In case you haven’t heard, allow me to share the very exciting news with you that I am going to the Lausanne Congress in Seoul next month, and it’s all because of your incredible generosity! Many of you followed God’s prompting, which is allowing me to attend and learn many valuable concepts that I can bring back to my home church as well as other ministries I am involved with around the world.
The conference will be taking place in Seoul, South Korea from September 22nd-28th. Please pray for the logistics of the conference to run smoothly, safety and good health for everyone traveling there, and for God to ignite a revolution that will change the world. I can’t wait to return home and share all of the amazing things that I know God is going to do through this conference.
Why I am Going:
Equip my local church: I’ll bring back invaluable insights to help The Refinery Church reach more people in the Temecula Valley through effective disciple-making and spiritual formation.
Address national challenges: The alarming rates of marital failure (43% of first time marriages fail in the US) and young people leaving the church (67% of high school students who are in church do not remain in church following graduation) demand innovative solutions. I’m eager to explore strategies for strengthening families and retaining our next generation.
Advance global impact: Building on my experiences in Amsterdam, I aim to expand our Christian coaching initiatives to empower leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and India. Lausanne will provide a platform to connect with like-minded individuals and forge strategic partnerships.
Matthew 18:20 reminds us that where two or three are gathered in Jesus’s name, He is in the midst, so with 5,000+people gathered together to lift up the name of Jesus, can you just imagine the impact this is going to have on the Kingdom?!
The “why?” behind the Lausanne Congress:
Fifty years ago, evangelical leaders around the world recognized the need to think and work together for the mission God had given them. Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974, they laid out priorities for Christian missions for the short and long term.
The primary purpose for the Lausanne Congress:
The movement’s full name, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, reflects its primary focus. This focus, in part, responded to earlier mission movements that had lost sight of their original purposes. Specifically, the “conciliar” missions movement was over 60 years old, and had drifted from its missionary purpose.
By the time the International Missionary Council (IMC) was absorbed into the World Council of Churches (WCC), an emphasis on personal conversion and church planting had diminished significantly. Instead, the work focused on “larger evangelism”—meaning societal transformation—often at the expense of the proclamation of the gospel and the call to repent and believe. (1)
The impact of the previous three Lausanne Congress gatherings:
Each Lausanne Congress provides the global church with the opportunity to put down markers—foundational statements of faith that shape the movement’s future direction. These markers help clarify our mission and identity, especially as the world continues to change. In previous congresses, we have seen the publication of significant documents such as the:
These documents have profoundly shaped the mission and theology of evangelicals around the world. (2)
Because of the generosity and obedience of several donors, the good fruit that will come from this conference, the jewels in the crown, if you will, will be yours as well as mine.
The unexpected nature and timing of this invitation coincides with a new chapter of international impact where God has been connecting me with strategic partners in The Congo and India. This has been developing over the last 3 – 5 years, and looks like it will be moving into an implementation phase in 2025. Stay tuned!
Thank you once again, and please reach out if you have any questions. My plan is to share up close and personal insights during my journey leading up to and through the Lausanne Congress. I hope you can join me.
I’m thrilled to share some extraordinary news: I’ve been invited to attend the 2024 Lausanne Congress in Seoul, South Korea! Initially offered a virtual spot, I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join thousands of global leaders in person.
For those unfamiliar, the Lausanne Movement, birthed by Billy Graham in 1974, unites Christians worldwide to fulfill the Great Commission. Imagine 5,000 passionate believers from every corner of the globe converging to ignite a global movement of discipleship and evangelism. This gathering promises to be a pivotal moment in Christian history.
Attending this congress is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to:
Equip my local church: I’ll bring back invaluable insights to help The Refinery Church reach more people in the Temecula Valley through effective disciple-making and spiritual formation.
Address national challenges: The alarming rates of marital failure and young people leaving the church demand innovative solutions. I’m eager to explore strategies for strengthening families and retaining our next generation.
Advance global impact: Building on my experiences in Amsterdam, I aim to expand our Christian coaching initiatives to empower leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and India. Lausanne will provide a platform to connect with like-minded individuals and forge strategic partnerships.
To make this dream a reality, I need your support. The congress is just over a month away, and I must raise $5,000 by September 28th. I know this is a tall order, but with faith, I believe we can achieve the impossible. Just as the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 demonstrated God’s boundless provision, I trust He will multiply our efforts to achieve His purpose.
