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After Lausanne 1974, John R. W. Stott explained the process behind the covenant the Congress had adopted, and its key points of significance.
Chris Wright talks about the breadth and depth of the phrase "the whole church."
Samuel Escobar describes some of the many distinctive contributions from Global South theologians in the wake of the 1974 Congress.
Can Christians address poverty without personal relationships with the poor? Christopher Heuertz suggests why our approach to poverty is often inadequate.
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Aaron Benscoter, US
Encouraging to see that more and more followers of Jesus are identified that the Gospel is bigger than one transaction. A focus on the full biblical message will likely appeal to today's cultural pastors-educators and academica and the media-instead of drawing their (perhaps well-placed) ire. Carry on.
Suman Aghamkar, India
I congratulate to you for writing a thought-provoking paper. Yes the Church of Jesus Christ will not grow with paid workers, the whole church needs to take the gospel to the whole world. It will not be done unless we train our laity, encourage them to take the Great commission seriously. Apart from this, we also need to take the market place ministry seriously. There is a huge number of Christians working in secular field and we need to train them, equip them so they can share the Gospel with their co-workers. Thus training and equipping Christians is very important, when we think of reaching the whole world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor David Bashir, Pakistan
I want to be a part of Lausane convention and listen, learn more while staying with other beleivers and I like share the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ with other. May the God richly bless you all amen.
Dr. P. S. Shalem Raju, India
Paul talks about - "my gospel". Taking gospel to the whole world truly require for the church to understand first of all, Paul's "my gospel". As I realize, church never kept much effort and desire to understand "my gospel" of Paul. Conglomeration of gospel is not going to provide ground solutions to the whole world.
D. Kenny, Australia
All who are involved directly in serving God in His redemptive plan for all peoples are missionaries. This includes the on-field works, the intercessors, the mobilizers, the senders, the welcomes, the organisers, the strategists....whomever we are and however Christ chooses to use us to reach the nations. However, people must be made aware of the centrality of world evangelisation to God's plan as it unfurls in the Bible. I love that the Lausanne Movement is focused on the cross, as it is here that we see Jesus as the fulfilment of God's redemptive plan and the inauguration of His redemptive programme, for which we are now the workers. May many many MANY more come to understand His desire to reach the nations! For the glory of His name He will do it, and we will follow.
Priscila de F. B. G. Cardim, Brazil
We need more love of God and unity, the quality of being complete. "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts;and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." We can see the signs. There is no time to lose. Jesus is coming back soon! Maranata! Hasten, people of God!
CD, U.S.A.
History shows "the whole church - all Christians" will not respond to world mission. It sounds good in theory, though. Because, being involved in mission requires further commitment. Focus should be to raise up those who are willing to make that commitment. We need new breed of "mission Christians/workers" around the world.
GLABLEORDEPLE, Guam
The response to local and national disasters is great but it's a real shame that so many citizens take advantage of the sad situations. I mean everytime there is an earthquake, a flood, an oil spill - there's always a group of heartless people who rip off tax payers. This is in response to reading that 4 of Oprah Winfreys "angels" got busted ripping off the system. Shame on them! http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/19/crimesider/entry5251471.shtm l
Pastor Faly Rajaonarison, MAYOTTE
As a Pastor of one French Protestant Church in the Island Mayotte, I see that christians are constantly need to be remembered about their mission, so that they will not think that mission is just a task of clergy or missionaries
Clyde Taber, USA
Chris Wright offers helpful categories and definitions on which we can build Spirit-led thinking that leads to Spirit-led action. I have not recently read the Lausanne statement, but I hope the concept of the "kingdom of God" is tightly woven into this important conversation. As I perused the article and responses, it feels overlooked. Note to editor: It would be helpful to have the post-dates of each entry included. It was not clear in what order the posts were made.
Joerg Dechert, Germany
"Unfortunately one can still detect a subtle sense that somewhere between Malachi and Matthew, all that changed." - Well, could it be that the challenge just got greater when the gospel moved out of its Jewish-only context (where the Old Testament focus of the Kingdom on justice and peace was prevalent and nonnegotiable) and into the Greek world? I'm not suggesting that Paul misrepresented the whole Gospel when addressing pagans (that would be most of us) - but the stakes are higher because the local body of believers now has to live out and incoporate justices and peace and reconciliation and protection of creation - since the context we live in does not now about Gods heart for these things from its own (Old Testament) tradition anymore. So "whole gospel" in the "whole world" does really need the "whole church" - meaning we cannot communicate the gospel as an isolated personal transaction for salvation only ...
Shakeel Samuel, Pakistan
I was in Tranform World South Asia conference on missions in Kathmandu, Nepal, as one of the delegate from Pakistan. It was very blessed conference and I was worried with the present bad security situation and critcle time from where the Christans in Pakistan are passing through, that has been revealed to me that in these situation God is there to provide oppotunities for evangelism, to show with your works and words that what is Gospel all about. I am interested to be a part of Lausane convention to listen and learn more while staying with the other believers, but it seems that I am to late. May God bless you all. Amen
Pastor Freddy Lusimba NSenga, South Africa
I am Pastor Missionnary from DRC in South AFrica. I am leading a Church with 200 + members and would like to participate at the Congress. We believe that this conference will help African People for evangelism. I will contribute more by grace of God.
COSMAS ILECHUKWU, Nigeria
One of the greatest deterrant to christian witnessing has been the problem of a divided church, taken a divided gospel, to a divided world. This is the reality of our time. If Laussane III can figure out how to effectively get the whole church (whether roman catholic, orthodox, protestant, holiness, pentecostal, charismatic or what have you), to take the whole gospel(evangelical, the word of faith, prosperity, holiness, healing etc) to the whole world, it would have set the stage for the emergency of a new world that where love ethic of Christ will be the order of the day. This would demand a new theology as big as the world.
