Mission, Evangelism and Evangelization – from the Perspective of the Lausanne Movement*

Abstract

most authoritative documents of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) are the 1974 Lausanne Covenant (LC) and the 1989 Manila Manifesto (MM), which is an elaboration of the LC, and always to be read and understood in connection with the LC. In addition, the movement has produced about 30 Occasional Papers on mission-related themes, as well as several books reflecting the conferences and consultations of the LCWE over its more-than-thirty years of existence. (1) Par. 4 in the LC is entitled The Nature of Evangelism, and I quote it here in extenso: To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe. Our presence in the world is indispensable to evangelism, and so is the kind of dialogue whose purpose is to listen sensitively in order to understand. But evangelism itself is the proclamation of the historical, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come to him personally and so be reconciled to In issuing the gospel invitation we have no liberty to conceal the cost of discipleship. Jesus still calls all who would follow him to deny themselves, take up their cross, and identify themselves with his new community. results of evangelism include obedience to Christ, incorporation into his church and responsible service in the world. It is important to notice that this paragraph deals explicitly with evangelism. It does not deal with mission in its totality. Although there is no consistent way of speaking of mission, evangelization and evangelism within the Lausanne movement, we may say that while mission and evangelization are the broader, more comprehensive terms including both proclamation and social concern, evangelism is a more narrow concept being defined primarily in terms of proclamation. paragraph on evangelism is the fourth, which means that there are three preceding articles that should be seen as presuppositions for the fourth. They are all indicative of the evangelical (2) position. first paragraph deals with the Purpose of God. term mission of God (missio Dei) does not figure in the LC but this first article comes very close to the concept. (3) It draws the origin of mission back to the eternal purpose of the Triune God, and defines mission basically as God's sending of the people he has called to himself hack into the world to be his servants and his witnesses. Hence, the people of God, the church, is missional in its very essence or nature, because of its being sent by God and by being God's witnesses and servants in the world. Here, the more holistic concept of mission comes to expression: the people of God are called to be witnesses (evangelism, proclamation) and servants. latter concept is dealt with in par. 5 which is called Social Responsibility. (4) objectives of the church's mission are the extension of Christ's kingdom, the building up of Christ's body, and the glory of the name of We notice that the objectives or goals of mission are not exclusively related to conversion of individuals or the growth of the church, but are seen in a wider theological context. However, mission also includes the growth of the church numerically and spiritually. There is also no trace of the older geographical understanding of mission where mission is understood as the church in the Christian countries (most often in the West) sending missionaries to the non-Christian countries (most often in the South). decisive boundary that the mission of the church crosses with the gospel is the boundary between church and world, faith and unbelief. Mission takes place all over the world. old separation between foreign and home mission is overcome. …