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The Lausanne Movement
“Connecting Ideas— integrity—and influencers for global mission”
Ten Resources for Integrity and Anti-Corruption (2010-2020)
by Kelly O’Donnell, PsyD
Integrity is moral wholeness. Corruption is moral rottenness.
“Let us strive for a culture of full integrity and transparency. We will choose to walk in the light and truth of God, for the Lord tests the heart and is pleased with integrity.”
Cape Town Commitment, 2010, Part 2, IIE. 4
"Ten years ago in Cape Town, South Africa [October 2010], over 4,000 Christian leaders from 198 countries gathered as one body to call the global church to action, shaping world missions as we know it today….The Cape Town Commitment [CTC, the main resulting document] is the conviction and voice of a multitude hailing from nearly every nation on earth. As our roadmap for the past ten years, the CTC has been the touchstone for countless global gatherings, publications, and collaborative initiatives.” (Editor, Lausanne Global Analysis, October 2020)
In this paper I share 10 examples of integrity and anti-corruption resources that have been developed within the Lausanne Movement for/since its third Congress 10 years ago. These resources have practical applications at the individual, institutional, and international levels of society, and everything in-between. They are also part of the collective roadmap--foundational building blocks--to help preserve our Lausanne institutional memory about integrity advocacy and commitments and inform our collaborative efforts to promote moral resilience and relevance within the international ChurchMission Community. We also share these 10 resources in support of the broader global action to rally behind Global Integrity Day (9 June, endorsed by GIN—Lausanne’s integrity network), International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December), and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (in particular SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong/inclusive institutions along with anti-corruption/crime).
Ten Years - Ten Resources (2010-2020)
Moral Resilience and Relevance for the Church Mission Community
I encourage you to begin by reviewing three items for orientation. First, consider the various references related to ‘integrity’ in the Cape Town Commitment. These references are featured in Christian Integrity: Moral Wholeness for A Whole World, CORE Member Care (12 November 2016). Second, look over the various resources on the website for the Lausanne-World Evangelical Alliance’s Global Integrity and Anti-Corruption Network (GIN) including the GIN overview and summary notes of GIN’s work over the years. And third, see the recent article Covid and the Cost of Corruption by Roberto Laver and the WEA Mission Commission response, Corruption Implications (September 2020). I also encourage you to discuss these items and some of the following 10 resources with others.
Part One—Resources from the Lausanne Congress (2010)
1. We have a Problem!—But There Is Hope! Jane Overstreet, an “Advance Paper” for the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, based on a survey about Christians in leadership (2010). “Too often evangelism is done successfully, a church is planted and begins to flourish, but then a leader is appointed who sadly destroys everything that was built, and the fruit is lost. While there are many variations on the story, its theme is much too familiar.” See also the summary and perspectives about this study in CORE Member Care (14 February 2016). For example: “When asked to describe their worst experiences working under [Christian] leaders, and what characteristics those poor leaders had, 1,000 leaders answering the survey said: Prideful, always right, and always the big boss; Lack of integrity, untrustworthy; Harsh, uncaring, refused to listen, critical." Ten Resources for Integrity and Anti-Corruption 2
2. Salt and Light: Christians’ Role in Combating Corruption, Paul Batchelor and Steve Osei-Menash, Lausanne Global Conversation (2010). “What part does corruption play in your life? That may seem a strange question to ask an audience such as this. Many may answer that, of course, as Christians, we would have nothing whatsoever to do with it. But others among us live with the dire consequences of corruption every day. Our assertion in this paper is that, whether we recognize it or not, we are all caught up in one form or another of corruption or its consequences and, as Evangelical Christians, we need to do more to prepare and engage in the fight against it.”
3. “Good News” in the Fight Against Corruption, Roberto Laver, Review of Faith and International Affairs (November 2010, Volume 8/Issue 4). Note: Dr. Laver shared this article/link in a blog (Lausanne Global Conversations) for the Lausanne Congress 2010. “The World Bank, along with other international development institutions, is giving growing attention to good governance and anti‐ corruption. These efforts provide a unique opportunity for evangelical faith leaders and institutions to play a stronger advocacy role. Corruption is receiving far more attention from secular organizations than religious ones. The evangelical church can engage through advocacy and by building character within its own members. It needs to work locally on relevant and appropriate ways to engage the people it serves with the truth of scripture; to teach ethics and encourage public integrity; and to help reduce the gap between law and practice.”
4. Blogs Related to Integrity and Health, Kelly O’Donnell, Lausanne Global Conversations, Lausanne Congress (2010).
Mixed Blessings: Healthy and Unhealthy Organizations in Global Mission. “ ‘Virtue does not have to be so painful, if it is sensibly organized.’ (Charles Handy, Understanding Voluntary Organizations) “How healthy is your church, mission, NGO, etc? Here are five brief quotes about organizational life to help explore this question. Remember: in mission as in life, we reproduce who we are.”
