Russ & Meredith Martin - Singapore

[CONGRESS UPDATE 4 of 4]

Seeing a dream come to life was my (Russ') highlight of the Fourth Lausanne Congress. 

Walking the corridors of the Songdo Convensia on one of the setup trips to Korea made me wonder, "What if this empty space could be transformed into an exhibition where 5,000 participants could learn alongside 40 of the world's leading ministries, networks and churches trying things in the digital space? How might artificial intelligence (AI), web3, online gaming, virtual reality and social media help move the needle on evangelism and discipleship in a digitally connected world?"

Fast forward to September 2024 and Congress participants where able to experience the Digital Discovery Center. Not only did participants interact with leading ministries, people experimenting with new technologies shared their learnings in a short microtalk format.

Meredith was a key contributor producing designs for the interior and exterior skin of the discovery center producing a modern-day, relevant feel and vibe. It's so neat to see her use her God given talents in creating these kinds of experiences that drive the mission forward.

Being about 500m from the main hall, we were concerned that participants wouldn't make it to the exhibition but every time the center was open, the space was buzzing with conversation, excitement and discovery. Just getting the 40 exhibitors together would have been a herculean feat in and of itself, but by God's grace thousands could learn about how the gospel is advancing via the modern "Roman road" of technology.

It was rewarding to see the global church exposed and engaged in what it means to bring the gospel to new people, places and spaces in our digitally connected world.

WBC Friends, without your faithful prayer and financial support we couldn't lead out in championing innovation within the global church.

P.S. You can check out our next steps and chatbot experiences that we prototyped for the Congress as we experiment with how to help people engage in global missions in small bite-sized chunks.

Photos below:
1. Russ, Evi and Matthew, leaders of the digital discovery center.
2. Thumbs up for the design experience Meredith's team created.
3. Colleagues from Indigitous share about bring the gospel to new people, places and spaces.
4. One of the participants experiencing walking on water in virtual reality to meet Jesus.