The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization completed on Sunday October 25th in Cape Town, South Africa. The Lausanne Congress is the place where world leaders of the Christian Church gather to compare notes on the growth of the church in the World, and the progress being made in the Great Commission in our generation. The first Lausanne congress was held in 1974 in the Swiss Alps. The second Lausanne was held in Thailand in 2004. This third Lausanne congress was historic in that it engaged the world through the internet. You can join the conversation today.
The Great Commission is Jesus' last words to his diciples -- a command to disciple the nations and to teach the things that Jesus taught. The Lausanne Congress is the meeting to unite the world wide church in the common goal, define the current needs and develop strategies to address those needs.
More than 4,000 Christian leaders gathered from 16-25 October in Cape Town, South Africa and thousands more participated at one of more than 600 GlobaLink Sites worldwide, the Congress experience is also being made available online.
Online participants could watch the video of all Plenary and Multiplex sessions through the Lausanne Global Conversation website in one of the 8 Congress languages. Then online participants could join in discussion around each Congress session with participants on-site and other Christians around the globe. Automated translation technology allowed discussion to take place across linguistic barriers.
Online special interest groups were also formed to encourage the global conversation begun in Cape Town to continue. The groups form around such topics as Business as Missions, Creation Care, Internet Evangelism, Evangelism in sport, to name just a few of the discussion groups being formed. Have a look at the full list here.
This Lausanne Congress is available as online videos so that you, too, can participate in the discussion. Here's what the organizers have to say, "Video of Congress plenary and multiplex sessions is being made available freely to the global Church. Available videos are organized by the Congress daily schedule. We encourage you to watch the videos and join in related conversation through the Lausanne Global Conversation website with Christians around the world." The final videos are expected to be uploaded by Friday, but there's plenty of thought provoking discussion already on line. Have a look. Be challenged and encouraged.
