At the historic Christian gathering in Cape Town, South Africa, last month, Rev. Morley Lee, one of the Chinese church representatives and the secretary general for Chinese Coordination Center of World Evangelization (CCCOWE), was interviewed by Taiwan’s Good News Broadcasting Association.
Prompted by the radio show host, he spoke about the relationship between the Third Lausanne Congress and next year’s CCCOWE conference to be held in Indonesia and the role that the Chinese church plays among the world-wide churches.
When asked of the type of influence that Lausanne III has towards next year’s Chinese gathering, Lee said that the first CCCOWE conferenced was held two years immediately after the first Lausanne conference held in Switzerland in 1974, which signifies the closeness in relationship between the two movements.
Also, the location selected for last month’s conference site seemed to have a special meaning from God; the first conference was held in Switzerland, Europe, the second Philippines, Asia, and the third Cape Town, South Africa.
He saw that to go further south from Cape Town would only be Antarctica, which would be like how in the beginning of the Book of Acts, the Lord’s Great Commissions was given to be His witness until the ends of the earth. He felt that this was a very special arrangement.
Through this conference, the Chinese who are scattered in the different places around the world can see clearly how they belong to a global family in Christ in a multi-cultural and pluralistic society, said Lee. This conference allows the participants to see the entire will of God. In the aspect of gospel ministries and the truth of the church, there were very important reminders and direct challenges towards the Chinese churches.
Moreover, Lausanne Congress emphasized missions, which was a strong reminder and challenged posed for the Chinese.
“(Lausanne Congress) created such a good platform, allowing us to see the connection with the world mission movement, allowing the Chinese to see the position or the challenges facing the Lord in the mission troops,” said Lee.
The host asked about the role that the Chinese church plays in the worldwide churches. Lee said, “I think we must return to the CCCOWE movement. There is an anthem of CCCOWE, in which a phrase says ‘last baton, quickly catch on’. Please don’t misunderstand that the Chinese church is very arrogant that as if when we catches the last baton the rest will be cut off or that we will lead the entire world missions movement; however, I think it is not like this, because that after the phrase ‘last baton’, it says ‘quickly catch on’.
In one aspect, we must quickly catch up with the footsteps of God in leading the Chinese world missions, because God is leading us in the front; on the other hand, the experiences of the Western churches and the Korean churches can be our mirrors of reflections. Thus, after joining the Lausanne Congress, our Chinese churches can make adjustments in our attitudes, knowing that we must quickly find our position in this worldwide mission army.”
He also spoke unique trait of the Chinese population being scattered in different parts of the world. He believes that this is a very special grace that God has given to the Chinese churches, which runs parallel to God’s will of wanting His people to bring the gospel to all people until the ends of the earth.
He believes that the Chinese church should have deeper co-working opportunities with the church in each region and fulfill their responsibilities in missions.
In addition, he said that the Chinese church should team up more with other churches and through this influencing our next generation, allowing them to have more opportunities to serve the Lord in two cultures, mixture of an international culture and the Chinese culture.
“I think this is a very rare chance and opportunity, and the role that the Chinese church play in this world cannot be underestimated. I really believe that God will continue to use this type of connection until my Lord Jesus Christ comes again," he said.
