The third Lausanne Congress has inspired the 4,000 participants from 200 nations in making the changes in their respective regions. Taiwan Christian leaders testify of the inspiration that they’ve received and their hopes for their country.
In an interview with Good News Broadcasting Association in Taiwan, Rev. James Chung-Chieng Shai, president of Chinese Christian Evangelical Association, said that although only 20 people from Taiwan were able to participate, the harvest was plentiful, and they hope to share with all churches their reflections.
Connecting with GNBA across the oceans via phone, Shia said the closing ceremony was held in a communion format, mixed with multiple segments of music clips and combination of Bible verses. “In particular, the praise and worship of this conference combined all tribes and all languages, and the united nation worship team was really touching.”
Listening to familiar hymns sang in different languages, Shia said he personally witnessed the breaking down of the curse of the Tower of Babylon. “The unity and glory of the church of Jesus Christ is the most beautiful part of this conference.”
Unlike the past conferences that he attended before, the Lausanne Conference did not dwell on familiar messages, worship formats, but established different kinds of special topics, and every topic had three to four speakers giving perspectives from different angles. “Although the depth may not be as deep if there were only one speaker, the breadth of the scope was increased tremendously.”
While complementing the conference’s programs, Dr. Simon Hung, CEO of Overseas Radio & Television, urged for the establishment of a think tank that will gather all the Christian professionals from all fields in Taiwan. This year, 70 talented professionals from various government organizations, corporations, and scholastic fields in the world were invited to engage in daily discussion sessions on global topics, such as environmental conversation, wealth gap, homosexuality, and etc., during which they’ve offered the Christian attitudes and responses.
“I know that (Taiwan) Chinese Christian Professionals’ Faith Hope Love Association has already begun relevant works in this aspect, but I’m afraid they still need to expand and plan strategically,” said Hung.
As the only Chinese in the entire think tank, Joseph Pai, CEO of Taiwan Ogilvy & Mather, expressed his surprise to be chosen as one of the representing professionals, especially, because he specializes in the field of communications. He said that Lausanne formed the think tank in hope to understand the changes in this world from different perspectives and angles in order to bring out opinions and suggestions towards the challenges that Christians face.
Pail believes that God gave him this special opportunity to gather with other leaders from around the world to discuss.
After waiting 21 years, Lausanne III drew together national representatives from 200 nations for a one week gathering that concluded on October 24, and its influences are spreading as the participants return to their regions to implement the visions and strategies.
[Editor's note: reporter Ian Huang contributed to this report.]
