The prayer on opening day; SaRang Senior Pastor Jung-Hyun Oh is in a gray suit. WEA image
Well, President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping upstaged us a bit, but the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has just completed a vibrant four-day General Assembly in the heart of Seoul, Korea. (Today is actually the final day featuring a tour of some key local sites.)
Some 850 delegates from 125 nations joined 4,000 Korean pastors (and members of the massive SaRang Church, which hosted the week) for the first couple of days, then carried on with general meetings and workshops.
Deputy Secretary General Dr. Peirong Lin said there has been significant growth since the last Assembly (Jakarta, 2019), noting that there are now 163 national alliance members in 61 countries, along with 27 new alliances.
Impressive people
There have been several highlights during the Assembly. As usual, the best thing has been meeting unique, faithful servants of God with fascinating stories – all day long, during breakfast at the hotel, on the subway going to the church, at lunch, in the halls . . .
Among the delegates I met:
- a young man who grew up in a leper colony in Nepal where his parents became Christians;
- a Welsh pastor and his wife who helped secure the support of SaRang Church for Union School of Theology in Wales;
- a man from northern India who converted from Hinduism to Christianity and whose nationalist political father has also been saved;
- the President of Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations, which includes Catholics and mainline Protestants along with evangelicals;
- a young Pakistani mother who coordinates theological schools and works with vulnerable mothers and children;
- Botrus Mansour (briefly), the newly installed Secretary General of the WEA from Nazareth, who told me he was in Vancouver to take part in Missions Fest a few years ago.
More detail on some of this in the future.
Global shift
A WEA report on the Assembly stated:
The gathering, which convenes once every six years, illustrates evangelical Christianity’s geographic shift, with 71 percent of attendees from Africa, Asia and other Global South regions – mirroring the fact that 70 percent of the world’s Christians now live in these areas.
“People often think North America would have the highest representation of evangelicals,” notes Dr. Brad Smith, Interim Director of the Alliance Engagement Department, “but only 17 percent of our delegates come from there.” Asia dominates with 36 percent of attendees, while Africa accounts for 21 percent and Latin America 5 percent.
The numbers tell compelling stories not just of demographic shifts, with a much younger average attendee age of 46 than in past gatherings, but also of determination and growth. Nepal, despite the toppling of the recent Government and significant travel challenges, sent a remarkable delegation that accounted for 9 percent of all Asian attendees.
Burundi and Rwanda each contributed 12 percent of African delegates, while countries like Pakistan, where Christians face considerable challenges, represent 12 percent of delegates.
Korean focus
As at the Lausanne Congress in Incheon-Seoul last year, the warm welcome by local Korean volunteers was really heart-warming. Many were there for hours on end, greeting us at the door, guiding us, feeding us and more.
When Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jung-Hyun Oh welcomed us, he said that about 10,000 of the 100,000 church members would be volunteering. It was later mentioned that the church has a plan to plant 500 churches in Europe, and already has established 200.
SaRang Church, which must be seen to be believed (I wonder whether a few of the visiting pastor weren’t experiencing a little bit of envy.) Situated on a major corner in the midst of the city, right next to a subway station, the building is very large, with two towers, one 14 stories high. The main auditorium seats thousands, and there were escalators everywhere.
There were a few Koreans who were not happy about the Assembly. Every day a number of conservative Christian with signs, and in the evening a band, insisted that the WEA has compromised the gospel too much and is too close to Catholics and the World Council of Churches.
Key themes
There were many important themes covered, but a couple stood out:
- [from a WEA report]: The Patmos Initiative, presented by Paul Williams of the British and Foreign Bible Society, revealed a striking paradox: while 76 percent of Asia’s population knows nothing about the Bible, there exists significant interest among non-Christians, including 17 percent in South Korea itself. This untapped spiritual curiosity represents what speakers called a vast missional opportunity requiring strategic, data-informed approaches.
- [from another WEA report]: The assembly’s theme, ‘The Gospel for Everyone by 2033,’ coincides with Christianity’s 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s resurrection. Dr. [Goodwill] Shana notes, “There has been a growing consensus among Christians to mark 2033 as a year in which the Christian communions can unite behind the mobilization of all believers to proclaim the Gospel to all the world. God calls everyone. This isn’t reserved for pulpits. Jesus calls farmers and financiers, artists and entrepreneurs – every Christian to embody their vocation as Gospel witness.”
In a statement handed out on the last evening, Botrus Mansour (a native of Nazareth who identifies himself as an “evangelical, Christian, Arab, Palestinian and Israeli”) agreed: “Together we must reaffirm our commitment to the WEA’s vision: ‘The Gospel for Everyone by 2033.’ This is not simply a program or slogan, but a mandate rooted in Scripture and the heart of God for all people.”