Editor’s note: This article is part of forum discussing the fourth Lausanne Congress. It is not an official Lausanne Movement forum but an opportunity for Lausanne delegates to share their thoughts about the fourth Lausanne Congress, the Seoul Statement, and the future of the mission. You can read the entire series, from diverse voices around the world here.
As the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization came to an end today, we celebrated the Lord’s supper as a global church of over 5,000 delegates from 200+ countries. We held in our hands the symbols of our broken and beautiful Savior who gave himself for us, the one who is our only hope in life and death. It was a precious expression of unity that I will remember for the rest of my life.
(Read my previous reflections here: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5.)
In many ways, that communion meal encapsulated so well the overall impression this congress has made upon me. The Lord’s Supper is about the broken and beautiful Christ who laid down his life for our salvation. His broken body has become beautiful to those touched by his grace. The sufferings of Good Friday have turned to the glories of Resurrection Sunday. When we gather in remembrance of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we gather around his broken beauty.
Look a little deeper, and you will find gathering around the table a family also marked by brokenness and beauty. The Church is the broken and beautiful people of God, gathered in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Spirit. We bear the scars of a sin-cursed world. We are battered and bruised. We suffer for the sake of Jesus’ name. And yet there is beauty here too. We find the wonder of transforming grace, the fruit of the Spirit beginning to grow, the image of Christ taking form in our midst. When we gather at the table, we come as the broken and beautiful bride of Christ.
That’s the story of the global church: We are a broken and beautiful bride, redeemed by a broken and beautiful Savior, journeying through a broken and beautiful world.
The global church is so very broken. We are broken by sin, self-inflicted wounds, persecution, and suffering. This congress reminds me of how hard following Jesus is in so much of the world. We are a broken people.
And the global church is so very beautiful. God’s grace is shining through. Courage is rising. Hearts are earnest. The Spirit is working. There is much to be hopeful about as we join Jesus on mission in our world. By grace, we are a beautiful people as well.
I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:7-10,
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
Lausanne 4 has reminded me that God uses our weakness to show himself strong. His grace is sufficient. Jesus is building his church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). We are his broken and beautiful bride to the praise of his glory!
