History
In 1974, the first Lausanne Congress was convened by Reverend Billy Graham, John Scott, and Bishop Jack Dain in Switzerland. The Lausanne Covenant represents one of the most important documents in modern evangelical church history, providing a theological and collaborative strategy for worldwide evangelism and missions. The second Lausanne Congress took place in Manila in 1987, and participants collaborated on the Manila Manifesto.
Now, at this critical time in human history, the Lausanne Congress will call the global church together for a week in Cape Town, South Africa. More than 4,500 participants from nearly 200 countries will gather to draft missional responses and form partnerships to help “shape the course of world evangelization for the next generation.”
The Congress statement—the Cape Town Commitment—will be rooted in the centrality of the uniqueness of Christ, and on the authority of the Scriptures. It will recognize the range of contexts of the evangelical Church around the world, and its new realities. While there is evidence of the decline of the Church in the Global North, and the spread of secularism and relativism, these are days of phenomenal growth in the Global South.
The prayer for this event is that it will be a catalytic event, calling leaders from business, government, education, medicine, technology, media, mission organizations, and churches into powerful prayer, humble repentance, strategic dialogue, and decisive action. Critical global issues, including diverse world faiths extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, and religious persecution, among others, require global conversations.
For more information, visit www.lausanne.org/.
