Latin American leader shares hopes, expectations for Lausanne 4

“Will there be room for new voices, will there be space for surprise?” asked Valdir Steuernagel in a speech he gave at a meeting of Latin American leaders in the lead-up to Lausanne’s Fourth Global Congress (Lausanne 4) in Seoul-Incheon, South Korea, that begins Sunday.

Calling for a renewed affirmation of the Evangelical identity and encouraging new conversations involving Evangelical leaders from every part of the world, Steuernagel traced the history of the movement back to its beginnings in 1974.

He recalled significant breakthroughs and ongoing tensions, offered new and timeless perspectives on global missions, recognizing that the task of the Great Commission is still unfinished. He concluded with his prayer for what is expected to be a significant event in Church history.

Back in September 2023, the Lausanne Movement’s regional leaders in Latin America convened a consultation in Montevideo, Uruguay, that featured keynote speakers Valdir Steuernagel, Norberto Saracco (Argentina), Karen Bomilcar (Brazil) and Jaime Memory (United Kingdom). It was part of the lead-up to Lausanne 4 where each region would guide participants through a process that would prepare them for the global event where some 5,000 Christian leaders from every corner of the world will strategize about world missions.

Steuernagel’s speech captured the region’s perspective so well that World Vision Latin America, together with the regional Lausanne leadership, published an edited version in English that would provide a conversation starter not only for Latin Americans but also for participants from around the world.

A prominent theologian and esteemed Brazilian Evangelical leader, Steuernagel served on the Lausanne Central Committee for several years and has intimate knowledge of the movement. He was also president of World Vision’s International Board as well as a member of the World Evangelical Alliance’s International Council, among various other roles he held over the decades of his ministry.

The history and ‘Spirit’ of Lausanne

“For decades, the Lausanne Movement has been a part of my life. I am a kind of ‘child of Lausanne,’ although a belated one,” Steuernagel said, noting that he wasn’t present at the International Congress on World Evangelization held in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974, nowadays referred to as Lausanne 1.

The global event convened by Billy Graham and Jack Dyan brought together 2,300 participants from 150 nations, and — under the guidance of theologian John Stott — produced the landmark Lausanne Covenant that remains influential to this day.

“Lausanne 1 was indeed a breath of the Spirit that surprised the broader Christian family and left its mark on the Evangelical world, which was already emerging as a significant stream within the global Christian community,” Steuernagel said.

The event “catapulted the Evangelical world, both internally and externally, into a new self-perception, into a visibility hitherto unknown, and into the need to become a dialogue partner with other Christian groups and with the contemporary world itself.”

It came at a time of increased missionary activity, growth in the Church, expanding resource mobilization and the emergence of international leaders and respected personalities, such as the late Graham.

“Evangelicals now filled stadiums, captivated large audiences, and used television as they had previously done with radio,” Steuernagel said, noting that the Gallup report marked 1966 as the ‘Year of the Evangelicals’ in North America.

But as 1974 came around, it became evident that it was indeed a global phenomenon “as there was an Evangelical church flourishing in many other places, notably in various African countries, many Latin American countries, and some Asian countries.”

Lausanne 1 recognized this change at the event and adapted to the contemporary world, as was expressed in the Lausanne Covenant.

Steuernagel emphasized that it was done “in an Evangelical style. A style that never considered giving up its identity, affirming, therefore, the centrality of Jesus, the authority of Scriptures, human sinfulness, the missionary calling of the Church, and the hope for a new Heaven and a new Earth.”

But what also happened at the event is that “the gate was open for new conversations” and “open to accentuate identity and mission,” he said, as North American missionary and evangelistic organizations increasingly became international, while national churches brought new perspectives to the conversations.

“It is worth noting that Lausanne 1 was a pioneer in allowing the growing Evangelical diversity, with a strong ethnic-geographic aroma, to take the stage, without forgetting how much this diversity was already present in the audience.”

According to Steuernagel, the development brought “an element of shock and surprise” to Evangelical culture that historically struggled with diversity. And he added that “[this] shock and surprise manifested as a latent and continuous tension in the Movement.”

It is important for participants of the upcoming Congress to understand these historical dynamics as they continue to this day and will likely be felt at Lausanne 4 once again, he asserts.

‘Evangelization’ versus ‘total mission of the church’: Emerging voices from the Global South

It became clear early on that Lausanne 1 would be followed by a Continuation Committee, which then met for the first time in January 1975 in Mexico City. It was there that “tension emerged with significant visibility,” Steuernagel said.

