Global Evangelicalism and Justice

Reflections from Lausanne's Freedom & Justice Network Gathering

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Lausanne Movement’s first-ever Freedom & Justice Network Gathering in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Attending this historic Global Church gathering on Justice was an experience of a lifetime. It taught me *so* much about how the Global Evangelical Church is currently wrestling with issues of justice and injustice - especially in the 21st Century, postcolonial world we find ourselves in today.

You subscribe to Jesus, Justice & Joash because of your deep passion for justice. So I thought I’d bring you along on my experience getting to attend this historic gathering - with one caveat: I’ll keep my praises public but my critiques private (behind a paywall). I do this for a few reasons - there’s much to celebrate and be thankful for with how the Global Evangelical Church is thinking and acting on issues of injustice. But there’s also much to lament and work on.

Sometimes (especially with much of the Global Evangelical Church working in sensitive contexts), it’s better to offer praise in public while offering constructive criticism in the context of deep, private relationships (something I’ve already done coming out of this conference) - ideally over chai. So the critique section of this post will be offered in that relational context - drawing in deeper folks who want to opt-in for that deeper level of wrestling with what’s broken in my virtual living room space.

Paid subscribers to Jesus, Justice & Joash are living room conversational partners who generously support my work monthly / annually. Everything they give goes directly towards my seminary and ordination costs. I’ve enjoyed getting to know so many of my paid subscribers over email and texts over the past few years! And I’ve enjoyed the deep relationships that have been formed through this virtual living room medium. I’d be so thankful for your support as a paid subscriber.

Ok, onto our current topic. Here are the praises I have for the Global Evangelical Church after attending this historic Global Church gathering on justice:

1. Much of the Global Evangelical Church (especially the Global South Evangelical Church) is truly wrestling with justice.

Statistically speaking, the average evangelical Christian today isn’t a white, evangelical American male. They’re a South Asian / Southeast Asian female. And with that proximity to the margins comes a deep wrestling on how the Gospel of Christ is actually good news for our neighbours living in poverty and oppression. I was particularly inspired by an intentional effort by conference organizers to facilitate conversation on gender-based violence, human trafficking, and tribal / indigenous land rights. And I was especially inspired by the spotlighted voice of the Tamil Church in Sri Lanka - ministering to a historically marginalized community in a post-civil war and genocide context.

2. Intentional effort to center the voices of Global South Christians.

I am noticing an intentional effort within Global Church Evangelical circles to center the voices of Global South Christians. This is especially inspiring considering Lausanne’s western, historical roots as a product of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Given Global South Christians’ proximity to marginalized communities in the postcolonial Global South, the theology that is then developed in these contexts can be a gift to the Global Evangelical Church in aiding its efforts to prioritize justice for our most marginalized neighbours.

3. Strong emphasis on ecumenism and pluralism.

Something I find myself appreciating in the Global Evangelical Church right now is an increased emphasis on working ecumenically with their non-evangelical Christians (such as Catholic and Orthodox Christians) and in pluralism with their Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu neighbours as much as possible. The need for inter-faith dialogue is felt as an urgent need for the Global South Evangelical Church because living in the minority makes it necessary for these Christians to work towards justice in solidarity with neighbours they have things in common with - even if they don’t share the same thoughts on everything. As I’ve said earlier, the Western Evangelical Church has much to learn from the Global South Evangelical Church in this - especially since the Western Evangelical Church has historically never had to live as a religious minority - something that Global South Christians have been doing faithfully (and fruitfully) for centuries now.

As one of the two Anglican bishops of Sri Lanka told me in a private conversation over chai (something I plan to share about more in an exclusive post for paid subscribers), “What the Western Church needs to understand about the Global South Church is that we here in the Global South breathe each other’s religions.” To that effect, the Anglican seminaries in Sri Lanka (much like many Christian seminaries in India) teach basic precepts of Buddhism and Hinduism from primary sources to help future generations of church leaders have a fair and charitable understanding of their non-Christian neighbours’ beliefs, especially as they engage in inter-faith dialogue and work towards taking on various issues of injustice in their contexts - another model the Western Evangelical Church can learn much from.

This inter-faith dialogue can also sharpen us for the work of justice. One Indian evangelical leader remarked during the conference, “Sikhs are more active than Christians in responding to disasters. We need to ask what the Indian Church’s role in disaster response is.”

Nevertheless, while there is much to celebrate about the Global Evangelical movement’s commitment to justice, there is also much to lament and work towards rectifying so that the Gospel of Christ is indeed perceived as good news for our marginalized neighbours in oppression around the world. To that end, here are a few constructive criticisms of Global Evangelicalism I’d like to offer:

1. A narrow ability to sit in the discomfort of lament.

Something that became even more clear to me is how evangelicals globally wrestle with lament. Many of us have likely experienced this among Western evangelicals; but I was surprised to come across this pattern among Global South Evangelicals too (despite a commendable effort by conference organizers to create intentional space for lament).