The Future of the Lausanne Movement

Abstract

International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 35, No. 2 C. Rene Padilla, a contributing editor and President of the Micah Network, was a plenary presenter at the Lausanne congress in 1974. He served with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students for Latin America (1959–82) and as general secretary of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (1983–92). He lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. —crpadilla2004@yahoo.com.ar T figures related to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, from October 17 to 24, 2010, under the motto “God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19), are very impressive. Over 4,000 participants from 198 countries were present. In addition, over 650 GlobalLink sites in 91 countries were connected with the congress, and there were 100,000 unique visits from 185 countries. That means that many thousands of people all over the world were able to follow the main sessions via the Internet. Doug Birdsall, executive chair of the Lausanne movement, is probably right in claiming that Cape Town 2010 was “the most globally representative assembly of evangelicals in history.” Beyond doubt, this accomplishment was to a large extent the result of his extensive efforts to make it happen. Equally impressive were the many practical arrangements for the congress. Aside from the difficult process of selecting the plenary speakers, the people to be in charge of the multiplexes (seminars) and the dialogue sessions, the interpreters, and the participants from each country, there were two tasks that must have entailed much work before the congress: the Lausanne Global Conversation, which enabled people around the world to comment and interact with one another by taking advantage of leading-edge technology, and the drafting of the first (theological) section of the Cape Town Commitment by the Lausanne Theology Working Group, led by Christopher Wright.