Plenary Session 3
Kicked off with an opening video of the history of the Lausanne Congress. Details regarding the first 3 Congresses were shared. Goals of Lausanne in general seem to include: Closing Gaps by 2050, establishment of a Global Network.
Let us consider sharing the simple Gospel in a complex World. The Cape Town Commitment (also borne out of a Lausanne Congress many years ago) states that we ‘seek to discern how we must express and apply the eternal truth of the Gospel in the ever-changing world of our own generation’.
The Gospel of God is simple – easy for a child to understand, but so powerful at the same time. The sharing of the Gospel is simple… but it is not simplistic. It’s about content, but it demands character. It can be one moment in time but it is certainly more effective when one life is shared with another.
We continue to strive to be a prophetic voice to the world, and it will always involve speaking Biblical Truth. It’s certainly a good goal for us to achieve on our own… But as the congresses progressed, it’s noticed that there is much need for collaboration – more now than ever.
The questions must be asked: What will the next 50 years look like? What will the future of strategic collaboration look like? In this current Congress, a vision was proposed to attempt answering both questions. It’s called the 3D Focus: Disciple-Making, Disciple-Maturing, and Digital Tools.
We’ve known the first two items as essential for centuries… However, with the inclusion of the third item, it’s implied that Digital Tools cannot be ignored, especially in this season.
We do acknowledge and appreciate our missionaries bringing the Gospel to the nations, but at the same time we see that the power of digital in this day and age could introduce parabolic progression in disciple making and maturing.
The Holy Spirit, as discussed in earlier sessions, is as Christ – the same yesterday, today and forever. So the methods may change, but the Spirit is still present and brings us to thrive – no matter what methods and approaches we are led to, dependent on the season.
To reiterate: The tools change quickly. The strategies, the coordination and the planning probably do not change or shift as much, but they DO change, even ever so slightly, given enough time. However, we DO need to remember that it’s always been the same Holy Spirit leading us no matter how the times or the tools change.
Resistance to going digital is usually in the form of two statements: We don’t know how, and we aren’t equipped. My response to this is for us to be humble, whether we are learning, or teaching the integration of digital. Not everyone could put all three together as a simple package. In order for digital tools to truly be integrated into disciple making and maturing, it is as we appear to be saying a lot in this Congress – We all need to work together.
It’s natural for us to have some positive expectations to the value that digital tools add to the already fruitful approach and Focus on disciple making and maturing. However, we are warned that we should’t be setting off to ‘duplicate’ the results of the previous seasons. God HAS been faithful to all of us through it all, but while the results are certainly favorable, results will vary according to the times, and, more importantly, according to the eternal wisdom of Christ.
The Bible doesn’t tell us to repeat the outcome of the lives of great former leaders. It calls us to embrace the same trust in the same great God and find our place in that same mission.-Phil Ryken
No matter how the seasons and the systems change, the push and call for humility across the board remains the same. Strategic collaboration will always mean humble collaboration, or collaboration in humility – for those adept in discipling to have an open mind to digital tools, and for those skilled in the most recent systems to take the time to see and impose their value on all that’s been tried and true.
Responding to the Message of the Sexual Revolution
Vaughan Roberts speaks
This was a banger, lemme tell you.
We must delight in God’s design. It’s in the very beginning of the Bible: God is for sex. Sex is for marriage, and marriage is for life… and what God has put together, let nobody divide.
The younger generation is the anxious generation – the isolated generation… And we as churches have a job to do, to respond to all their questions and answers with all that the Gospel has to say.
We must be humble and compassionate. ALL of us ought to understand that the temptations towards sexual sin regularly try to take ALL of us down with no exceptions… and this really should lead all of us into humility.
Speaking of humility Mr. Roberts reminds us that we’re not to judge the world in matters of sexual immorality – Let God decide that. He does recommend that the church must take a stand in exercising discipline against sexual sin in particular – we shouldn’t focus on some sins and ignore the rest. ‘Hidden’ sins such as domestic abuse and pornography should be approached and confronted with the same humility we approach any other sin.
Too many in our churches feel unable to share their struggles and pain because they believe they will be rejected. Please remember, these folks are in our churches and in our homes. When we speak, we will remember that so that people are not isolated and alone.
We must embrace Christ’s revolution. Again, God is for sex. Sex is for marriage, and marriage is for life… and one more thing: Life is for Christ.
We shouldn’t offer first and foremost Christian morality, lest we care to push everyone away. No, we proclaim and project Christ HIMSELF, drawing everyone else into the same love story we have with Him.
Through Christ working in us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we not only say it in words, but we also prove in our living that romantic and sexual relationships in themselves don’t satisfy… By the grace of God, we ultimately discover and more importantly disclose that our satisfaction comes from Christ! The romance and sex are more consequent celebrations of this infinite and eternal satisfaction.
We respond to the sexual revolution with Christ Himself. He showed amazing love to sinners, and in our relationship with Him, we enjoy this life by the power of the Holy Spirit in spite of our sexual brokenness.
Don’t just preach morality, don’t preach condemnation – preach Christ, for the glory of His name!
Acts 8:1-4
Saul Ravages the Church
1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria
4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
Acts 11:19-26
The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Acts 12:1-5
James Killed and Peter Imprisoned
1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
Patrick Fung speaks
The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. The word Christian is only mentioned three times in the New Testament – twice in Acts, once in Peter’s epistle… But the word disciple is mentioned 200+ times in the New Testament.
