The first full day of the fourth Lausanne Congress in Incheon, South Korea, started with a session called The Coming of the Promised Spirit – No Mission Without Power. The message was delivered by Rev. Dr. Femi Adeleye, vice chair for the Lausanne Movement. From Ghana and Nigeria, Adeleye is the Africa director for Langham Preaching, the director of the Institute for Christian Impact (ICI), and an author and teacher, among other titles.
Over 200 countries and territories were represented, with over 5,000 people in attendance the night before when the congress began. Truly seeking to bring together all nations and tongues, the event is being translated live into six languages besides English thanks to a team of translators on site. Guests can download a free app called LiveVoice to listen to one of the available translations.
To open the Monday morning session, the audience was led in praise and worship by the Getty Band from Northern Ireland. The music and prayers were followed by a reading of Acts 2:1-21 by a four-person drama team. The dramatic reading was then concluded with an acapella singing of scripture by one of the members of the drama team, reiterating what was just ready by the other members. Finally, a prayer in Spanish rounded out the opening. This all prepared the audience for the coming message by Adeleye.
“We all have great expectations for what the Holy Spirit has to say to us as a movement, the Lausanne Movement,” Adeleye said. “And as people called to bear witness to God’s saving grace in diverse contexts of God’s world.”
The message aligned with the theme of the congress, which is to “declare and display Christ together.”
He quoted René Padilla, a pioneer of the Lausanne Movement, saying “Every generation of Christians in every place receives the power of the Holy Spirit that makes possible the witness to the gospel in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. In other words, every church, wherever it may be, is called to share in God’s mission. A mission that is local, regional, and worldwide in scope, beginning in its own Jerusalem.”
He said the mission needs to continue globally in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
His message was broken down into three sections: the coming of the Holy Spirit, the response of the immediate crowd to the evidence of the Holy Spirit, and thirdly, proclamation as witnesses to the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
According to Adeleye, the book of Acts is not just an account of the actions of the apostles but also the actions of the Holy Spirit, which is mentioned at least 50 times in the book.
As the second chapter of Acts begins, Jesus has commanded the disciples to wait in Jerusalem. They were obedient and spent their time in prayer together along with Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, the brothers of Jesus, and more.
“All through history, significant missional impact is always preceded by prayer,” Adeleye said.
Adeleye also notes the diverse cultural backgrounds of the men and women present on the day of Pentecost.
“The utterances were in diverse languages,” Adeleye said. “Today, the holy spirit continues to come in similar ways in various parts of the world.”
He points to modern revival movements as reflections of Pentecost, starting with the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905 kicked off by minister Evan Roberts. He also mentioned the Asuza Street Revival, the East African Revival, or Okulokoka of the 1920s and ‘30s, the Korean Pentecost of 1903-1907, the 1908 Manchurian Revival of China, and more.
“Today we cannot and dare not replace fervent prayer with strategies, logistics, or plans,” he said.
He went on to his second point, highlighting that the crowd on the day of Pentecost was amazed and marveled at the coming of the Holy Spirit, which signified the beginning of a new age for the church. “This crowd was diverse, and they all had what was being spoken in their respective languages,” Adeleye said. “Which signified that the Holy Spirit is for all nations.”
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the signs and wonders, were followed by a proclamation bearing witness to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Adeleye then broke down Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, sharing three key takeaways. The three points of Peter’s message were that what the crowd witnessed on Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, that Jesus was killed but has risen from the dead, and finally that God made Jesus both Lord and Christ.
The message delivered by Peter led the crowd to feel a deep conviction, and they asked him what they should do, to which Peter told them they needed to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and then they shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“Friends, today repentance is increasingly a missing word from our pulpits,” Adeleye said. “Repentance must continue to be preached regardless of the context of the world we live in.”
Adeleye said this passage is just as relevant today as it was in Jesus’ day. Signs and wonders are essential for missions, but they are not an end for themselves. He said they should always be accompanied by the proclamation of God’s saving grace. The proclamation must be faithful to the content of the gospel, leading converts to call on the name of Jesus Christ for salvation.
From this passage, the apostles continued to perform signs and miracles in the name of Jesus as they went out to the furthest corners of the known world.
“We must bear in mind always that mission, local or global, is not possible without the full conviction, affirmation, and experience of the presence of the person and the power of the Holy Spirit,” Adeleye said.
He went on to relay to the crowd that the works of the Holy Spirit are not ancient but that they continue to be just as possible today as they were 2,000 years ago. Statistics show people in undeveloped countries are more likely to be open to the possibility of miraculous works than Christians from the West.
Adeleye said in countries like these, revivals have always been accompanied by deep conviction and repentance. According to him, the revivals that spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries confirm to believers today that “the Holy Spirit is alive and well and continues to work in our world today.” The recent college revivals at Wheaton College in 1995, Asbury University in 1970, and again in 2023 further cement the reality that the Holy Spirit has come and still works among us.
In closing, Adeleye challenged the audience to make a bold declaration that the Holy Spirit, like the other persons of the Trinity, is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
“The holy spirit transcends cultural dictates regardless of what part of the world it comes from,” Adeleye said.
He called for repentance and a return to the Holy Spirit for believers from all backgrounds around the world.
