The most important long-term strategic investment for any entity or endeavor is people. For the Lausanne Movement as we look forward to our next major global congress in 2024, and beyond to 2050, we’re committed to playing our part in impacting the world for Christ. That can only happen through people, namely the younger leaders of this and the next generations who will be the key influencers of the world in 2050.
However, it’s not enough to recognize the need for the maturing and equipping of these generations—we need to have a plan and make the investment to see it through. The Lausanne Younger Leaders Generation (YLGen) is our plan and long-term investment. And we’re just seeing the beginning of the fruit—not just this ten-year investment in this first cohort, but our long-term investment in bridging the generations of church leaders and mission influencers.
As we celebrate five years of our ten-year commitment, we are appreciative of the impact of this investment on every young leader and the generations that will come after them. We will continue to connect influencers and ideas for global mission in the spirit of Lausanne, which is the spirit of friendship, humility, prayer, study, partnership, and hope.
Michael Oh
Global Executive Director / CEO, Lausanne Movement
Over these five years since YLG2016, it has been deeply inspiring to witness the growing number of younger leaders who have stepped into significant roles of faithful leadership in the global church. These include several younger leaders who are now serving within the Lausanne Movement as staff, as co-catalysts leading issue networks, as co-regional directors, and as members of the Lausanne board. ‘The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ (Psalm 118:23).
We rejoice over the first fruits as we celebrate this 5th anniversary of the formation of YLGen. We look forward with Christ-centered hope over the horizons, praying that these connections across generations will bear fruit that last for the glory of the King and the advancing of His Kingdom!
Nana Yaw Offei Awuku
Global Associate Director for Generations, Lausanne Movement
My journey to Jakarta is still a lasting testimony for me. It was the first time I had heard about generational mentorship and the vision of raising younger leaders. I knew about discipleship, but I had never seen it in that sense in terms of being deliberate in pouring your life to a younger leader. Coming to YLG2016, I was passionate about unreached people and global missions and somehow being in that auditorium, filled with people from every nation, tribe and tongue, confirmed God’s call upon my life.
Philomenah Maina, Kenya
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The Lausanne Younger Leaders Generation (YLGen) is a ten-year commitment arising from the 2016 Younger Leaders Gathering in Jakarta (YLG2016). YLGen strategically walks alongside younger leaders to connect them more intentionally to Lausanne issue networks, regions, resources, and mentors, as well as to one another through peer groups.
We praise God for five fruitful years!
Participants
890
Younger Leaders
145
Countries/Territories
Following the Global Workplace Forum (GWF) in 2019, 112 additional younger leaders were added to YLGen and the Lausanne community.
Mentoring
250
Mentors
3
Mentoring Podcast Episodes
Mentors represent a wide range of global leaders who come alongside younger leaders in scripture, prayer, and whole-life discipleship.
In 2020, the YLGen team launched a mentoring podcast, ‘A Conversation with a Mentor’, to nurture conversations between mentors and mentees and to enrich lives and leadership for the kingdom of God.
[Through YLGen] I have been blessed to find mentors, meet friends, and begin studying at Gordon Conwell University through the YLGen Educate scholarship. Lausanne has helped develop my heart for the global church through personal friendships and theology of missions. I had the privilege of travelling and serving the church in Canada (Quebec) through a friend I met at Jakarta and have welcomed mentors and friends from Ghana and Portugal in our home. A guest [on an episode of] the YLGen mentoring podcast accepted an invitation to be our main speaker this summer at our annual missions retreat. All these have been such a blessing!
Paul Monclair, France
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YLGen Educate
17
Partner Universities
26
Scholarships Granted
20
Graduates
YLGen Educate gives younger leaders from the Majority World an opportunity to access full-tuition scholarships in higher education, from master’s to PhD level.
The impact of my learning has been tremendous as more opportunities to serve God’s mission keep being unveiled through the local and global needs of the church. I am immensely grateful to the YLGen family for the focused leadership that has advanced my story and that of others that my service impacts.
Samuel Chibueze Osuji, Nigeria
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32
Webinars
YLGen Equip: Webinars
YLGen Equip hosts regular webinars and cohorts on topics younger leaders want to learn more about, such as emotionally healthy leadership, building online community, and biblical fundraising. Several of these webinars are in partnership with Lausanne leaders around the globe.
YLGen Empower
In January 2020, YLGen Empower was formed to give a platform for Lausanne younger leaders to be heard globally. The team has since collaborated with Christianity Today, Lausanne Global Analysis, and Langham Publishing, with hopes to expand opportunities for younger leaders to give global input into current issues.
YLGen Empower is all about bringing global conversations to the forefront of global missions – it’s a dream we are thankful to take forward with the prayers and guidance of the Lausanne Movement. We have come up with authentic creative writing and content creation that answers and questions the concerns that are at the heart of global churches. Moreover, it has been unique to our team, that every time we spend with each other talking or discussing potential paths forward, we take time to pray and uphold one another in kindness and care. I have seen the joy of heaven resonate in these missional friendships.