Lucien Jones, Jamaica
This week i was very impressed with the Deutronomy call and that echoed by Jesus in Mark's Gospel, for us to love our neighbour as ourselves, as the second of the two great commandments. I suspect, but am not sure if it was C. S Lewis who gave birth to the observation that your neighbour - made in God's image - is the closest resemblance to God we will ever meet. The commandment and the observation then taken together suggests that each person we meet in life presents a rare opportunity for us to love our neighbour and witness to them the life of Christ, in its wonderful totality, living in us - "we always carry around in us the death of Christ so that the life of Christ may be in us" , said St. Paul to the church in Philippi. Perhaps we need to get back, or attend more closely, to that basic fact, and evangelism, involving the whole church and the whole gospel, will spread like wild fire across the whole world.
Elder Donna Motley
Lets really face the facts I believe that true meaning of WHOLE Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World has to be teach through the whole global world of Churches, organizations and not just the traditional sermons of what has been heard and seen around the world before this fire can really ignite, how many Christians leave their churches empower on world mission and world evangelism.
Tuvya Zaretsky
As a very young man, I was blessed by the sharp focus on evangelism that was at the heart of the 1974 Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation.The theme then was "Let the Earth Hear HIS Voice." The Christian message is in the gospel - for which no one needs to be ashamed, because in it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jewish people and to all the nations (Ro. 1:16-17). Considering how the "social, economic, and political dimensions of the Old Testament relate to Christian mission" is certainly important as one develops missiological strategies. However, it is the gospel message, the good news of salvation in the anointed redeemer for sin, that produces personal convertedness, spiritually transforms individuals and comes to characterizes the church.
Mel Lawrenz
I've been a pastor for 30 years, and "the whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world" has been a faithful compass for us at Elmbrook Church. The idea of the whole church is an unattainable goal in this life (because of ever-present sin and fragmentation), but, on the other hand, the only goal worth aiming at. http://www.wholechurch.org
ifrahim Mathew
The Participants of Cape Town should study & learn from the Taliban of Afghanistan.Their passion for their cause is surpassing Christian's passion for their cause.
Timothy Austin
Dr Wright has hit the nail on the head! Many local churches, especially in my country India are saved, satisfied and self-serving! They find that "the whole world" in "the whole church" and therefore "the whole Gospel" should be limited to the local church itself. They wear these comfortable blinkers and say that we are satified with our missionary work! No wonder para church organisations have sprung up, some church based while a number of others "independant" ideologically, philosphically and even financially of the church. Still, God in His mercy is extending His Kingdom even in our land.
Rev sunil Gaikwad
i wish to attend the global conversation.
David Lyons
As brother Wright says, none of us can engage in every area. This highlights how desperately we need one another in all of our diversity of gifts, ministries, ethnicity, genders and cultures. We need one another to highlight corporate and individual blind spots. We need one another to share resources most effectively. We need those often deemed "less honorable" (1 Corinthians 12:23). And we need to LISTEN to one another. In some ways, that is what I most value in the Lausanne movement.
JoelMang
what would be your response in term of Pastor's deeply envolved in business for his livelihood and to manage the church as well. And then, could it be possible to have such a business being a Pastor in the church? The third one is , In a remote areas where there is no such a pastor but need to give Baptism without a pastor.. So, who will give Baptism and how it will be done? Please I need the biblical answear . Thanks
Ed Brown, Care of Creation Inc.
"If the planet was created by Christ, sustained by Christ and belongs to Christ as his inheritance, the least we can do is to look after it..." is a good, logical statement - but does it go far enough? In defining the meaning of the cross earlier in the article, Dr. Wright says, "There would be no gospel without the cross. Indeed all blessings of the gospel derive from it, from personal salvation through Christ’s death in our place to the reconciling of all creation." If the end of God's redemptive plan is in fact the reconciliation of the cosmos (yes, that's the Greek for 'world' in the Lausanne theme verse) then caring for our little piece of that cosmos is not a 'least we can do' but one of the most important things we MUST do - for just like Christ's resurrection, caring for and even restoring creation now is a foretaste of future redemption and reconciliation.
Samuel Escobar
Thanks Theodore Gill for remindings us of the IMC meeting in Tambaram and of John A. Mackay, that great Ecumenical-Evangelical theologian. A biography of Mackay will appear soon in the USA. The question posed by Ewald Seidel is very important but I do not have a clear, easy answer. May be special evangelistic efforts should be directed to heads of households, like in the book of Acts. That has been the patter for the incredible growth of the Philadelphia churches of the Gypsies in Spain, a true case of spontaneous expansion of the Gospel in the 20th century.
Ewald Seidel
I am presently in Odessa, Ukraine, having been invited to teach a course on "Christian Ministry: a biblical basis". I am also working on material "God's Mission: Our Mission". I happened to lay my hands on Samuel Escobar's book, "A Time for Mission" where he says that in the African context, evangelism must be directed towards whole families and possibly even clans. It should avoid the individualistic approach that is common in the West. My question is this: What then is the case of people from a Muslim background who come to Christ as individuals and find themselves at best isolated in their communities, or at worst persecuted and even killed in some cases. Muslims also see themselves as members of families and even tribes. How would a person like Samuel Escobar approach such a problem?
Jorge Romero
What I see is that contrary to other religions in the world, we (the ones having the Gospel) have so many personal agendas, and specially in America the Gospel has become an awful interprise. God help us.
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