall, we will be looking all the way back to the beginnings of the Church itself to learn how we might shape its tomorrow.
Get ready for the Book of Acts!