The beat of African drums thundered through the Cape Town convention center in South Africa on October 25, 2010, summoning more than 4,000 Christians from 198 countries to worship.
As the opening ceremonies for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization began, South African dancers twirling vibrant banners streamed into the massive auditorium. For the eight postcard-perfect days following, the diversity and dynamism of the global church were on dramatic display. Gathering from around the world, delegates came not only to worship and fellowship, but also to strategize and wrestle with pressing contemporary issues through the lens of the congress theme: “God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).
Participants explored the state of the church on every continent. They celebrated what Christians are doing to combat transnational challenges such as human trafficking, religious persecution, and HIV/AIDS. And they discussed fresh thinking on ways to advance the gospel in mega-cities, among Diaspora communities, and with practitioners of other religions.
This year’s Congress broke new ground as the most diverse and globally representative Lausanne gathering to date. The field of delegates from each country was carefully selected to proportionally reflect its share of the global evangelical community.
“I personally came away with a renewed understanding of the beautiful diversity of the global church and a deepened resolve about the role of the North American church in servant partnership with the majority world,” said Steve Moore, president and CEO of The Mission Exchange.
Thanks to technological advances, the Congress was not only global in representation but also in reach. All Cape Town sessions were streamed live to an estimated audience of 100,000 in 95 countries.
For those not familiar, this Congress marked the latest expression of a movement that takes its name from Lausanne, Switzerland, where in 1974, Billy Graham ’43, LITT.D. ’56 convened the first International Congress on World Evangelization. A watershed moment in modern missions history, Lausanne I affirmed socio-political involvement as a Christian duty, and produced the Lausanne Covenant, which was drafted by English theologian Dr. John Stott, and “quickly became the defining theological document for missions and evangelism,” writes David Neff of Christianity Today.
For 37 years Lausanne has catalyzed and guided a global network of Christians committed to partnership in holistic mission. Lausanne II took place in Manila, Philippines, in 1989 and produced the Manila Manifesto. The key themes and core convictions of Lausanne’s latest world congress are summarized in The Cape Town Commitment: A Declaration of Belief and a Call to Action.
Available on Lausanne’s website, The Cape Town Commitment reflects input from hundreds of Cape Town leaders, as well as from international consultations held over the past four years. This varied input was fittingly synthesized by English theologian Dr. Christopher Wright, Dr. Stott’s successor as international director of Langhamn Partnership International.
In Christianity Today, David Neff compared the 2010 Commitment to the apostle Paul’s sermons in Acts for the way it “frames its points at length with the biblical story of rebellion and redemption.” While it is not possible to capture all that took place in Cape Town, following are a few observations:
A New Equilibrium: Majority World actually the majority. At the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in 1910, nearly all participants were white male Europeans and North Americans. No one was African. A century later, Global South or Majority World delegates made up a large majority at Cape Town 2010. Confronted with such encouraging diversity, Cape Town delegates debated what it means to pursue missional partnerships in a world where most Christians are in the Majority World, yet most Christian institutional resources are still in the West. Much of the funding for this $16-million Congress came from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. China and India gave more than all of Europe.
Africa: Christian vitality confronting social malady. The church in Africa has grown from 10 million to nearly 400 million since 1910. Archbishop of Uganda Rev. Henry Orombi chaired the African Host Committee and presided over a soul-stirring communion service using Kenyan liturgy during the closing ceremonies. Several sessions focused on how African churches are rising up to combat the social and political woes on their continent, and even to share the love of Christ on other continents. Rev. Orombi noted, “The mission field has now become a mission force!”
China: Christian expansion despite religious persecution. Now home to the world’s second largest Christian population, China’s delegation was to be the second largest at Cape Town. Only it wasn’t. Nearly all of the 230 Chinese delegates were stopped at their airports and many were put under house arrest. The Chinese government’s effort to keep its house church out of view only brightened the international spotlight on China’s repression and on Cape Town 2010, since major news outlets, including the New York Times, covered the story. At the Congress, Chinese participants from Hong Kong, Singapore, North America, and even a few from Mainland China shared accounts of the growth and maturation of a church that has expanded one hundredfold since missionaries were expelled from China in 1954.
Proclamation and demonstration: the ongoing balancing act. One of Lausanne’s hallmark achievements has been the synthesis of social action and gospel proclamation. The Movement intentionally uses the holistic term “evangelization” instead of “evangelism.” The Lausanne Covenant makes clear that while social action is not evangelism, “both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and man, our love for our neighbor and our obedience to Jesus Christ.” No one at Cape Town challenged the Covenant’s assertion, but there remained debate as to how that social-spiritual synthesis should be articulated and actualized.
Dr. John Piper ’68, pastor of preaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, led a plenary session in which he asserted that Christians should “care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering.” This unsettled those opposed to any dichotomy or hierarchy. The debate over nuances continues, as does the Lausanne Movement’s commitment to bringing the gospel to bear on every dimension of life.
On his return from the Congress, Wheaton’s President Emeritus Duane Litfin said, “Believers from all over the world were encouraged and instructed. Hopefully this will strengthen their hand in their own lives and ministry, and build bridges for enhanced cooperation in the work of Christ’s kingdom.”
Moving forward, the Lausanne Committee is building on the momentum and intellectual energy of Cape Town. Several post congress national and regional consultations have already been held and more are in the works. A compendium of the best papers from Cape Town 2010 will be published as a book this year. Plans are underway for organizing biennial Davos-like World Evangelization Forums.
Looking to the future of Lausanne, Executive Chairman Dr. Doug Birdsall ’75 wrote, “as a dynamic movement, Lausanne will give rise to many more catalytic conferences and partnerships than we can foresee now. We put our trust in God, and as the great missionary Adoniram Judson said, ‘the future is as bright as the promises of God.’”
Judd Birdsall ’04, M.A.’06 serves in the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. He is the son of Lausanne chairman, Dr. Doug Birdsall ’75, and served as a research assistant for the Lausanne Movement in 2006. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Government.)