In seeking to define Lausanne’s mandate, the question arose whether it should be specifically focused on evangelizing the unreached, i.e. proclamation, or whether it should emphasize the “total mission of the church,” i.e. a more holistic approach, which the Lausanne Covenant already affirmed.

The committee struck a balance, saying they understood that “‘the advance of the church’s mission’ means encouraging all the people of God to go into the world as Christ was sent into the world, giving themselves to others in a spirit of sacrificial service, with evangelism being primary in this mission.”

Tensions persisted, however, as leaders from what then became known as the “Global South” continued to speak up.

“These voices reflected the journey of young churches and emerging Christian leaders in search of a relevant Christian experience for their context and in pursuit of a dialogue with their respective realities, questions, cries, and experiences,” he said. “Voices that raised critical questions about an evangelistic practice that emphasized soul salvation at the expense of living an incarnate faith.”

These concerns had been raised at Lausanne 1 by Latin American leaders René Padilla and Samuel Escobar, with Padilla addressing the theme of “Evangelization and the World,” and Escobar discussing “Evangelization and the Quest for Freedom, Justice and Fulfillment by Man.”

They advocated for an evangelistic practice with cultural sensitivity, a missional experience expressed in social responsibility and the pursuit of justice, and a life marked by simplicity and sacrifice, as found and modeled by Jesus, Steuernagel said.

Global South leaders celebrated the Lausanne Covenant’s emphasis on mission “that encompasses all areas of life throughout one’s life.” Leaders mainly from North America, however, raised concerns “about the need to maintain a focus on the verbal proclamation of the Gospel and on spiritual and personal conversion.”

Steuernagel recounted that in 1975, John Stott responded to some of these concerns by noting the lack of Global South representation at the Mexico meeting and the “insensitivity with which some North Americans” emphasized the need to “restrict to evangelism” and not focus on broader concerns as expressed in the Covenant. And in an article titled “The Meaning of Lausanne,” Stott later wrote that he believed regional groups would find their way according to their own discernment.

Lausanne 1 ‘opened the gate.’ Will Lausanne 4 keep it open?

Steuernagel went on to highlight Lausanne 1 as a historic moment, “a kind of opening of the gate” that articulated “an Evangelical identity and stance that represented all Evangelicals and proved relevant to the lived reality.”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ as the good news was affirmed, and it was highlighted that the Gospel should be proclaimed everywhere and at all times as universal and sufficient, and “in such a way that people can recognize Christ in us.”

In addition to these foundational truths, however, Steuernagel highlighted that the Lausanne Covenant also emphasized that the Scriptures “must be embraced in their entirety. Hence the expression ‘the whole Gospel,’ necessitating a departure from any reductionism, segregation or dilution of the Scriptures.”

It also affirmed Jesus as the center determining all areas of life. “Hence the expression ‘the whole Gospel for the whole person.’ Therefore, any separation between body and soul, individual and community, present and future is rejected, as it would be a denial of both the Gospel and humanity.”

These and other affirmations led to joy and expectations but also tensions, Steuernagel said. The presence of God and the breath of the Spirit was felt, which “led the Church to a new moment of fellowship, integration and assimilation of new leadership and voices.” There was anticipation of the Church waking up to its true calling.

At the same time, there was tension because the “more customary leaders were no longer the only ones” who could express their perspectives. Certain biblical interpretations as well as some of the mission and strategic agendas seemed less relevant or in need of reassessment. And “new leaders, especially from the Global South, were emerging and wanting to sit at the table and have access to the microphone.”

Despite fluctuations over the years and changes in Lausanne’s leadership, Steuernagel said the gate that Lausanne 1 opened “did not (completely) close again.”

Padilla and Escobar are illustrations of the tension as they represented the “new and surprising voices at Lausanne 1” but then “did not have the same space, neither personally nor in terms of the proposed agenda, at Lausanne 2.” At Lausanne 3, however, the iconic figures returned and were “recognized and affirmed,” Steuernagel said, adding: “The ‘gate’ remained lifted.”

Looking ahead at Lausanne 4 considering these past dynamics, “the question is whether it remains open,” Steuernagel said.

He wonders if there will be room for new voices, emphasizing that “there are new voices” to be heard. And he asks if there will be space for surprise.