Your generous contribution will enable me to attend this life-changing event and make a lasting impact. Thank you for considering partnering with me in this exciting endeavor.
In His Grip,
Gary Reinecke
Please consider supporting me to attend the 2024 Lausanne Congress in Seoul, South Korea.
When you are coaching a leader who is navigating a really challenging issue, where do you begin? What kinds of questions do you ask? How do you remain in the coaching role and not morph into the role of consultant, especially when you have experience and/or expertise in the problem being solved?
In the best scenario possible, I have found that when I can ask curious questions that are not tethered to an agenda, other than helping the other person, I can be helpful. When I let my bias contaminate the questions, then I risk losing the leader’s trust.
When coaching leaders in the ministry space where I spend my working hours, I have discovered the VUCA 2×2 can apply.
The notion of VUCA was introduced by the U.S. Army War College to describe the more Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous multilateral world which resulted from the end of the Cold War.
The “V” in the VUCA acronym stands for volatility.
The “U” in the VUCA acronym stands for uncertainty.
The “C” in VUCA stands for complexity.
The “A” in VUCA stands for ambiguity.
Consider a real issue: a leader comes to you and is searching for ways to engage people in the church. You have two “buckets” you are thinking of when you envision engaging people. These overlap, but for argument’s sake, think of these two buckets as the discipleship/spiritual formation bucket and the leadership development/service bucket.
Note – the VUCA 2×2 above was initially intended to assess and diagnose an event; however, for our purposes let’s apply this to discipleship and leadership development.
Thinking about a church plant scenario that I serve in, come with me as I apply the VUCA 2×2. We are constantly wrestling with people’s engagement in these two buckets. Gina (my wife) and I serve on the Welcome Team at our 2-year old church. We have grown to 200 in our community, and last fall launched a second service. Our Welcome Team members often are serving at two services beginning at 8:30 am through the start of the second service and tear-down, which finishes around noon. You can see the problem. Burn out!
Knowledge about the Welcome Team
(Horizontal Axis)
We need to build our capacity = grow our team. That is easier said than done given a couple of key variables:
Connections to People – new, newly established, or long-term attenders
Bandwidth – people are busy
Leadership Capacity – Gina and Gary’s margins to recruit and train more team members and leaders
Predictions of Outcomes for the Welcome Team
(Vertical Axis)
Current Team members will become tired and disenchanted
New people will be excluded from a place to serve
People will not have the opportunity to use their gifts and be part of the community our team offers
Just from the analysis above, the situation has become clearer. We know what we need to do; now we just need to execute.
One of the big developments for us in our church is the addition of a new staff position under the title of Operations Director. Eventually, this person will oversee the Connections process where people are asked to take a spiritual gifts assessment, meet with a coach, and find ways they can use their gifts by taking the next step in their journey. However, we are not quite ready to launch this platform and process quite yet. In the meantime, our Operations Director is contacting people new to the church community to follow-up with them from a campaign our lead pastor launched to engage people in ministry. The initial signs are encouraging; we are receiving “hot leads”, people who have indicated an interest to serve on the Welcome Team. This has put light on our path by creating a pipeline for newer people to find places to serve. For the Welcome Team, this has addressed some of the issues listed above. We are quickly moving to a better place to staff both services with separate teams and rotate people so no one burns out.
Anticipating the potential outcomes balanced with a clear understanding of our current reality helped us address the Welcome Team’s capacity problem which we have been facing for the last 12-18 months.
Here are descriptions of each aspect of VUCA with a key question that will help you coach a leader through.
Volatility: The challenge is unexpected or unstable and may be of unknown duration, but it’s not necessarily hard to understand; knowledge about it is often available.
Key Question: How long has this problem been occurring?
Uncertainty: Despite a lack of other information, the event’s basic cause and effects are known. Change is possible, but not a given.
Key Question: What would it take to improve the situation?
Certainty: The situation has many interconnected parts and variables. Some information is available or can be predicted, but the volume, or nature of it, can be overwhelming to process.
Key Question: What things can you influence?
Ambiguity: Casual relationships are completely unclear. No precedents exist; you face “unknown unknowns.”
Key Question: What things are you unaware of right now?
Four Key Questions to Coach Through VUCA:
How long has this problem been occurring?
What would it take to improve the situation?
What things can you influence?
What things are you unaware of right now?
Here are two VUCA blogs that were originally posted that will give you more insight to navigate complex situations leaders face:
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