Let the children come. Part 1

The Lausanne Movement is committed to “the whole Church taking the whole gospel to the whole world”. But is it doing that? Viva’s CEO, Phil Green, reflects on his involvement with this year’s Lausanne Congress in a series of three articles.

“The whole Church taking the whole gospel to the whole world” – that’s been the mantra of the Lausanne Movement ever since it was birthed in the early 1970s, with Billy Graham having a key role. However, for most of its history, the lack of attention to children in general, and at-risk children specifically, has been a cause for concern: without (at-risk) children being included, it’s not the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.

 It's what motivated Patrick McDonald, Viva’s founder, and others to champion children within the Lausanne Movement, recognising the movement’s influence on shaping the thinking and action of churches, mission organisations, and Christian leaders around the world.

 At the end of 2022, as I was joining the Viva team, I was invited to serve as the co-coordinator of the Lausanne Movement’s Children at Risk Issue Network. With only the fourth-ever Lausanne Congress then approaching (scheduled for 2024), we saw it as a timely opportunity to ensure that children were on the agenda.

 When asked about my role within the Lausanne Movement, I often describe myself as a ‘polite irritant’. I have the utmost respect for Lausanne's leadership—their vision, experience, depth of insight, and prayerfulness—along with the immense difficulty of the task they are seeking to undertake. Therefore, I want to be polite. However, the lack of attention given to children is concerning and requires us to act and be appropriately disruptive—to be an irritant!

 Jesus said, “Let the children come.” So, as 5,000 leaders of churches, mission organisations, theological institutions, and influencers from the workplace gathered in Seoul in November 2024—with another 5,000 participating online—what happened? Where were the children? Were they invited to come?

 There was much to be encouraged about.

 The opening session focused on collaboration, how we all have a role to play, and that the Great Commission requires the whole Church to act. Attention was given to the role of the child in feeding the 5,000, thereby very much including children as participants in God's mission.

 Next, an entire plenary session was dedicated to issues of justice. Theologian Chris Wright, who has played an important role in ensuring that Lausanne focuses on the whole gospel—both word and deed—both evangelism and social action—hosted the session. It very much felt like a public declaration from Lausanne that they’re not moving away from this understanding of the ‘whole gospel’—and the theme of the week was ‘Declare and Display Christ’.

 And, on the final evening, a young woman named Ruby shared her story of rescue (by IJM) from online sexual exploitation and the consequent healing she has experienced related to her trauma. Later that session, children were one of the vulnerable groups prayed for. Thereby, children were recognised as part of the ‘whole world’.

 These were, however, only glimmers of encouragement. Taken as a whole, there was very little attention given to children as part of the Church now (not just in the future), their participation in God’s mission, and the seriousness of issues facing children in the world today. There’s a long way to go before we can say that the whole Church is taking the whole gospel to the whole world.

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Part 2 will focus on where the voices of children are within the Lausanne Movement and the importance of all churches and organisations—and us at Viva—getting better at enabling children's participation.

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Let the children come. Part 2