“Surprise that bears the mark of the Spirit and leads the Church to rethink its missional experience based on a new encounter with the scriptures, a necessary conversation among churches from everywhere and in every place, and a new reading and appropriation of the context we live in,” Steuernagel said.

“If the Spirit blows, there will be surprise and there will be tension, and this is something we should know and accept.”

Lausanne 4 must reaffirm the Evangelical identity in today’s context

Steuernagel emphasized that a key outcome of Lausanne 4 must be the reaffirmation of the Evangelical identity in consideration of today’s context so that the Church’s testimony will be relevant and effective.

“Christian faith gives birth to identity,” he said, but cautioned that this identity is “never abstract, conceptual or theoretically doctrinal.” Instead, it is “always communal and relational.” Furthermore, while the Christian identity does not depend on the context, it does not assert itself without a context either.

It is “nourished and inspired by the identity of the God of revelation and incarnation.” And He is “the only God who makes Himself known.”

“He is the God with a name — the God of our fathers and mothers, the God of Jesus Christ; has a presence — the Jesus of Nazareth; and has an address — Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the Earth,” Steuernagel said. “Each of these places needs to be identified, encountered, named, respected, loved, and established in common coexistence.”

He adds that the Christian faith identity “takes shape in the experience of vocation through which God calls us to Himself and sends us in His name.”

“Identity is always missional because God is always missional; He is the God who goes out of Himself, meets the other, and reveals Himself as the God of love. He is the incarnate God who calls us to sit around Him, as He did with the disciples (Mark 3:14-15), and from this place shows us the way: ‘go’; indicates what must be lived and what must be done: proclaim the Gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15, Matthew 10:1).”

Steuernagel believes one of the most significant affirmations of Lausanne 1 was that identity and context go hand in hand. But the identity that was formulated was clearly Evangelical and therefore clearly distinguished itself from the ecumenical Christian world that was marked by “a tendency towards a more liberal and political theology.”

“In Lausanne 1, the Evangelical identity was affirmed, and that was the direction Lausanne wanted to take,” he said. “By the time Lausanne 3 took place in Cape Town, South Africa, the context had changed, but the Evangelical identity would be reaffirmed.”

Steuernagel felt that Lausanne 3 affirmed an identity and mission paradigm that was marked by the language of love. This was a noticeable shift from the previous language that focused on discerning tasks, programs and resources.

Lausanne 3 and the resulting Cape Town Commitment recognized “that many times in the past, our attitudes and missionary practices were marked by a divisive spirit, a belligerent attitude, and conquest goals, sometimes enveloped in colonialist and civilizing practices,” he said.

“Now, we were saying that it was necessary to convert to the language and attitude of love and the practice of welcoming and caring, so that new generations and communities may believe, and with them, we become an expression of the Body of Christ. Believing in a loving God. A caring and trustworthy God. A God of shalom.”

Fourteen years after the Cape Town gathering, Steuernagel said it is necessary to reaffirm the Christian identity again at Lausanne 4. “And we need to do it in harmony with the breath of the Spirit that leads us to listen to the voice of God anew and to do so prophetically in the time and context in which we live.”

Doing so is important because identity is not something that is inherited, rather it comes “as the fruit of conversion.”

“Identity needs to find its space for testimonial gestation in each generation and in each context because our identity is not disconnected from our mission. Identity is a missional affirmation,” Steuernagel stated.

He described how the process leading to Lausanne 3 included a season of listening and discerning the challenges of mission in the first decade of the new millennium. Similarly, participants in Lausanne 4 must “once again discern the time and context, as well as internal and external challenges and opportunities that require us to affirm our identity in firm and loving testimonial conversations.”

A Latin American perspective on today’s issues the Church needs to address

Steuernagel himself highlighted a number of today’s key issues, some of which he says are not new, including the “superficialization and syncretism of faith” due to the rapid growth that Church experienced. “Faced with this reality, it is necessary to reiterate and emphasize the Scriptures, reacting to biblical illiteracy.”

However, he also cautioned that “this emphasis on the Scriptures needs to strike the tone of enchantment, acceptance, and grace, overcoming the harsh, dry, separatist, and authoritarian language by which we have characterized ourselves many times and for a long time. The Scriptures need and want to be encountered as the Word of a caring God.”

A second concern revolves around the widespread divisions within the Church. “Our identity needs to lead us to speak with one voice and express a common sentiment,” Steuernagel said.