Confronting Corruption in the Church-Mission Community. “Yesterday they prayed for us. Today they preyed on us. Major fraud and other forms of corruption are a fact of life. Just think of the bogus solicitations that you get regularly in your email inbox, sincerely asking for your sympathy, help, personal financial information, and ultimately your money. People get duped all the time. And even the financially savvy can become the prey of experienced fraudsters. No one is immune to being exposed to fraud’s far-reaching toxins, including people/organizations in the faith-based community.”
Porn as Mission and Porn in Mission: We are as Healthy as our Secrets. “Porn as Mission? You bet. In fact, there is a major multi-billion dollar industry whose mission is to convert you into a regular, paying, porn-using consumer. And Porn in Mission? You bet too. Its insidious, ensnaring tentacles pop up almost everywhere it seems--in our daily lives, media, our thoughts--and even if we do not seek it out.”
5. Video: Confronting Idolatry, Chris Wright, Lausanne Congress(23 October 2010). “[This 22 minute plenary] challenges the people of God to confront the idols of power and pride, popularity and success, and wealth and greed. He calls the Church to repentance and simplicity.”
Part Two--Resources from the Lausanne Movement (2010-2020)
6. Choosing to be Salt and Light: Can the Church in India Become a Model in the Fight for AntiCorruption? Arpit Waghmare, Lausanne Global Analysis(November 2012, Volume 1/Issue 1). “This article explores one form of corruption – financial corruption – with reference to Indian churches and auxiliary Christian organisations. It also explores attempts being made to address the issue with particular reference to the Operation Nehemiah Movement facilitated by Transition Network in collaboration with the Lausanne Movement.” Ten Resources for Integrity and Anti-Corruption 3
7. Integrity, the Lausanne Movement, and a Malaysian Daniel, David Bennett, Lausanne Global Analysis (January 2015, Volume 4/Issue 1). “Integrity prepares the way for us to speak the more complete good news about God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. A focus on integrity addresses what may be the greatest hindrance to world evangelization—that is, the lack of integrity in the church. Hypocrisy is so destructive to the witness of the church. If our lives do not express integrity, people will not believe or welcome our message. If people do not feel they can trust what we will do or say, if they are not assured that we are working for the common good, or for their personal good, they will not take seriously what we say about anything else—including the good news of Jesus Christ.”
8. A Summons to a Global Integrity Movement: Fighting Self-Deception and Corruption, Kelly O’Donnell and Michèle Lewis O’Donnell, Lausanne Global Analysis (March 2018, Volume 7/Issue 2). “In this article we distill some of the lessons we have learned over the past 15 years in promoting integrity and confronting corruption. Why is it hard to live up to our moral and ethical aspirations? We reflect on the reality of dysfunction and deviance, highlight the challenge of self-deception, describe anti-corruption resources, and summon the church-mission community (CMC) to a global integrity movement marked by righteousness and relevance.”
9. Do We Care About Corruption? How Integrity Can Tame the Beast of Bribes and Extortion, Manfred Kohl, Lausanne Global Analysis (May 2019, Volume 8/Issue 3). “In recent days I have asked more than a dozen individuals for their definition of the term ‘corruption’…I received a great variety of answers. The term is defined by the Webster dictionary as: ‘to bribe’, ‘to spoil’, ‘morally unsound’, ‘perverted’, ‘wicked’, ‘evil’. These are disturbing terms. Yet we have become immune to them because we hear almost daily in the media of scandals and financial scams involving government officials, businesses, and individuals. Our tendency is to say, ‘So what?’ When we hear about corruption and scandals within Christian denominations, para-church organizations, or even local churches, we quickly look beyond the headlines for names we might recognize. Even then the effect on us tends to be minimal.”
10. Video: The Greatest Threat to Your Ministry is You: Calling the Church Back to Humility, Integrity, and Simplicity, Michael Oh. Lausanne Global Consultation on Prosperity Theology, Poverty, and the Gospel (Atibaia, Brazil, 30 March-2 April 2014). “In our sharp attention to the culture wars around us, have we lost our ability to see the wars that rage in our own churches and in our own hearts? Michael Oh, Global Executive Director/CEO of the Lausanne Movement, calls believers to lives of radical distinctiveness grounded in humility, integrity, and simplicity.” Note: This video message was sent out again earlier this year by the Lausanne Movement.
Do not fear. These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judge for peace in your courts. Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury, for I hate all these things, declares YHWH....Therefore, love truth and peace. (Zechariah 8:14-19, excerpts)
"We commit to integrate the inseparable areas of our character (resilient virtue) and competency (relevant skills) with compassion (resonant love)....The world will not be a sustainably better, transformed place unless better, transformed people of integrity make it so." Following Jesus Globally, Kelly O’Donnell and Michèle Lewis O’Donnell, Lausanne Global Analysis (January 2020)
Dr. Kelly O’Donnell is consulting psychologist based in Geneva and the CEO of Member Care Associates, Inc. His work in mission and across sectors focuses on staff wellbeing, global mental health, sustainable development, and integrity/anti-corruption. He is a member of the Lausanne-WEA GIN Executive Team and a representative of the World Federation for Mental Health at the United Nations.
Email: MCAresources@gmail.com