Susan Ann Samuel, India, YLGen Empower co-leader
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Groups & Gatherings
Global, Regional, National, Digital
Over the past five years, members from the YLGen community have participated in various gatherings, including larger regional gatherings, anniversary celebrations, and local connections between YLGen friends.
Since 2020 and the COVID pandemic, many gatherings shifted digitally. During this time Groups & Gatherings have hosted several community calls where younger leaders and mentors have been able to connect in prayer, friendship, and care as a global community of Christ-followers.
The YLGen community gave me deeper friendships in a short time and have been very supportive in my times of grief and loss recently. Community calls gave me an opportunity to connect with like-minded believers across the world and also learn from their experiences.
Jayanthi Vuppala, India
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Impacting Character, Inspiring Friendships, Igniting Mission
Years ago, while I was in seminary after returning from the mission field, I felt isolated in ministry. My heart was set on serving God, but I was lacking fellowship with those who were serious and passionate about global missions. I asked the Lord, ‘Where are my peers running with the gospel?’ The Lord directly answered that prayer through YLG2016 and YLGen. In terms of character, I have been challenged to be a man of God ready to steward greater responsibility. In terms of friendship, I have global brothers and sisters whom I have learned from, labored with, and prayed with. They have spoken a timely and timeless truth into my life. In terms of missions, the Lord has used Lausanne to refine my vision for ministry and help me be more effective. I could not have asked for more, so I truly thank God for Lausanne and this initiative!
CJ Davison, UK/USA
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YLGen began in November 2016 with the prayerful hope that the Lord would use connections across generations to grow a community of passionate influencers committed to be Christ-like in character, Christ-serving in friendship, and Christ-following in mission. During the last five years YLGen has been blessed to see several stories of character, friendship, and mission emerge from around the world.
The YLGen community continues to be a thriving network and their stories are a powerful testament to the work of God in influencing kingdom impact in every sphere of society!
Impacting Character
It is not an overstatement to say that God has possibly used YLG2016 and YLGen to form the person and leader that I am today more than anything else in my life.
The planning process for YLG was a huge faith journey. [Our planning team] had to depend on God every step. We as a team were tested, sharped, and refined many times. God truly used this journey to refine me in deep ways. This process revealed more to me of God’s faithfulness, his heart, how he brings about his plans and purposes. It has deeply refined my character and sharpened my leadership.
Sarah Breuel, Italy/Brazil
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During the gathering, I was bedridden due to the stress of war I went through in South Sudan, which affected me psychosocially. Praise God, during that time I had a special encounter of revelation from God and I became more passionate about writing about the visions and revelations that came to me. I wrote several messages in the prayer room in Jakarta which I still remember—God was preparing me for a mission work across the globe.
Among other transformative sessions at YLG2016, I attended a Business as Mission (BAM) forum that led my wife and I to start an organization, CAM (Catering as Mission) Connect Limited. In this organization, we work as missionaries in the hotel and tourism industry, where we work with the deaf community and single teenage mothers who had been sexually abused during the war in South Sudan. Our training focuses on teaching employment skills to fight against poverty using local resources and through sharing the gospel. We train people to do business God’s way amongst the refugee communities.
Through YLGen, I have also had the privilege of having Nana as my mentor. He has impacted me with value-based friendship and love for others as our Lord Jesus has taught in John 15:15. God is helping me to share this love with the deaf community who are among the unreached communities of people around the world. Each time I reflect on the words of Nana I think of a burden God gives in my heart to respond: ‘God’s work done in God’s ways always has God’s support.’
— Peter Aloro, South Sudanise Refugee in Uganda
Inspiring Friendships
‘Within a few minutes, I realized that we had to meet again—which we did the following day.’
One of my favourite stories comes from the Global Workplace Forum—by this time I had started serving as a co-catalyst for the Lausanne Orality Network. During the YLGen session, we introduced our issue network. Afterwards, we patiently waited for any interest from the group, and finally only one person appeared and started talking to us asking for input and prayer. After a brief conversation, I realized that this individual had far more to share with me about her nation, Indonesia, than I had to share with her about orality!
Within a few minutes, I realized that we had to meet again—which we did the following day. During this time, I was able to share my heart for Bible Translation, and hear her heart for Indonesia, and her desire for the development of this nation to go hand-in-hand with the gospel. She was not aware at this time of the full extent of Bible Poverty in Indonesia, which contains 10% of the world’s Bible-less languages!
Since this meeting, we have maintained a friendship based on our mutual passion to see the Word of God translated for all within Indonesia, meeting regularly over the last two years over Whatsapp to pray and encourage one another. Incredibly, since the start of the COVID pandemic, our organization has now begun training 45 Bible translators from Indonesia alone! And numerous initiatives for advocacy for Bible translation have begun, mobilizing local believers across the country to take responsibility for the bible poverty on their doorstep.
I believe this connection, which started in a YLGen meeting, is one that the Lord has orchestrated, and one which will have ripple effects far beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined!
— Ricki Gidoomal, Israel
Igniting Mission
The Lausanne Younger Leaders gathering was very instrumental in opening my mind to missions beyond our traditional strategies. At YLG2016, we were connected to a variety of people who made the gospel alive through their work, ministry, and daily life.