“In the day-to-day of our history, we have specialized in divisions that, in many cases, represent conflicts of egos and interests and have nothing to do with the breath of the Spirit and the call to unity by the voice of the Scriptures. We need to overcome our separatist and individualistic culture to generate a unity that becomes a testimony, even if it may find different organizational paths. Our identity needs to make outsiders say about us: ‘See how they love each other!'”

As a third concern, Steuernagel emphasized that “our identity needs to be multifaceted and inclusive.”

The growth of churches in various places and among different cultures signals the transformation of the ‘face of the Church’ into a multifaceted and multicolored one, “bringing honor to the Gospel and value to God’s invitation to all people everywhere.”

He laments that “for a long time, in modern times, the Christian faith was perceived as something associated with the white, fueled by white male leadership, and sustained by the green money of the white empire.”

He goes on to emphasize the urgency of addressing other pressing issues, such as the need to care for God’s creation, to recognize the reality and significance of migration and the importance of welcoming refugees, and to emphasize affirming life amid a culture of death that celebrates abortion and euthanasia, among others.

Open conversations could lead to new paradigm shifts in missions at Lausanne 4

Looking back at the first gathering in Lausanne, Switzerland, Steuernagel highlighted how mission perspectives and the understanding of the “task” shifted as Evangelicals encountered new frontiers and contexts.

“When Lausanne 1 was conceived and organized, what was desired was very clear,” Steuernagel said. “This was expressed in the event’s name — ‘International Congress on World Evangelization,’ in the event’s theme — ‘Let the Earth Hear His Voice,’ and in its purpose, which stated: ‘Mobilize the whole Church to proclaim the whole Gospel to the whole world.’ The focus was on global evangelization, and there was a reading regarding this possibility and necessity.”

The historic understanding of mission that formed the backdrop to Lausanne 1 was rooted in the modern missions movement that was marked by William Carey. However, new perspectives came to the fore when Donald McGavran began to speak about evangelizing human groups rather than only individuals.

“He argued that individual evangelism would not complete the task of world evangelization and that it should take into account realities in which conversion could and even should be collective, aiming to encounter human groups with the Gospel and their possible conversion,” Steuernagel highlighted.

Similarly, Ralph D. Winter’s concept of Unreached People Group’s (UPGs) contributed to a paradigm shift in mission strategy.

“Winter played a significant role in Lausanne 1, where he was one of the speakers,” according to Steuernagel. “[He planted] the seed of the movement around identifying these unreached people groups and pointing to the need to reach them and establish a church among each of them. This movement marked the history of world evangelization and energized the mobilization toward a missionary effort through which these people groups could be mapped and reached.”

At the same time, people like Billy Graham successfully used mass media, filled stadiums and brought a lot of visibility to Evangelicals.

Thus, Lausanne became a movement that emphasized open and public evangelization, while also nurturing next-level mission strategies like Winter’s UPGs and considering the growth of the Church outside the Western world.

Lausanne “created space for new and emerging churches, especially from the Global South, to be seen and even, in some cases, invited to occupy a seat on the platform and use the microphone,” Steuernagel said.

This led to richer and simultaneously more demanding and challenging conversations because as these churches found their vital space and discerned their vocation amid the construction of new partnerships, they began asking questions. “Questions about the nature of the evangelization being operationalized, the mission being carried out, and the churches being established vis-à-vis their transformative or accommodating impact on society,” he said.

The resulting conversations were marked by a “simultaneous tone of gratitude and criticism” and broadened and enriched the Evangelical Church, which continued to “grow and manifest itself as a living force in many of our societies.”

Steuernagel said that in the lead-up to Lausanne 4 and during the Congress, “there are certainly new conversations that need to happen, recognizing that the task is unfinished.”

“The strong mobilization of new generations, the reconfiguration of missionary vocations marked by an entrepreneurial bias, the growing perception of mission as multifaceted — these are some signs of life in a missionary journey toward a new and continuous obedience. Obedience to the mandate of Jesus,” he said.

Considering new Bible passages for missions that go beyond Matthew 28 and Acts 1

Following his own reflection on biblical passages that speak to missions, Steuernagel suggests considering the relevance of Luke 10:1-20 for today’s world.

He noted that historically, Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 had been “key in the hermeneutics of the missionary vocation as expressed and experienced by the Evangelical community in its various traditions and expressions.”

