‘Let the Church declare and display Christ together’
Major Darren Kingston was the Australia Territory’s sole representative at the fourth Lausanne Congress, which was recently held in South Korea. A team member from The Salvation Army’s Macquarie Fields Mission in Sydney, Darren filed this report about the congress.
BY MAJOR DARREN KINGSTON
I am extremely humbled to have been chosen to represent The Salvation Army International at the Fourth Lausanne Congress in Seoul/Incheon, South Korea.
I gathered with 5000 other Christian leaders from 22-28 September, and we were inspired to find new ways to share the gospel, serve the marginalised and work for justice and reconciliation across the world.
The Lausanne Movement began in 1974 with the first International Congress on World Evangelization, convened by evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham and John Stott in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its purpose was to unite global evangelical leaders to collaborate on spreading the gospel more effectively, with a particular focus on cross-cultural mission and addressing social issues.
The resulting Lausanne Covenant, a foundational document, emphasised the integration of evangelism and social responsibility, which fits well with The Salvation Army’s emphasis. Since then, the movement has continued to host international congresses and regional gatherings (Manila in 1989 and Cape Town in 2010), encouraging a global Christian response to contemporary challenges in mission work, including poverty, injustice and secularism.
It also aims to inspire, equip and collaborate with people in ministry and the workplace to see the world evangelised with the theme ‘Let the Church declare and display Christ together’.
Each speaker focused on a theme for the day. The themes were:
1. The work of the Holy Spirit
2. Missionary community, including the importance of repentance
3. Persecution and global mission
4. Christian witness in the workplace
5. Leadership as servanthood
6. Declaring Christ as Lord
My personal highlight was having the opportunity to work together at a table with people from Japan, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the USA, who became great friends. I was able to gain insight into these topics from the different countries’ points of view.
My challenge with the knowledge I received was to bring back what I learnt and share that knowledge and the struggles of others around the world.
My stream was ‘Evangelising in a Digital Age’, and we developed strategies for engaging with others through digital mediums.
I also had the privilege of sharing with other Salvationists from around the world and others representing different denominations from Australia.
Through these conversations, it was evident that The Salvation Army needs to continue working with other churches and organisations and engaging younger leaders. We also need to be humble and repentant in this process. I also spoke with a couple of people about how to better develop home churches and ‘community tables’.
Korea was an amazing place that, in 75 years, has gone from one of the poorest countries in the world to prospering. We can learn a lot from the Korean Church with its fervour for prayer, from being served to serving the world through sending the second-highest number of missionaries out into the world.
“To achieve this, we’ve got to work together and collaborate to see people won for Jesus, especially through the medium of technology.”
It was a life-changing congress where connections will continue to be forged, and I believe this time has helped me become a better evangelist. I was able to pray for healing for people, be prayed for and bless others.
Christianity is growing around the world, but the world’s population is also growing exponentially.
The Empowered21 Christian movement has a vision to help evangelists and frontline mission organisations fulfil the Great Commission of reaching every person on the planet by Pentecost 2033, which is the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Church and Jesus’ death and resurrection.
To achieve this, we’ve got to work together and collaborate to see people won for Jesus, especially through the medium of technology.
Finally, I had the privilege of signing a commitment document to play my part in evangelising the world by God’s grace.
