Asiri Fernando, a national leader with Youth for Christ Sri Lanka, opened the morning session of the second day of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Seoul with a heartfelt devotional urging the global church to return to the gospel’s foundation of repentance, forgiveness, and sacrificial love.
Reflecting on Ephesians 2 and Luke 24, Fernando called on believers to rediscover the urgency of proclaiming peace through repentance, and to embody the humility and compassion of Christ in reaching a broken world.
The nearness of God
Fernando began with a personal story about his 10-year-old son who decided to read the book of Leviticus during his daily quiet time. “I panicked,” he said with a smile, “and decided I better read it too.” But as he read chapter after chapter, what stood out to him was that “it is about a God who wants to be close to His people.”
“The word blood appears 83 times,” Fernando noted. “Blood makes way for nearness.” He said this understanding reshaped how he parents his own children: “I realized I need to play with my son and daughter more often, so they’ll have no barriers to understanding the nearness of the Father.”
This theme of nearness, he explained, runs through the letter to the Ephesians — the passage on which the assembly’s theme, “Peace to those far and near,” is based. “In Ephesians 2, we see a complete reversal from exclusion to oneness,” Fernando said. “Jesus came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.”
The gospel of peace
Fernando traced how the apostle Paul’s message to the Ephesians echoed the language of Isaiah and the heart of the Great Commission. “What changed humanity’s lostness was the proclamation of the gospel of peace,” he said. “When Paul came to Ephesus and opened his mouth, Christ Himself became the preacher, acting by His Spirit.”
He summarized Jesus’ final words in Luke 24 as a twofold proclamation — repentance and the forgiveness of sins. “This is the foundation of the gospel,” he said. “The death and resurrection of Jesus according to the Scriptures, followed by repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations.”
From Peter’s sermon at Pentecost to Paul’s ministry among the Gentiles, Fernando said the call was consistent: to turn from sin and embrace faith in Christ. “Repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ — that’s the message we’ve been given,” he said.
Repentance that transforms
Fernando urged church leaders to recover the biblical understanding of repentance, distinguishing it from mere remorse. “Even in the church, are we clear on the difference between repentance and forgiveness?” he asked.
“If the poor in our churches do not have an equal say in decision-making, that is injustice — we need to turn from that sin, maybe even through public confession,” he said. “If you are struggling with pornography or uncontrollable anger, don’t just ask for forgiveness. Bring it to light. Pursue accountability. Turn from it.”
Quoting the prophet Joel, he reminded the assembly: “Return to Me with all your heart, says the Lord, with fasting and weeping and mourning. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Sacrificial love and beautiful feet
Drawing from his 15 years of ministry in the mountain regions of Sri Lanka, Fernando described both discouragement and conviction. “Someone asked me recently why I have persevered so long,” he said. “I answered with two reasons — the vision of the glory of God, and the lostness of those in that city without Christ.”
He said the global church must share that burden. “Should we not be concerned? Can we wait for our own cities as Jesus wept over Jerusalem?” he asked. “There are 7,000 unreached people groups with little to no opportunity to hear about Christ. Wherever God has placed us, that urgency must grip us.”
Fernando called for a return to sacrificial discipleship rooted in love. “Peace is realized on the backdrop of sacrificial love,” he said. “Love is the way.”
He illustrated his message with a story of an Indian evangelist who walked barefoot from village to village preaching the gospel. One day, after being rejected, the evangelist fell asleep under a tree. “When the villagers came and saw the blisters under his feet, they said, ‘We want to hear the message you were willing to suffer so much to bring to us.’”
Citing Isaiah 52:7, Fernando said, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. If the whole world is going to hear the gospel by 2033, the whole Church will need beautifully blistered feet.”
A call to spiritual fatherhood
In closing, Fernando turned to the theme of mentoring and intergenerational discipleship. “If we are humble servants of the younger generation, they become like our masters,” he said. “If we love them in this way, it will break down barriers that keep them from hearing the gospel.”
He warned against abandoning young leaders when they stumble. “Let us not be the hired hand who gives up when the wolf comes,” he said. “Let us be good shepherds who go into the darkness and die for the younger leader. Let us be close to them — the nearness of the Father, the nearness of the family of God.”
Fernando ended with a call to prayer inspired by Ephesians 6:15 and 19: “As shoes for your feet, put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. And pray that words may be given to us, that we may boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel.”
