The Lausanne Movement has just celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Lausanne 4 Congress in Incheon, South Korea. Christian Today spoke to Lausanne Honorary Co-Chair, Doug Birdsall, about some of the challenges for Christians today and what might be next for the movement.
What do you feel most grateful for when you look back over the last 50 years of Lausanne?
I just feel grateful that Lausanne has continued to prioritise rigorous study and thinking on the one hand, and strategic action on the other. It's a matter of using the brains and minds that God has given us, and seeking to understand how we can best steward those gifts and exercise the opportunities He brings our way.
I appreciate the fact that Lausanne is very strong on theology, as we see in the Lausanne Covenant. At the same time, Lausanne is very light on its feet and has never tried to become a big organisation, which makes it agile in responding to new opportunities.
I also appreciate that Lausanne is really generous in its spirit; whatever we have, we share. And the fact that Lausanne has helped the Church find a balance between proclamation of the Gospel and incarnation of the Gospel - balancing proclamation evangelism with a demonstration of compassion to the poor and the needy.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges for the Church in the world today?
One of the biggest challenges is to do with human sexuality - what does it mean to be a man or a woman? The world has lost its bearings on this and we are being taught to affirm something that is so far out of God's plan. How do we articulate our convictions on this issue with clarity, persuasiveness and compassion? In so many places, it is quickly labelled as hate speech and people pay a price for it, so we have to figure out how to do that.
The second thing in terms of human identity relates to some of the questions being raised by artificial intelligence, like what it means to be an embodied person as opposed to some kind of a technology. Those are really huge challenges.
I was born in the 50s and it was just a few years after the end of World War II, which was the war to make the world safe for democracy, and now we see that being challenged. How did people like Mussolini and Hitler come to power? It was because they fed on things that were happening in society. There's so much unrest in the world today and how is it that we have so many bad people being elected in what were very stable parts of the world like Europe and North America?
What we as Christians have to prepare for is how we live under people who threaten our rights. There's a sense within parts of the American Christian Right that if we can just get enough power in the government then we can use it for society and get society to do what we want, but in the end society resists and it backfires. The question instead is: how can we live in such a way that the government acknowledges our right to function as a redemptive unit? Those are big challenges for us.
Lausanne is first and foremost a global mission movement. On the balance of things, are you more or less hopeful about the fulfilment of the Great Commission?
For many years I was an optimist and I've since moved from being an optimist to being a person of hope. On the surface they look quite similar but I've come to realise that optimism is largely a function of personality and more to do with being a cheerful person. I've been through some experiences in life that have made me less optimistic but more hopeful.
The Apostle Paul was the great missionary and theologian of the early church and it's interesting that he ends his greatest book, Romans, talking about hope: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13 NIV).
Isn't it interesting that Paul, as the leader of this tiny little sect, was somehow making Caesar nervous? And in the midst of that, Paul was saying: be hopeful. I think in the US it's probably going to get harder - as an American I can hardly believe we're thinking about potential instability and social unrest at an election, and the mistrust in the basic institutions is very concerning to me - but at the same time, we're going to be more hopeful.
The people of God have been able to survive in all kinds of socio-economic conditions so while I think it's going to get harder for the Church I'm hopeful that God will continue to raise up men and women who will have courage, vision and wisdom to lead us.
The next phase of Lausanne's work will build towards 2050. What is your hope for Lausanne looking forward to that time?
Personally, I think it's hard to project out that far because the world changes so much and so fast. When we left Lausanne 2 in 1989, nobody could have anticipated the collapse of Communism. In just a couple of years the world had changed dramatically and it was shocking and earth-shattering. Then when we left Lausanne 3 in Cape Town in 2010, no one could have anticipated the Arab Spring.
But a recent conversation comes to mind. This person didn't know much about evangelicalism but he did know about Billy Graham and he asked me if there was anyone alive today like him. I said, not that I know of, but it could very well be that there is someone somewhere in the world who is still in high school or college or out preaching somewhere tonight who is being shaped and prepared for igniting renewal.
The thing about revival is that it always comes as a surprise. No one ever says revival came on such and such a date because they planned it that way. Our part, as the people of God, is to be humble, hopeful and faithful to Scripture, because revival is as much about the character of who we are. Christlikeness and our giftings are important but these can't be fully activated unless we have a heart that's in tune with God and inflamed with a passion for God.
So authentic Christian living is really important, and for that we need faithful Christian teaching. I pray for more people like John Stott who were so brilliant and trusted by virtually everybody. And I hope that in a similar way Lausanne could be a mediator that has the trust of people and is known for its humility, its generosity, and the strength of its ideas and convictions.
But another thing to add is that fulfilling the Great Commission is not only about checking off groups we haven't reached yet. We also need to think about how we renew the places that have already heard the Gospel, because we can check off a whole bunch of places and then find that all of a sudden Europe and America have turned away from the Gospel. There's a saying among Reformed churches: 'the Church reformed, always reforming.' The Reformed Church must continually reform and in the same vein, my hope is that we would live out effective submission and authenticity of life.
You've been in many different leadership positions over the years. Sadly, it seems like we have had so many bad leaders lately, both within and outside the Church. What lessons have you learned about being a good Christian leader?
Good Christian leaders recognise that all that they do is for the glory of God and not for themselves. They realise that all that they have - their gifts and talents - are gifts of God to be stewarded for God's glory and to point people to Him. That's not false humility; it's a healthy sense of who God is that recognises we can do this only because of Him.
I have a wonderful mentor who's 84 and is still starting new things. When I was younger, he would tell me there's no limit to what we can do for the glory of God if we don't care who gets the credit. Now, that could sound like a cliché, but when you watch the person live that out like I've watched with him over the last 45 years, I can see how true it is.
Some Christian leaders always want to be front and centre, but the people who should be at the front are the young people, because they're the future.
During Lausanne 4, you and other senior leaders in the movement spoke about the importance of making way for the next generation. How do you feel as an older Christian who has reached that stage in life and ministry where you are starting to step back and pass on the baton to the next generation of leaders. Is it difficult?
Yes and no. I was talking to someone today about my age and they said 'you're not old'. But I am, I can't deny it. I'm now 71 and most people at this age are starting to move out of organisational leadership. That doesn't mean I want to just sit in a rocking chair and pine for the old days, but what it does mean is that I am thinking more about: how can I take my life experience and share it back? Because I was a kid once, too, and people took a chance on me and believed in me. So my desire now is to give away all of my wealth - and my wealth is really all of my experience from life. I don't know how many years I have left but I want to make them count.
Do you feel the preciousness of time?
Yes, I feel the preciousness of time - thankfully not the pressure of time! When you're young, you think so much about getting things done and counting how many projects you've finished. I don't have that kind of pressure on me anymore and that's given me the freedom to spend time meeting and talking to people without rushing on to the next thing. So I'm loving this stage of life. And that includes being a grandparent to my grandchildren who are aged three months to 13 years. It's wonderful to be able to do all the things that grandparents do and help my children raise their children.
