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Next Quarterly Seminar: Global Missions: Implications for Us from Lausanne Please join us to learn about the profound implications for global missions that Lausanne 4 has for the Church in our community. Thursday, November 14th 10:30 am - 2:00 pm @ Auburn Grace Chinese Christian Church 1345 Annalue Dr Auburn, AL 36830

In his book, "The Gospel in a Pluralist Society," Lesslie Newbigin describes the Church as "a sign, instrument, and foretaste of God's redeeming grace for the whole life of society" (p. 233). It is the place in the world where "the reality of the new creation is present, known, and experienced." (p. 232). It is the time in history when the light of God’s tomorrow breaks into the darkness of our today. By drawing together such a diverse body of believers from over 220 nations, the Lausanne Congress offered us a profound glimpse of where he is taking all of history and allowed us to experience a bit of his tomorrow today.

During the middle of the Fourth Lausanne Congress, a friend from the States texted me asking how it was going. I replied, “The content has been good, but the context has been incredible.” Over the next four blog posts, I want to share four aspects of the context that deeply impacted me. The first contextual aspect was the Congress setting: Incheon, South Korea.

Hoffman Rhyne, President & Academic Dean of Christ Our Redeemer Seminary In 1955, Billy Graham and John Stott formed a friendship out of a common burden for the unity of the Church and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. At the time, the Church in the West was fractured by the fundamentalist-modernist controversy. To the non-Christian world, the Church’s infighting betrays her gospel of reconciliation. The Church at that time needed a way out of the slums of fundamentalism and the swamp of theological liberalism. What was at stake? Nothing less than the name of Jesus in the Church and among the nations. Also at this time, the global Church was in the midst of a major transition. Largely due to the missionary efforts of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Church in Africa, Asia, and Latin America had witnessed dramatic growth. Graham’s ministry over the years had afforded him the opportunity to befriend and partner with leaders in these young but vibrant churches. He had won their trust and they, his. And yet, many of these leaders did not know each other. Graham gained a vision for bringing these leaders together to seek the Lord together as the global Church. But for his vision to be realized, Graham needed Stott. John Stott was one of the world’s most trusted theologians at the time and Graham enlisted his help to form a doctrinal basis for evangelical partnership in missions. Through their efforts, around 2,700 Christian leaders from 150 countries traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland in July 1974 for “the First International Congress of World Evangelization.” Time magazine reported at the time that it was “possibly the widest-ranging meeting of Christians ever held.” It was not only marked by diversity but by humility, genuine dialogue, and repentance. Perhaps the most important and lasting contribution of this gathering was the Lausanne Covenant . It not only provided a theological definition of evangelicalism, it is perhaps the most influential document in modern evangelical missions. This is because it is not merely a statement of belief but a covenant. By the end of the congress, the delegates who signed the covenant pledged themselves to cooperative action with one another for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. It was truly a historic moment. When Graham was interviewed by Newsweek in 2006, he reported that the ‘74 Lausanne Congress and the resulting Lausanne Movement was perhaps his most significant contribution to the world. This movement convened again in Manila in 1989 and Cape Town in 2010. In keeping with Lausanne ‘74, the purpose of these gatherings was to call leaders from the global Church together to affirm our unity in Jesus Christ, our commitment to doctrinal faithfulness, and to partnership in the Great Commission. These were not mere conferences but congresses that hammered out decisions leading to committed action in the years ahead. As we seek to be faithful to the Great Commission in the 21st Century, the need for a comprehensive, coordinated, and collaborative global mission has never been more pressing. The Lausanne Movement is therefore convening for the Fourth Lausanne Congress this week in Seoul, South Korea. CORS at Lausanne 4 We are honored that CORS president Hoffman Rhyne is able to join the 5,000 participants from around the world in the Fourth Lausanne Congress. He is there now and is excited about what the Lord will do and the longterm fruit that we pray will come from this gathering. There are three ways that you can participate in this as well: Pray . You can participate in this event through prayer . Lausanne has a prayer guide as well as a 24-7 online prayer room. The prayer room has information to guide your prayers as you join with Christians from all over the world in prayer for God to make Christ known everywhere! Listen . Lausanne also has a great podcast series you can check out. Mission Shift is another excellent podcast on global missions today. Learn . Also, for our next quarterly seminar on Thursday, November 14th , Hoffman will be sharing with our community key lessons and insights from this gathering of the global Church and how we can increase our participation in God’s global mission. Click here to go ahead and sign up for that seminar. Also, to learn more about the Lausanne Movement, here are some good places to start: History of Lausanne CT article by Joshua Swamidass , A Theological Monument to Unity Amid Diversity An Exposition and Commentary of the Lausanne Covenant by John Stott

While Auburn’s population has been rapidly increasing, Auburn’s crime rate has been going in the other direction and is, in fact, much lower than state and national averages. In fact, Auburn’s reputation for public safety is one of the factors behind the population growth. While this is something to be celebrated, how can we continue to strengthen the justice system and public safety as witness to God's ultimate protection and salvation in Christ?

While our community here on the plains is undergoing rapid transformation, Auburn University remains the central pillar, shaping the identity of our community. It provides the most jobs, draws the most diversity, and produces the most economic output. More importantly, in our late modern age, the urgency of campus ministry has never been greater. For the Church to be faithful to God’s mission here, we must continue to be deeply involved there.

In 1966, Rosemary and Ronnie Anders started Anders Book Store on Magnolia Ave. With a population of only around 16,000 and a slow pace of life centered around the university, Auburn could be described as a village back then. But now, with a population of over 82,000, we’ve transformed from a village to a city.

In our last post, we saw that the population in Lee County grew by 24.2% between 2010 and 2020 and is now home to over 175,000 people. Not surprisingly, over 61% of people in Lee County live either in Auburn or Opelika.  There are so many implications that this has for the Church here, but I merely want to highlight here our posture towards the public service sector. City councils, law enforcement officials, the fire departments, public utility leaders, school administrators and faculty, healthcare professionals, and many others are grappling with how to serve and care for the growing number of people in our community. This is a daunting challenge with many complexities and often no clearcut solutions.

What factors are contributing to the substantial growth in these specific counties? Baldwin, Limestone and Shelby counties sit adjacent to the state’s three most populous metropolitan areas: Mobile, Huntsville, and Birmingham, respectively. The suburban phenomenon is no doubt a major factor for those counties.