1,000 young Christian leaders gather for Lausanne convention in Indonesia

Approximately 1,000 young Christian leaders from more than 160 countries gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia for the Lausanne Movement event that takes place at least once in a generation.

The Lausanne Movement first took place in Singapore in 1987 and then in Malaysia in 2006. That makes the Younger Leaders Gathering 2016 (YLG2016) held Aug 3-10 as only the third of such event. The participants invited would be trained in various ways to prepare them as future leaders for a global mission. The event also serves as a "springboard" for an initiative and a ten-year commitment called the Younger Leaders Generation (YLGen).

This year's theme, "United in the Great Story," takes a look at how people from across the continent and across history could be part of God's "Great Story."

Richard Coleman, speaker care coordinator and the event's co-emcee with Sarah Breuel, another member of the YLG planning team, talked about how today's environment places millennials under constant "pressure to follow feelings and the culture at the expense of millennia-old truths."

"There is so much social pressure for inclusion into any and everything," Coleman said in an interview. "To take a stance against anything carries the risk of being labeled as 'narrow-minded' or 'judgmental.' Add to that the almost immediate persecution through social media, and it can become quite intimidating to proclaim the truths of scripture."

Yet he expressed his hope that the young Evangelicals can make "great things happen" once they become passionate on something.

Coleman also revealed that they originally intended to hold the one-time event in Kiev in the summer of 2015 until the conflict broke out in Ukraine. They eventually decided on Jakarta after an Indonesian leader made the suggestion to Michael Oh, Lausanne's chief executive officer.

Meanwhile, Pastor Kong Hee of the Harvest Church in Singapore declared Indonesia as a "big harvest field" for Christianity when he toured Southeast Asia to teach churches about Home Cell Group Leadership.

He noted that 10 percent of Indonesia's population identify as Christians making it the second-largest Christian population in Southeast Asia.

"It is so necessary for church-building work to be done in this wonderful nation, and that is why I love doing missions in Indonesia," wrote Pastor Hee on Facebook.