Lausanne Movement

The vision of the Forum reads: “working together to maximize the worldwide access and impact of God’s Wordâ€�. It represents that the Forum is not only concerned with delivery of Scripture but also, most importantly, with engaging people with the Word of God so that people may experience its life-changing message. An alliance of leading international Bible agencies and other missions organizations, the Forum exists to promote and pursue collaboration by strengthening inter-agency understandings and relationships, undertaking strategic global initiatives, advocating the centrality of God’s Word in life and mission, fostering professional excellence of its members and providing support for the development of regional and national alliances.  

History

Under the leadership of John Bendor-Samuel (Wycliffe Bible Translators International) and Fergus Macdonald (United Bible Societies), the Forum met for the first time at Horsleys Green, England from October 2nd through 5th 1990. Several Bible translation and distribution agencies attended such meeting including Wycliffe Bible Translators, Living Bibles International, Institute for Bible Translation, Lutheran Bible Translators, United Bible Societies, Evangel Bible Translators, International Bible Society, Pioneer Bible Translators, Open Doors International, Scripture Union, Gideons International, The Bible League and Bibles for the World. 
 
At this first historical meeting, Bible translation agencies declared their commitment to work together by, among other things, making every effort to identify translation needs worldwide, adopting a global perspective in establishing priorities for translation projects and interacting and seeking to complement each other’s work in the planning of new translation projects and sharing personnel and resources in training programs. Bible distribution agencies declared their commitment to work together in seeking ways of ensuring the best possible stewardship of the God-given resources entrusted to each of our organizations, by avoiding duplication and unproductive competition and by cooperating in specific programs of Scripture distribution.
 
After that first meeting, the Forum met every year in separate translation and distribution groups as well as jointly. These encounters served to build relationships and trust among the leaders of the represented agencies. In furthering their commitment to work together, Bible translation agencies adopted common priority goals for the worldwide translation task and agreed on standards regarding translation principles and procedures as well as qualifications for translation consultants. Bible translation and distribution agencies cooperated on specific projects, notably the Ethiopia Bible distribution project (1992-1997) and the Ghana multimedia experimental research project (1998-2003).  The Forum also held its “Living Word for a Dying Worldâ€� consultation in 1994 at the De Bron Conference Center, Netherlands. The consultation, which gathered over two hundred Christian leaders, focused on the centrality of Scripture in the life and mission of the church.
 
After a period of reassessment, the member agencies agreed in 2002 that the Forum take a stronger and more strategic role. Members recognized that the Bible cause demanded greater strategic collaboration and coordination in the deployment of their respective resources for Bible ministry. Members agreed on specific focus areas for further investment of effort and resources including data gathering, analysis and sharing; common advocacy; performance standards; and training. In late 2003 the Forum retained its first executive director and in early 2004 the Forum was incorporated as a separate non-profit entity.