Christianity Goes Global

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There’s never been anything quite like the Lausanne Conference. Started in 1974 by John Stott, Billy Graham, and other evangelical leaders, the gathering saw Christians from across the world come together with a central goal: to make a covenant before God to evangelize the world for Christ. Since then, it has met three more times: in Manila in 1989, in Cape Town in 2010, and in Seoul in 2024. 

In reflecting on this year's gathering, Wax highlights some of the major emphases flowing out of Lausanne in the last 50 years, including an emphasis on the 10/40 window, contextualization, mercy ministries, and global church planting. What are the emphases now? 

The first is what he calls a polycentric mission. There is no longer a global hub for evangelicalism. The United States is not the center of the Christian world but is far outpaced by growing churches in Africa and Asia. “No longer should we see ourselves as primarily sending from the West to the rest. The reality now is that churches everywhere—whether in Nairobi or New York, São Paulo or Seoul—increasingly understand their role in advancing the gospel. Missions isn't a Western export; it’s a shared calling of the whole church to bring the whole gospel to the whole world.”

One of the keynote speakers, Sarah Breuel, made one of the most profound points of the gathering: we are not living in a post-Christian world but a pre-revival world. Wax adds, “I remember Tim Keller acknowledging we have yet to see a revival in a post-Christian context while emphasizing the word yet, since every revival is unprecedented . . . until it happens. With God, the impossible is possible.” That’s worth spending some time meditating and praying about. 

The second is cross-context conversations. One of the amazing features of Lausanne is that believers come from across the world. Those who attended sat at tables with believers from around the world. All Christians would benefit from seeing what’s going on across the world, how church is done, and the pressing issues Christians are facing. 

The third is the emphasis on evangelism and social action. Lausanne has always found this combination challenging; Wax mentions that Stott and Graham were at odds about how the conference would approach these topics. One of the key points at this conference was wrestling the balance back from a focus on social justice at the expense of evangelism and discipleship. 

Ed Stetzer, who was the regional director for North America, wrote a reflection on this topic titled “Declaring, Displaying, and the Future of Lausanne.” He cites Billy Graham’s vision for the conference, “I am convinced if the church went back to its main task of proclaiming the gospel and getting people converted to Christ, it would have a far greater impact on the social, moral, and psychological needs of men than any other thing it could possibly do.” This is much easier said than done, especially over the course of 50 years. 

The rallying cry of Lausanne became, “Let the church declare and display Christ together.” There is no antipathy in Scripture between these two goals, Stetzer points out, it would be like trying to separate God’s love from his justice. But it is difficult for human beings to integrate the mission. Stetzer ends with a powerful observation, “The world generally loves the good deeds that the church does, but the world generally pushes back against the good news that the church proclaims. Let’s make clear for a generation that proclaiming the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and calling people to repent and believe in the gospel is a central and indispensable priority for us.”

The gospel is continuing to make its way across the world. The Church is growing, even in very unlikely places, and Christians are glorifying God in so many of the languages spoken on earth, but there is still much work to be done. Wax offers a final encouragement from the conference, “The Fourth Lausanne Congress reminded me that no matter how crazy the world seems right now, the church is going to be fine. God’s people are alive, thriving, and pressing forward—everywhere to everywhere—with the good news of Jesus Christ. Even amid the disagreements and controversies, the Spirit of God is at work, drawing people to himself and uniting his people for the task ahead.”

It’s easy to forget how Christian we really are. Even the forces arrayed against Christianity in the West have a Christian flavor. Tom Holland’s book Dominion argues that Christianity is the single most significant formative influence on the Western world, even today. If you’ve wanted to dive deeper into Holland’s thinking but haven’t wanted to read 600 pages, this is a great interview. Metaxas is a great interviewer, leading Holland through his backstory, the major ideas of the book, and providing a bit of pushback toward the end. 

There’s an old Roman adage, “If you want peace, prepare for war.” It’s a strategy from the old world, peace through strength, a school of thought lost in the Post-WWII West, but very much alive in the Middle East and Far East today. 

Though Kristof takes a pronounced stance against Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, this article makes some very interesting points about foreign policy. The Biden administration, he argues, failed to bring about their goals in the Middle East because they were unwilling to enforce any redlines, both with Israel and Hamas. This resulted in a projection of weakness that dictators and strongmen the world over were happy to exploit.

Kristof is wrong about the path to peace running through a Palestinian state, broader relations with Iran, and halting aid to Israel, but he is right that American weakness creates a vacuum. He is scathing on the Biden Administration’s impotence in the Middle East, “The metaphor that always arises in diplomatic conversations is of Joe Biden as Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, and each time Netanyahu pulls it away (sometimes, Hamas pulls it away as well).” 

On the other side of the issue, but very much agreeing with Kristof about the source of failure, Pottinger and Gallagher lay out a different path for the U.S. Turning to the brewing conflict with China, the authors argue that America needs to remember how to fight for its interests and win a war - cold, hot, or in between. 

In response to the attacks against Israel, China watched America’s reaction; “Any doubts that Xi saw the American posture as one of weakness were dispelled after Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel. Beijing exploited the attack by serving up endless anti-Israeli and anti-American propaganda through TikTok, whose algorithms are subject to control by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinese diplomats, like Russian ones, met with Hamas’s leaders and provided diplomatic cover for the terrorist group, vetoing UN Security Council resolutions that would have condemned Hamas.” 

As we find ourselves in election season, foreign policy is on many people’s minds, as it should be. The coming decade promises to redefine the world as we know it. American power in the world has traditionally been a force for good. Returning to this mindset may be the difference between two very different global futures.  

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Dr. Cole Feix is the founder and president of So We Speak and the Senior Pastor of Carlton Landing Community Church in Oklahoma.