Michael Oh casts 2050 vision for digital age at Lausanne’s 50th anniversary celebration
INCHEON, South Korea — The Church must be fully engaged in sharing the Gospel in the digital world if it seeks to make disciples of future generations, according to Michael Oh, global executive director of the Lausanne Movement.
During the 50th anniversary celebration of the Lausanne Movement Tuesday night, Oh shared the words of the late evangelist Billy Graham, who called 2,700 leaders from 150 nations together in 1974, and on the opening night of the first Lausanne Congress said the Church “must learn to utilize every technological and spiritual resource at its command for the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
In his message to the 5,000 Christians gathered from over 200 countries at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization at Songdo Convensia international convention center, Oh said the purpose of the gathering is not “about 2024” but is to cast a vision for 2050 and the world that “our kids and our grandkids” will inherit.
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“We recognize that the world in which we are living is increasingly a digital world. And the best tools to unite us in disciple-making and disciple-maturing are digital,” he added.
To do this, Oh said the focus will be on the three Ds: disciple-making, disciple-maturing of the Church and digital. Each of these topics has been discussed more fully at collaborative group breakout sessions during this Congress.
Will Graham, executive vice president and associate evangelist of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and grandson of the world-renowned evangelist, said in a recorded message to the delegates gathered to celebrate 50 years of the Lausanne Movement that “the task is still unfinished.”
“The necessity of proclamation evangelism is as great today as ever,” he said. “Even though we’re living in a world that at every turn is working to cancel Christ and the Bible in order to exalt itself, my friends, we must say: not on our watch."
He added: “Now is not the time to retreat. It’s not a time to turn inward. […] Now is the time to stand boldly for Jesus Christ and preach Christ unashamedly in the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit. And while evangelism is not the only work of the Church, we must never neglect persuasive preaching, personal soul-winning and the necessity of proclaiming the Good News at every turn we take. We must continue proclaiming the Gospel and make disciples worldwide.”
In his speech, Oh emphasized that while evangelizing in the digital space isn't the sole answer to making disciples and increasing biblical literacy among believers, it has become an “indispensable tool” toward such efforts.
“Regardless of how we feel about it, it is shaping our young people and shaping our world,” he said, adding that there are “1 billion TikTok users [and] 8.5 billion Google searches every day,” so the global Church must not cede this space.
He added, “It would be to our great detriment and grave danger to ignore digital, either to ignore it foolishly or embrace it naively.”
Young people, he said, are “hopelessly inaccessible and lost” and it’s imperative that Christians utilize digital tools to engage them with the life-transforming message of the Gospel.
“We need strategic intentionality to reach and disciple the younger generations or we will lose the future,” he added.
Oh said that plans to reach people in digital spaces are building upon the legacy of the Lausanne Movement that has, over its 50-year history, reached 9,000 unreached people groups with the Gospel and continues the work to translate the Bible into every language.
Citing an alarming statistic that 1 billion people worldwide suffer from mental health issues, Oh stressed that there “is no challenge in the world that the Gospel and the people of the Gospel cannot meet.”
“But we must understand these challenges better and endeavor to know the world into which the Gospel speaks and connect with the lives of the people into whose heart the Gospel will breathe,” he added. “And this is why the Seoul Statement and the report on the State of the Great Commission are truly landmark gifts and tools for the global Church.”
Oh called on those gathered to “remain faithful” to the Gospel “regardless of the cost,” noting that the Word “ministers” to people throughout all of the challenges and hardships in life.
In closing, he reflected on Hebrews 13:7 as he spoke of building on the legacy of past Lausanne leaders and the “prayer and hope" of Habakkuk 3:2.
“We seek to continue to be a prophetic voice in our generation, a prophetic voice for the world, and for the global Church speaking biblical truth and calling for biblical action,” he said.
