Lausanne Evangelicals Gather 1,300 Arab Youth for Leadership Training

Around 1,300 youth from all around the Arab world came together in Cairo, Egypt last week for a leadership conference focused on “the origin and the picture.”

For three days, youth from Arab nations including Egypt, North Africa, Middle East and Sudan gathered to receive leadership training through workshops and seminars organised by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation.

In explaining the reason why the Aug. 16-18 conference was given the theme, “The origin and the picture,” Dr. Sameh Maurice, Lausanne International deputy Director for North African and the Middle East, told the Christian Post, “Jesus is the original and we are the picture. We have to be like Him, identifying Him and presenting Him to the world.”

During the conference, youth heard from Maurice and speakers from South Africa, Uganda and Egypt concerning topics such as methodology, strategy, understanding and preaching to the new generation of the world, God’s calling, and responsibilities to proclaim Jesus and His life. There was also a time of prayer for the nations – in particular for Iraq – for God and His glory to be presented all over the world.

“The youth was disciplined to attend the program all day long with conferences all over Cairo from morning till around 9 p.m.,” Maurice told the Christian Post. “It was very encouraging. The Openness, the willingness, the prayers and the spirit during the worship time was very encouraging.”

“We must go deep down into the soil to the root and for the fruits to come up high,” he continued. “As much as we grow in Christ, as much as we can bear fruit for his glory.”

Maurice said the reason Egypt was chosen for Lausanne’s regional youth leadership training was because of the nation is the largest Arab country with the largest evangelical church and the largest number of born again Christians.

Since 1974, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation sought to serve leaders worldwide by providing a place for theological discussion and development of practical strategies to address the crucial issues facing the church and world today with respect to global missions.

Lausanne also seeks to encourage and stimulate the involvement for churches, denominations, ministries, networks and individuals in the cause of world evangelisation by producing documents and holding leadership gatherings that equip and call Christians together for the task of evangelism.

In the past decades, a number of Lausanne-Related Consultations, Congresses, and Conferences have been held, including last year’s 2004 Forum for World Evangelisation that brought together more than 1,500 Christian leaders from around the world to focus on the task of global evangelism.

Currently, Lausanne is planning for its 2006 Young Leaders Conference in Malaysia, which will gather around 500 younger leaders from around the world as part of a global movement for developing the next generation of Christ-centered leaders.

According to LCWE's Director of Communications, Naomi Frizzell, the specific focus of the gathering is on younger leaders between the ages of 25-35 who are already emerging as influential Christian leaders in churches, ministries and the marketplace. The younger leaders will gather in September 2006 to "unite as brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer, humility, commitment and service."





Jennifer Chang
Christian Today Correspondent