Last Saturday I left Seoul, South Korea, after a week at the Lausanne Congress full of global reports, inspiring TED-style talks, powerful sermons, and jaw-dropping worship.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization<\/a>\u2014a globe-encompassing gathering of evangelicals, launched by Billy Graham in 1974 and held roughly every 15 years since\u2014was a rousing success in my book. Three of us from\u00a0Dare 2 Share<\/a>\u00a0were there\u2014Debbie Bresina, Jason Lamb and me\u2014and we all agree that this event was both inspiring and challenging. I also captured some reflections in a Lausanne Daily Dispatch: My 3 Hopes for the Global Congress<\/a>, and our coverage includes a report on the powerful worship and the new Seoul Statement in a separate Lausanne Daily Dispatch \u2014 Powerful Worship and a New Seoul Statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are my top takeaways.<\/p>\n 1. God is moving globally in a big way.<\/p>\n When you gather 5,000 evangelists from 200 countries, put them in a giant room, and shake it up, great things happen. The formal reports from the stage and the informal conversations in the hallways and on the escalators filled my heart with joy and hope. God is up to some big things globally.<\/p>\n 2. Christ and his cause bring instant unity.<\/p>\n We formed deep connections with complete strangers quickly because of our common love for Jesus and commitment to\u00a0his cause<\/a>. I met people there I will never forget because they\u2019re diligently laboring in another part of the global harvest field, making disciples.<\/p>\n 3. The persecuted church is thriving under pressure.<\/p>\n The reports from the persecuted church inspired us all. Stories of those who\u2019ve been willing to be tortured and even die for the gospel brought tears to our eyes and fire to our hearts.<\/p>\n The global leaders in the persecuted church seemed more concerned about the purity of the gospel than their own suffering. The mic-drop quote of the week was from one such leader, who said:<\/p>\n \u201cPersecution never kills the church, but a compromised gospel will.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. The next generation is a global priority.<\/p>\n The largest breakout track by far was regarding the next generation. There were 1,000 of us in a giant room. Leaders globally are concerned about what it\u2019s going to take to capture and keep the hearts of young people.<\/p>\n The drum that our crew kept beating was that if we want to reach the next generation, then we must see them as the\u00a0now\u00a0generation. We must mobilize them to embrace and\u00a0proclaim the gospel<\/a> as the ultimate cause.<\/p>\n 5. We have to stay on guard against mission drift.<\/p>\n My friend\u00a0Ed Stetzer<\/a>\u00a0produced fantastic and compelling articles throughout the week, making a strong case to elevate evangelism as more central in\u00a0The Seoul Statement<\/a>. In addition to evangelism, there were also 97 or so other bullet points in the statement about a wide array of issues.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to forget that the main thing is to keep the main thing as the main thing. And the main thing for the believer is the last and lasting mandate of Jesus to\u00a0\u201cgo and make disciples of all nations\u201d\u00a0(Matt. 28:18\u201320<\/a>).<\/p>\n On Wednesday afternoon, we put out a call for other evangelists to join us on the streets of Seoul to do, well, evangelism. We had a small crew of 25 or so and had 56 conversations and 8 faith indications. Although I had hoped that more would show up, I was grateful for those who did (Desmond Henry,\u00a0Kristopher Stout,\u00a0Daniel King and more) and that they were willing to hit the streets for three hours with the good news of the gospel of Jesus.<\/p>\n 6. Keith and Kristyn Getty know how to lead worship.<\/p>\n There were so many goosebump moments as the Christ- and cross-centric worship of\u00a0Getty Music\u00a0filled the room as an offering of praise.<\/p>\n All the worship sets were amazing and bolstered by a 5,000-member hallelujah choir of evangelists from around the world.<\/p>\n It was a taste of heaven!<\/p>\n 7. South Korea is a beautiful place with wonderful people.<\/p>\n The Korean churches that volunteered at this historic event numbered in the hundreds. They were the most kind, efficient and prayer-fueled people you can imagine.<\/p>\n Plus, Incheon, just outside of Seoul, was a beautiful city to host this historic gathering.<\/p>\n All in all, the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization was a phenomenal event, and I\u2019m grateful to have participated. (Plus I got to hang with\u00a0Derwin Gray<\/a>!)<\/p>\n Pray for all these evangelists as they return home with a renewed passion to shake their countries with the gospel of Jesus.<\/p>\n