Singing the hymn ‘How Great Thou Art’ was a significant moment for me at the opening of Lausanne 4 in Seoul. It speaks of our history and legacy but will we sing its message with a loud voice in the future?
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At the Fourth Congress in Seoul-Incheon, September 2024, the Lausanne Movement released the Seoul Statement, which aims to remind its readers about why the church exists and to identify the great contemporary challenges for her mission.
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How do I, as an outsider yet sympathetic observer of the Lausanne Movement, evaluate the Seoul Statement? I notice a number of important aspects in the area of mission theology and with respect to the practice of evangelisation.
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Europe stands as an important reminder that our current state and trajectory does not establish with any certainty the future of the church. Europe was the first continent to be completely Christianized, but it was also the first continent to be substantially de-Christianized.
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Besides the traditional right-wing parties (conservative, liberal), new political formations and alliances have emerged which are transforming the political landscape and the language we use to describe it. How do we respond from an Evangelical Christian and a missional perspective.
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During the war years, the national identity of Ukrainians has grown and significantly changed. The same can be said about evangelical churches. What can evangelical voices offer to supplement or correct what ordinary Ukrainians think about their national identity? What special contribution can they make?
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The rise of Christian nationalism and its influence on African Christians has implications for us here in Europe - especially if we can learn together and from one another.
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Nationalism in the Balkans has had a tremendous impact on the Church and its mission, with far-reaching implications for gospel expansion. The root of their notoriety goes back to the late eighteenth century, with links to both their geography, and religious rivalry
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This article, and by extension the whole of this issue of Vista, seeks to explore the meaning and use of the word polycentric in Christian mission studies today and, more specifically, consider its implications for mission in Europe.
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What matrix are we to use when thinking in terms of polycentric and multidirectional mission in Central and Eastern Europe? How can the churches kept in isolation and under national persecution stay connected with other similar churches or mission bodies around the globe?
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Alongside Polycentric Mission, the leadership qualities required to enable organisations and networks to work in this way are described in the book ‘Polycentric Mission Leadership’, by Joseph Handley, based on his PhD studies on the topic.
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How do we shift our understanding of mission—and our association of mission with Western Christianity—to appreciate that God has called all followers of Christ to God’s mission and they can serve wherever in the world God wills them to minister.
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When we talk about the role of Europe in the world in the past and today, we are tempted to see Europe as a whole, as a single centre of power and influence amidst the other world ‘powers that be’. This view however is quite mistaken.
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Faced with our overdependency on energy, we can now see more than ever the need to bring lifestyle and our economies in line with the ecological imperative of sustainability. What could our response be as Christians?
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In 1959, during the Cold War, US President John F. Kennedy said: “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.”
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A Christian response to the ‘cost of living crisis’ we are in should be practical, prophetic and political. It is relatively easy to achieve one of the three, but a response that speaks to the true influence of lives transformed by Jesus should touch all three.
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The energy crisis does not appear to be a central topic for evangelical churches and there are only a few articles written in the past years on related subjects such as global warming or creation care.
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A survey of the Evangelical Alliance websites of countries which are members of the European Evangelical Alliance, looking for mention on their websites of articles or resources relating to the key search phrases of ‘climate change’, ‘climate crisis’ and ‘creation care’.
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In this concise and very readable publication, Bruce Nicholls, one of the founders of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, gives a rapid overview of the issue of climate change and then concentrates on the Christian response.
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