New Lausanne Leadership Meeting in Hong Kong Addresses Global Evangelisation

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation’s (Lausanne) International Leadership Team is meeting in Hong Kong this week, according to Assist News Service. This is the first time the new leadership, which was elected at the 2004 Forum for World Evangelisation last September in Pattaya, Thailand, meets face to face to discuss the issue of global evangelisation.

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation (LCWE) grew out of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelisation held in Lausanne, Switzerland which was called by a committee headed by the world renowned American Evangelist, Rev. Billy Graham.

At the Congress, more than 2,300 evangelical leaders from 150 countries developed The Lausanne Covenant, a declaration that provides the theological underpinnings for intentional world evangelisation. Nowadays, many Christian organisations across the world have adopted the Covenant.

The 2004 Forum for World Evangelisation in Thailand is only the fourth time in the past thirty years that the LCWE has called such a comprehensive global gathering focusing on the task of world evangelism. The huge event has drawn more than 1,500 international Christian leaders to attend the meeting.

Rev. S. Douglas Birdsall, Lausanne Executive Chair, has said that the Lausanne Leadership Team elected in 2004 is the strongest in the last 15 years, because of the freshness they have brought to the Lausanne Committee. Forty percent of the members of the committee have been added in just the last two-and-a-half years.

Birdsall said in a news release, "A new generation of leaders brings with them a high level of energy and a fresh commitment to advance the ideals of ‘the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.’"

"This younger generation of leaders fully embraces the history and the rich legacy of the Lausanne movement," Birdsall continued. "These men and woman are committed to providing leadership and service that will enable the movement to press forward in the 21st Century with fresh ideas and renewed devotion to the Lord and the spirit of Lausanne."

A significant fruit of the 2004 Forum is the recently released Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPs), which provides research, analysis and Biblical reflection on 31 issues identified as barriers to world evangelism. All the issues have been discussed on the 2004 Forum by teams of 30 to 70 people, so-called Issue Groups (IGs).

Some of the examples of these 31 issues include globalisation, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the persecuted church, ministry to Unreached People Groups and the disabled, media and technology, and making disciples of oral learners.

The International Leadership Team meeting in Hong Kong is going to continue the discussion based on LOPs, according to Birdsall.

In the news release, Dr. Tetsunao "Ted" Yamamori, Lausanne International Director, said the top concern of all discussions would be "how best can we ensure the dissemination of the information about Lausanne and the implementation of action plans proposed in the LOPs?"

Rev. Greg Parsons from the U.S. Centre for World Mission will present an overview of the LOPs to help contextualise the documents.

Birdsall wrote that on the meeting, leaders would assess the past with the aim of helping provide a concrete foundation on which to chart the course of the Lausanne movement for the coming five years. The Leadership Team will also begin making plans for the Third Lausanne World Congress on Evangelism to be held in 2010.

Other smaller agendas include an overview of the recently renovated Lausanne website (www.lausanne.org), perusing the recently published Lausanne post-Forum magazine, screening a new Lausanne video and previewing a new online publishing venture with the Institute of Strategic Evangelism at Wheaton College (http://bgc.gospelcom.net/ise).

Birdsall is due to present a "State of Lausanne" analysis with the Leadership team during this week’s meeting as he will soon complete his first year as Executive Chair.

The Lausanne International Leadership Team meeting in Hong Kong is hosted by Dr. Leung Wing Tai, chair of the Lausanne Communication Working Group, and CEO of Breakthrough Ministries.

Hong Kong will also host a follow-up meeting for the Fourth International Lausanne Researchers Conference from 30th September to 7th October 2006, according to the LCWE newsletter April Edition.