The Global Workplace Forum in 2019 was a huge affirmation for me in shifting my career path. As the forum emphasized the Lausanne vision, I also wanted to see kingdom impact in every sphere of society. In my area of influence, kingdom impact happens at the intersection of God’s story with the story of coffee.
During my years serving as a pastor, I was already integrating myself outside the four walls of the church. I wanted to be a pastor not just inside our building, but also to the people in our neighborhood. I was well into the coffee industry in Manilla at that time, so outside of the church I got to know a lot of people from the coffee networks. They invited me to their gatherings as a friend, they asked me to pray for them and have fellowship with them. I got to know their lives and their faith. It was out of these networks that the idea of creating an alternative space for faith and community was born. With them, I saw God’s presence and movement outside of our traditional church walls and I felt called to participate and follow God in what he was doing there.
The vision for Lugar Cafe started before the pandemic. We wanted to start a space for an alternative community where everyone is welcome. We decided to develop a coffee shop, but due to COVID restrictions we had to pivot from renting a space. Instead, we decided to bring the cafe to where the people are. Now through the mobile cafe we have been able to meet new friends from various locations and stay connected through social media. We were able to forge partnerships and collaborations with an ecosystem of businesses and organizations. And we continued to help each other, from the roaster to the farmers where we source our coffee. The pandemic is a difficult trial for many businesses and will continue to make things uncertain, but because of cooperation and collaboration we see glimpses of hope in the midst of darkness.
So right now, I am onto a new journey. A desert with an unpredictable future. I don’t know yet what to encounter in this path, but I know God is there ahead of me — with people, with communities, making a way for his kingdom to transform every area of life.
— Ian De Ocampo, Philippines
Looking toward 2050 in Generational Mission
‘One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty works’
(Psalm 145:4)
What will the world look like in 2050? We may not know, but we do know that today’s younger leaders will be leading it.
As the Lausanne Movement gears up for Lausanne 4 in 2024 and the ensuing years that will be shaped by this seminal gathering, YLGen also looks forward to the second half of our ten-year commitment and to the future beyond, continuing in our vision.
We love God’s mission. God’s mission continues to the ends of the earth and to the end of the age. We are inspired by the Lausanne vision of the gospel for every person, disciple-making churches for every people and place, Christ-like leaders for every church and sector, and for kingdom impact in every sphere of society. By investing in younger leaders, the Lausanne Movement is making the most strategic investment in global mission towards shaping the world in 2050.
We love God’s Word. Our foundation, rooting, and directional compass is God’s Word. Lifetime leadership soul health is core to YLGen strategy. We are committed to seeing God inspire a generation of influencers who love, live by, and lead from scripture. John 13-17 is selected as a guiding and grounding text for YLGen initiatives over the next two years. These passages give direct focusing on Jesus’ heart for authentic discipleship and mission. Over the coming years, we prayerfully look towards a YLGen community that is living out scripture as we pursue Christ-like character, Christ-serving friendship, and Christ-following mission to a world in need.
I was just a twenty-year-old girl hopping around at YLG2016 knowing not why I was there and what was going on. It was the first time I was traveling alone to a distant land—everything that should’ve seemed intimidating became but welcoming gestures of joy, cheer, and love of Christ, in the fellowship of an amazing bunch of brothers and sisters. Little did I know that I was being prayerfully welcomed to the commitment of YLGen—of growth, mentorship, friendship, and leadership, for the next ten years. In every year that followed from then, I was growing in the knowledge of the Lord and in fellowship with believers across the globe. Now that it has been five years already, my eyes are welling up with tears as I write this note of gratitude.
Susan Ann Samuel, India
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We love generations. Over 90% of YLGeners today are over 30 years old—the younger leaders are already growing. We are looking toward the next generation and are inviting younger leaders between the ages of 20-29 to join the mentor community, especially those from underrepresented and Christian minority regions.
We love workers in every sphere. We believe that every disciple of Christ is called to the royal priesthood. We affirm that the 99% of believers engaged in the workplace are at the mission frontlines, along with those leading in the church and mission agencies. Inspired by the Lausanne Global Workplace, we look forward to fresh cross-sectional connections in identifying key global mission gaps and catalytic collaborations. We believe younger leaders will play a critical role in the Lausanne 4 process in making disciples of all nations towards 2050 and beyond.
We love transformative technology. Younger leaders are the digital natives. We rejoice that many YLGeners are influencing strategic technology leadership for kingdom purposes. Digital platforms have become a new normal in our global connections, convening, and collaborations. Across regions, issues, and generations, younger leaders are the creative technology gatekeepers and drivers into the future. Lausanne’s commitment to faithful theological reflection and biblical stewardship will continue to inspire transformational engagement of technology for making disciples of all nations—and we rejoice that some least-reached and secularized populations are already experiencing unprecedented access to the gospel.
In all this, we look forward to the Throne and the Lamb!
‘There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the Throne and the Lamb. [. . .] and they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’
(Revelation 7:9,10)