Voices

The lack of a compelling and persistent call to the unevangelized and the unreached at the fourth Lausanne Congress left me deeply saddened.

I see the massive potential for grassroots ecumenism, and the 50th anniversary of the Lausanne Congress is a starting point for its development towards the 2050 goal.

At Lausanne 4, we saw the beauty of the church in its potency as we embraced and engaged the theme “Let the Church declare and display Christ together.”

It is important to understand the gospel within the larger biblical narrative of God’s work from creation to new creation. Nevertheless, to say that creation care is part of the gospel would be to imply that good works (caring for creation) are part of the gospel, which they are not.

It was an honor to be a part of the fourth Lausanne Congress (L4), a beautiful demonstration of the church across the world, celebrating together and focusing on the timeless principles of the Bible and the good news of the Gospel.

As a professor and pastor, Lausanne was a privilege to attend because it brought together my identity as an “evangélico” in the tradition of Samuel Escobar and René Padilla, and my research and teaching on the Brown Church.

An overlooked feature in the early response to the Seoul Statement is that it is, well, a statement. It is not a covenant, a manifesto, or a commitment, but a statement.

Here are several characteristics of African Pentecostal church planting that are helpful for the rest of us to consider.