In This Section:
Jesus Showed Up: Cape Town Reflections
35 years ago, John Stott attended the Lausanne Congress and helped write the Lausanne Covenant, a decree that helped set the stage for new collaborative efforts among Christians worldwide. This historic meeting became a catalytic force for the growth of the global church. In October 2010, the Lausanne Movement continues at the Third Lausanne Congress to be held in Cape Town, South Africa. In the coming months, JSM will share in the heritage of this historic gathering, bringing updates, profiles, and stories from the participants and partners.
The Global Conversation
Langham Scholars and JSM-LPI colleagues weigh in
In the coming months, twelve key issues facing the church that will be discussed at Cape Town 2010 will be introduced by Christianity Today magazine. Christian leaders will submit major articles on these topics, as well as documentary video and photo essays.
JSM and LPI staff, colleagues, and scholars have been asked to contribute to these conversations. Check back here in the coming months to learn more about these Christian leaders and to read their discussions.
Martin Accad
Sunday Agang
John Azumah
Christian Response to Islam: A Struggle for the Soul of Christianity
Emily Choge
Ruth Padilla DeBorst
J. Samuel Escobar
Unity and Partnership in the Global Church
Athena Evelyn Goroscope
Response to Samuel Escobar's 'Mission Fields on the Move'
Andrea Zaki Stephanous
The Holistic Mission of the Church
Christopher J.H. Wright
Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World
David Zac Niringye
We Need to Rethink
JSM will continue to participate in Lausanne’s global conversation as the meeting in Cape Town approaches. Check back on the JSM Lausanne page for updates on staff, and partners who are participating in the Lausanne Movement.
JSM and Lausanne: What Do They Have in Common?
by Christopher J. H. Wright
international director, Langham Partnership International
So why does JSM remain committed to the movement, and exactly how is it connected to Lausanne? Chris Wright, international director of Langham Partnership International reveals what JSM and Lausanne have in common.
Roots and Fruits
For a start, Lausanne and John Stott Ministries/Langham Partnership International are almost the same age and have a common ancestor. It was in 1971 that John Stott formed the Langham Trust to help younger theologians from the developing world (as it was called then) to gain their doctorates and return to teach in the seminaries of their own countries. And it was in 1974 that John Stott, along with Billy Graham, led the epoch-making first Lausanne Congress, and wrote the Lausanne Covenant, which has provided a benchmark for evangelical understanding of mission for countless churches and organizations since then.
Langham has grown into the Langham Partnership International, with John Stott Ministries (JSM) being the national member in the USA, and now comprises three international programmes: Scholars, Literature and Preaching. Chris Wright took over the leadership of LPI from John Stott in 2001. And Lausanne has grown into the Lausanne Movement, the largest global umbrella movement for Christians committed to world mission. Chris Wright is Chair of its Theology Working Group (first chaired by John Stott in the years after 1974), which seeks to ensure that evangelical mission has deep theological roots, and that evangelical theology has effective missional application.
Holistic Biblical Vision
For many years, Lausanne’s official name was the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. That final word, however, was always understood to include more than evangelism in the strict sense of the presentation or proclamation of the gospel. It also includes all that makes the gospel to be good news to the whole person, in the spiritual, physical, intellectual and social dimensions of our lives. “World evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole Gospel to the whole world,” says the Lausanne Covenant (paragraph 6). This holistic understanding, so characteristic of John Stott’s life, teaching and writing, also breathes through the ministries of JSM and the Langham Partnership.
Langham Scholars (there are now more than 300 around the world) not only teach future pastors in seminaries, but many of them are involved in evangelism and church-planting, in social and development work and in Christian witness in the public political arena. Langham Literature encourages evangelical writers to engage issues of their own culture with gospel-centred thinking. JSM-Langham Preaching encourages pastors to make sure they are preaching “the whole counsel of God” by taking the Bible as a whole in the planning of their preaching. All of these ministries are essential to the healthy growth of the church in depth of maturity (the vision of Langham), as well as for the ongoing growth of the church in breadth of geographical presence among all peoples (the vision of Lausanne).
JSM-Langham is connected at various levels to the preparations being made for Lausanne Congress III, in Cape Town, on October 16-24, 2010. Some Scholars are involved in the program planning and in the plenary and multiplex sessions. Others are participating with Chris Wright in the Theology Working Group. Some will be contributing to the Global Conversation around twelve key issues that face Christians in today’s world – being hosted by Christianity Today.
The JSM-LPI family has some 35 participants who will attend the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town South Africa in October 2010. Please pray for these leaders as they help shape the future of the global church:
Femi Adeleye, Ghana
Jorge Barro, Brazil
Jenny Brown, United Kingdom
Ian Buchanan, United Kingdom
Emily Choge, Kenya
Philemon Choi, Hong Kong
Fabiana Fernandez, Portugal
Athena Gorospe, Philippines
Tchadvar Hadjiev, Romania
Ben Homan, United States
Merci Ireri, Kenya
A.K. Lama, India
Esther Liu , China
Otto Lui, China
Danut Manastireanu , Romania
Abiola Mbamalu , Nigeria
Gladys Mwiti, Kenya
Victor Nakah, Zimbabwe
Yosouf Ndebele, Mali
Las Newman, Jamaica
Anthony Oliver, Jamaica
Marcus Orison, Brazil
Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Costa Rica
Finny Philip, India
Tony Plews, New Zealand
Edmond Razafimanantsoa, Mozambique
Daniel Santos, Brazil
Ivan Satyavrata, India
Tim Stafford, United States
Wendy Toulmin, Australia
Elaine Vaden, United States
Chris Wright, United Kingdom
Carver Yu, Hong Kong
Gideon Yung, Hong Kong
Andrea Zaki, Egypt
Are you attending the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town? Tell us about your participation in the comments below.
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