The following is a letter written by the Christian-Muslim Relations Team of Eastern Mennonite Missions in response to the 25 Gaps identified by the Lausanne Movement in preparation for the Fourth Lausanne Congress. It has been published here with permission by the authors:
September 2024
Dear co-laborers at Lausanne,
It is with great appreciation that we read the list of 25 gaps identified in conjunction with the State of the Great Commission Report. It is a rich document that reflects the kind of creative, courageous engagement Lausanne fosters.
While we are not able to attend the Fourth Lausanne Congress, two members of our team participated in the “Conversation with Global Leaders” on September 9. As a Christian-Muslim Relations Team, we are naturally drawn to gap #4, Islam. With that gap in mind, we would like to join our voices with that of Ruth Padilla DeBorst, who at that meeting identified humble, nonviolent peacebuilding witness in the face of violence as essential to the Great Commission.
We receive the 600-year old wisdom of the Czech spiritual leader Petr Chelčický, who describes the Great Commission as a “net of faith.” He writes,
Christ, by means of his disciples, would have caught all the world in his net of faith, but the greater fishes [by allying themselves with temporal power in the days of Constantine] broke the net and escaped out of it, and all the rest have slipped through the holes made by the greater fishes, so that the net has remained quite empty. The greater fishes who broke the net are [those] who have not renounced power, and instead of true Christianity have put on what is simply a mask of it.
It is our testimony that the failure to denounce worldly power, including military force, is a great barrier to Muslims truly encountering the living Christ today.
To put it positively, in those places where Christians embrace the (apparent) weakness of nonviolence and servanthood, their Muslim neighbors genuinely encounter Christ and put their faith in him. In one Mennonite congregation in Indonesia, over two-thirds of the members are from a Muslim background. The pastor embraces peacebuilding as the primary outward form of witness in his city. Coupled with the private invitational witness and discipleship of members, the church grows.
We are convinced that there is a strong connection between rejecting violence to follow Jesus, and bearing witness to a Christ who can attract Muslim people. Militant, protectionist Christianity only tears holes in the nets that we are trying to repair. Stepping out in vulnerability, trust, and love is Christ’s calling for the church. The Kingdom of Christ must be welcomed by a church that reflects the patient love of Jesus the Prince of Peace and clearly distances itself from our nations’ ready recourse to coercive violence.
We are convinced that there is a strong connection between rejecting violence to follow Jesus, and bearing witness to a Christ who can attract Muslim people.
We are delighted by Spirit’s work in and through Lausanne, and look forward to collaborating.
Warmly in Christ,
Members of the Christian-Muslim Relations Team
Peter Sensenig, PhD Andres Prins
Christy Harrison Michael Hershey
Angie Earl Jonathan Bornman, PhD
Ruthy Hershey
Read INFEMIT’s Response to Lausanne’s State of the Great Commission Report here.
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