It was John Stott who later drew attention to a different aspect of missions by pointing to John 17:18 and 20:21. “By saying, on two occasions, ‘As the Father sent me, so I send you,’ it becomes clear and crucial that Jesus himself models the mission of the Church,” Steuernagel said, adding: “Our mission, therefore, is to follow Jesus and, in following Him, be sent into the world; to be like Him — incarnate — and to do the mission the way he did it.”

“The mission is not something of ours that can be done in our way,” he emphasized.

Steuernagel notes that each Bible passage that was highlighted was specifically relevant to its time. Carey pointed to Matthew 28 “at a time when the Church was hesitant and even denied its missionary vocation beyond borders.”

Stott, on the other hand, spoke about the verses in the Gospel of John “at a time when the experience and practice of missions had gained traction, expanded, and even risked losing focus and being enchanted with its own projects and strategies.”

“Thus, we discover that biblical texts inspire us, mobilize us, warn us, correct us, and put us in tune with our time, acquiring a mobilizing force for obedience that bears the mark of Jesus,” Steuernagel said.

While keeping these historic perspectives and relevant passages in mind in moving toward Lausanne 4, he said he felt God leading him to meditate on the meaning of Luke 10:1-20 and “found in it a paradigmatic text for this mission in the model of Jesus in our time.”

The text echoes the sending explicitly stated in Matthew, takes steps toward the mission outlined in the model of Jesus, and points to important dimensions in these days, according to Steuernagel.

“Days in which we need to focus on a mission that expresses itself as incarnation, reflects the totality of the Gospel, reconciles life well with verbal testimony, discerns the need for mission with spiritual authority and its origin, and is lived in a movement of sending and rediscovery of the Jesus who reminds us of what is fundamental — to be known by the Father,” he said.

He considers Luke 10 an important addition to today’s missional hermeneutics “in light of the tensions we experience in our own Evangelical community with its programmatic outbursts and illusory certainties, as well as in light of challenges that have become as complex as the world in which we live.”

While admitting that a fuller treatment would require more space than what was available in his address, he pointed to a few “clues” that stood out to him. These include the announcement and experience of peace and “peace as the culmination of the mission.” This appears especially relevant amid today’s climate of division, polarization and anger.

He also highlighted the transformation through sharing the Gospel, healing the sick, and liberating from demonic oppression. “This mission seeks the unreached, the forgotten, and the discriminated against.”

Other themes include prayer, readiness for sacrifice and persecution, the centrality of accepting the message proclaimed as the Kingdom of God, and the return to the one “who sponsored the sending.”

“Returning is necessary because, upon returning, we are reminded of our priority and our identity,” he said.

Approaching Lausanne 4 with repentance, a dream and a prayer

Steuernagel concluded by highlighting what he hopes to see at Lausanne 4: repentance and a dream, and he offered a prayer for the right atmosphere at the event.

He first pointed to Chris Wright’s presentation at Lausanne 3 about the acronym HIS: humility, integrity and simplicity, in which he called participants to an attitude of “repentance and renewal of commitment.”

The same was reflected in the Cape Town Commitment, which states: “Since there is no biblical mission without biblical life, we urgently renew our commitment and challenge all those who profess the name of Christ to live radically differently from the ways of the world, to ‘put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness'” (Ephesians 4:14).

Secondly, Steuernagel spoke about the dream that should inspire participants, saying “the word dream is meant to resonate on the journey to Seoul, Korea, in 2024.”

“A dream marked by the love and grace of God. A dream that envisions churches marked by restoration, hospitality and care. A dream of communities without borders that takes us as far as the unreached borders. A dream in which there is a place for everyone and for all of nature. A dream and not a program, for a program is always imposing and excluding. A dream that opens the doors to surprise,” he said.

According to Steuernagel, “Lausanne I was a surprise, and Lausanne 3 was a dream.” And he encouraged participants, “Let us move towards Lausanne 4 in prayer that finds its fertile ground between this and that.”

He finished his speech by reciting a famous prayer of Francis of Assisi that he hopes will inspire and challenge those who will be in Korea this time:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me bring love
Where there is injury, let me bring pardon
Where there is discord, let me bring unity
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith
Where there is error, let me bring truth
Where there is despair, let me bring hope
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy
Where there is darkness, let me bring light
O Master, grant that I may seek
To console rather than to be consoled
To understand, rather than to be understood
To love, rather than to be loved
For it is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it is in dying that we are born
To eternal life.
Amen

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