Four thousand Christian leaders from about 200 countries gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, Oct. 16–25, for the third Lausanne Congress on Global Evangelization to pray, repent, dialogue and take action in regard to spreading the gospel.
Some of the top issues of discussion were other world faiths, poverty, HIV/AIDS and persecution.
The Lausanne movement actually began with Evangelist Billy Graham, who as he began preaching internationally, developed a passion for uniting the world’s evangelicals. In 1966, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christianity Today sponsored the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin.
Although the congress was a success, Graham saw the need for a larger and more diverse congress to re-examine the issue of Christian evangelization in light of the world’s changing and somewhat troubling social, political, economic and religious climate.
In 1974, the International Congress on World Evangelization was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, with 2,700 participants from 150 countries. The congress achieved something that had never been done — bringing together an unprecedented variety of nationalities, denominations, ethnicities, ages and occupations.
TIME magazine described it as “possibly the widest-ranging meeting of Christians ever held.”
But what was special about this congress was the producing of the Lausanne Covenant, a declaration and statement of faith that was “intended to define the necessity, responsibilities and goals of spreading the gospel.”
The Lausanne Covenant makes a declaration on 15 subjects, which include the nature of God, Scripture, the person and work of Jesus Christ, evangelism and freedom and persecution.
As another congress was to follow 15 years later, the 1974 congress became known as Lausanne I. Lausanne II was held in Manila, Philippines, in 1989. Lausanne III is just as, if not more, diverse than the other two congresses.
However, there were about 200 noticeably empty seats. Those seats represented Christian leaders from China who were not allowed to leave their country to attend the congress.
As early as August, authorities warned Chinese invitees not to attend. But at least 15 still attempted to go only to be turned back at Beijing’s Capital Airport and have their travel documents confiscated. However, a handful of delegates from China slipped through the system and made it to the congress.
The same situation occurred at Lausanne II when 200 delegates from China were prevented from attending. But many had hoped things would be different 21 years later.
This congress also faced other trials.
For the first time, the Lausanne congress expanded to cyberspace broadcasting its conferences to 10,000 people in 95 countries. But the network was compromised the first two days because of “malicious attacks.”
Still these things did not deter those gathered in Cape Town from the task at hand.
Among the attendees were recently retired International Mission Board (IMB) President Jerry Rankin and his wife, Bobbye.
“I hope to gain some insights to share with IMB leadership and others,” said Rankin, who had committed to attend the event before his Aug. 1 retirement. “There is so much happening globally that we need to be aware of.
“The real advantage is broadening our understanding of what is going on among Christians worldwide,” he continued. “Networking and joining others in what they are doing is also important. … Southern Baptists are firmly grounded in the fundamentals of faith; we should contribute to these global gatherings.
“God is raising up a great Kingdom people,” Rankin added. “If we are truly committed to the Great Commission, we need to know what God is doing through others.”
The Rankins were among only 400 participants from the United States, including about half a dozen IMB workers. Also in attendance was M. Sydney Park, assistant professor of New Testament at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham and a member of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church. (TAB, BP)
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