What we must do to finish the task | Rick Warren

I had the privilege of spending the past week attending the Lausanne 4 Congress via Virtual Experience (VX) from 22-28 Sep 2024. The on-site gathering @ Incheon, Seoul, saw 5200+ participants from 200+ nations, & another 5k+ online tuning in from all over the world. This 4th congress, with the theme “Let the Church Display & Declare Christ Together,” was also special as it marks the 50th anniversary since the 1st Congress in 1974 @ Lausanne, Switzerland. #l4congress #congressvx

The Lausanne Movement began through the friendship & partnership of Billy Graham & John Stott, resulting in the past 50 years of mobilizing the body of Christ into global missions. Key core documents were released & adopted concurrently, starting with the Lausanne Covenant (1974), the Manila Manifesto (1989) at the 2nd Congress @ Philippines, the Cape Town Commitment (2010) at the 3rd Congress in South Africa, & the latest Seoul Statement (2024) at this current 4th Congress in South Korea. Read more about the history of the movement here.

There were several reowned & inspiring speakers, sharings & presentations at the plenaries as well as interest groups throughout the 6+ days of the Congress, but interestingly amidst several global challenges & issues, what stood out for me, what left the deepest impact, came on the closing day through one of the last speakers who was only given 10 minutes to share.

Ps Rick Warren, unlikely a stranger to most, was introduced by David Ro as the pastor that hugs. His opening words were, “I love you, I am proud of you, I pray for you, I want to help you.” After acknowledging & applauding those at the Congress under 40 as well as those over 40, he encouraged the next generation to have 4 types of people in their lives – mentors, models, partners, & friends. He then shared a quick sermonette from Acts 1-2 which covered these 10 poignant points.

1. We must pray for God’s power
2. We must translate God’s word for everyone
3. We must appreciate/celebrate our diversity
4. We must train every believer to share the gospel (good news) – both genders & all ages (Acts 2.16-21; cf. Joel 2.28-32)
5. We must apply God’s word to ourselves – we know more than we are doing
6. We must model love to the world
7. We must return to using homes
8. Our worship must become a joyful witness
9. We must share everything in working together (Acts 2.44)
10. We must make financial sacrifices (Acts 2.45)

The only way we will ever have unity, is to love diversity.

Since his founding pastoral days in ministry at Saddleback, I have found Ps Rick to be a clear & compelling communicator, & a prophetic voice and leader in reaching the lost, & discipling, equipping & sending the church into global missions & the mission of God.

After Warren stepped down as the lead pastor of Saddleback Church, he has been the executive director of Finishing the Task, a coalition of thousands of believers, churches, denominations, & organizations coming together to fulfill the Great Commission. It’s a call to mobilize all of Christ’s Church, in all its diversity, to do all Christ commands, with all people, in all places, all for God’s glory by 2033, the 2000th anniversary of the instructions given to us by Jesus (Matt. 28.18-20).

Over the next 10 years (target 2033), they hope to see 4 specific “B” goals accomplished:

• Bibles: We want every person on Earth to have access to the Gospel translated into their heart language. We will also empower believers around the globe to engage with Scripture in new & expanded ways.
• Believers: We want to equip every believer — all 2.6 billion of them — to share their faith personally. If every believer in Jesus Christ just shared the Good News with two people who had never heard it, the whole world would hear the Gospel personally.
• Bodies of Christ: We want every existing church to sponsor & plant a daughter church where there is no church.
• Breakthrough Prayer: We want to have every person on planet Earth who doesn’t know Jesus yet prayed for by someone who does know Jesus. This means billions of believers will need to be praying for billions of non-believers.

#finishingthetask #lausanne4 #rickwarren