We’re brought to understand that these folks who were called disciples were oft enduring persecution – hanging on, holding on to the Gospel and to Christ no matter what… and even in spite of their persecution we do read how they ‘increased in numbers’.
In Acts 8 and Acts 11, the mood changed drastically, in that the severe persecution that was supposed to suppress the Church only led to the Gospel spread to Antioch and beyond.
If there is one key strategy that God has used again and again in church history for church growth, it is suffering and often persecution. For persecution never kills the church, but a compromised gospel will.
At this point I remember Gamaliel’s words when he spoke regarding false prophets versus the ‘movement’ that Peter and John were brought in for; He told the Sanhedrin that if it was a man-made movement, it will eventually die off… but if it is a movement from God, they should give way, lest they wrestle against God Himself.
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.Acts 11:19
The Power Of The Unnamed Witness
Here is a Gospel movement by God’s people, the unknown, unnamed, uncelebrated ordinary disciples of Christ. They basically ‘gossiped’ the Gospel wherever they went (Acts 8:4).
They lived to be forgotten so that Christ would be remembered. The goal of the early Church movement was done by unnamed fearless disciples of Jesus Christ.
- They were fearless in proclaiming the Gospel. May we seek the sovereign Lord continually, and may He grant us courage to proclaim His word boldly and faithfully.
- They were willing to cross cultural barriers. They expanded geographically, and more importantly, culturally. Jews were willing to take the Gospel to the Greeks… and it required a significant mindset change, especially considering Josephus’ observation of the animosity between Jews and Greeks. We’re to approach having a multicultural and broader worldview, just as Christ is for all nations.
- They demonstrated the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Luke spoke of the Lordship of Christ in the 11th chapter of his Gospel. He used this word repeatedly.
- If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. – Hudson Taylor.
The Power of Trust
23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.Acts 11:23-24
The name Barnabas literally means ‘Son of Encouragement’. At least one historian was fond of calling Barnabas ‘the man with the biggest heart’; He immediately recognized that it was God who gave the growth, and when he acted accordingly he saw many people were brought to the Lord. By God’s sovereign grace He allows us to let go to let the church grow.
25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.Acts 11:25-26
Barnabas, being thrilled to see the grace of God at work as it is within his control, still opted to go to Tarsus to look for Saul, whom he knew was more experienced, more skilled, and so on. This implies that Barnabas was not afraid to let go of power and status. He was a man of faith, who did not think too much of his own reputation more than the progression of the Gospel; and any man filled with the Holy Spirit is not afraid of losing control.
The Power of a Faithful Witness
26For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.Acts 11:26
These early disciples had a visible faith – visible in word and visible in action. Josephus shared that these Christians were so devoted that they were able and willing to take risks for Jesus Christ.
Back to Luke, he describes setbacks of the early church, as in the execution of James in Acts 12.
“Indeed, throughout church history the pendulum has swung between expansion and opposition, growth and shrinkage, advance and retreat, although with the assurance that even the powers of death and hell will never prevail against Christ’s church, since it is built securely on the rock – the rock of Christ.”– John Stott
Persecution can never kill the church… and yet how the church responds, makes a big difference.
Lord, come to our help. Let Your church declare and display Christ together.
Questions for Discussion:
How should Christ’s followers view persecution and setbacks for the Kingdom advance? Today, while some churches are threatened by militant resurgence and violent opposition, others face more subtle forms of persecution. What have you observed in your context?
How do we pray for those under persecution? What can we learn from the prayers of the early church recorded in Acts 4:23-31?
In the context wherein religious freedom is taken for granted or where Christendom prevails, the church can become complacent. What about your own church? How can we nurture a helpful spiritual discipline in standing together with the global church?
I shared a breakout room with Tetty from Indonesia, Kit from Malaysia, Rea from the Philippines by way of Indonesia, and George from Kenya. We all talked about how persecution was in our own countries, in an attempt to answer the first question.
We then focused on the second question. After I quickly read Acts 4:23-31, we discovered that it was at the end of the set of verses where a significant prayer was made, which would be the foundation of our answer: Boldness, Healing, Signs and Wonders.
So we pray that our brethren under persecution would have boldness, healing, signs and wonders; but everyone chimed in and we also agreed that we’re to pray for them to have strength, and for the Lord to speak to them, if only to remind them that even in their persecution, they certainly are NOT alone.
As we ran out of time I prayed for everyone. I’d like to believe that we were all blessed by each other’s inputs.
So far, so good. Today’s session didn’t immediately leave me with a one-liner… actually, I’m still trying to figure it out, really. Lots of controversial items discussed: The inclusion of digital tools into today’s ministries, our response to the current sexual revolution, and the real matter of persecution.
I have it – it’s the same line as we’ve mentioned before in this Congress: As Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, the Holy Spirit is also the same yesterday, today and forever.
Our systems may change. We may shift or facilitate inclusion of digital tools or other systems to age-old activities furthering the Kingdom. But we still, as in always, will consult the Holy Spirit, and will work with, in, by, and through the Holy Spirit.
Persecution may have different forms, and tribulations will certainly increase… But again, we still, as in always, will celebrate the Holy Spirit; For in Christ, we will ALWAYS continue to live, move, and have our being.
I still have a couple of questions to answer and write about, but I think this is a good place to end all this. Imagine, this is just from a 2-hour online session – how much more are those folks who went face-to-face getting, huh?
Next time I’ll be there, God willing.
Until the next post, may the Lord continue to bless us all, abundantly. He is just so good!
269380/365000
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment