CAPE TOWN, South Africa–This morning when I plunked a handful of vitamins down beside my breakfast plate, a lovely new friend from Africa showed great interest. “What all are you taking?” she asked, as she went on to explain that vitamins are very hard to come by in the country where she lives. So we talked about vitamins and nutrition, a conversation which led right back to our childhoods.

We discovered that both of us had grown up in families with a rich Christian heritage, and we voiced our gratitude to each other about the One who so greatly blessed us. Now we are seeking to glorify Him through our lives, serving Him daily on two different continents. There is a lot of diversity in the body of Christ, but it is His love that ties us together across cultures and oceans and throughout time.

“Diversity” is a word that has been used constantly during the months leading up to the Third Lausanne Congress. Organizers have worked through a Participants Selection Committee to bring together a wide representation of the worldwide church. Looking out across the 4,000 plus delegates, this is what you will see.

Hundreds of denominations and Christian organizations are represented, although official statistics have not yet been shared by Congress organizers.

Participants are from 197 nations, and 1,000 of them are African. Forty percent of the participants are in their 20s, 30s and 40s. One-third are women in leadership roles. The basic occupational split is 2,400 pastors, missionaries and church leaders, 1,200 scholars and academic leaders, and 600 professionals from business, government, medicine and media.

Add to that 300 young people who are serving as volunteers and almost twice that many adult professionals who are also volunteering to shore up the conference in areas such as translation work, media reports, and administrative services.

In their diversity, they have purposefully come to grapple with how to work together to strengthen the Kingdom.