Forum for World Evangelisation to Start September 29 in Thailand

Nearly 2,000 Christian leaders from around the world will be attending the Forum For World Evangelisation which will be held in Thailand starting September 29, 2004. The purpose of the forum will be to examine worldwide evangelisation trends and generate specific action plans that can be implemented globally.

This will be the fourth time in the past thirty years that the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism has convened such a gathering. Organisers say that they have never previously sought ways to develop specific action plans to resolve important issues in evangelism.

There will be 31 Issue Groups covered at the Forum. The groups have been divided into three categories. “The Whole World” groups will address world globalisation as it reaches marginalised people groups. “The Whole Church” groups will seek ways to empower the Body of Christ to participate in reaching out to everyone with the Good News. Finally, “The Whole Gospel” groups will try to find ways to meet the needs of people and share Christ through all appropriate and available means.

The deadline for applying to participating in the consultation at the Forum was August 31, 2003. Since then, Issue group leaders have selected participants and have developed a strategy for dealing with these issues at the 2004 Forum.

The Forum will help to outline obstacles to evangelism and gather background information on “best practices” related to each topic. The groups will include experts in the topic, theologians, pastors, researchers, educators, and evangelists. Leaders among denominations, mission agencies, networks, laity and prayer movements will also be present.