Representing Lausanne at the Congress were Las Newman (International Deputy Director for the Caribbean), Judith Johnston, (Communications Manager for the Caribbean) and Evangelist Errol Rattray (Coordinator/Mobilizer of Evangelism and Discipleship Projects for Lausanne Caribbean).
IDD Las Newman was, during the first morning Plenary, given the opportunity to address congress participants on the role of Lausanne in the Caribbean. He highlighted four main items: The Cape Town Commitment; World Pulse, Lausanne’s major communication link; Mission Caribbean, the real focus of the Caribbean work; and Lausanne’s Global Conversation, the resource tool that encourages and engages dialogue on key issues facing the church in the 21st century. Las also used the opportunity to speak briefly about the history of The Lausanne Movement, providing a context for those who were not familiar with Lausanne, and he shared as well a few highlights of Cape Town 2010. From the platform the invitation was extended to members who attended Lausanne and those who had an interest in the work to attend a more intimate meeting over lunch on the same day.
Fifteen persons were in attendance, representing six Caribbean nations. Time was short and so Las quickly provided an overview of the resources available and the role the Lausanne Team would play in facilitating individuals and groups with an interest in engaging in evangelism and discipleship projects. The Cape Town Commitment was highlighted and each team member was given the opportunity to briefly explain his/her portfolio responsibilities. Errol used the opportunity to invite persons with definite interest in moving forward with the Mission Caribbean Project to attend a meeting the following afternoon.
Devon Linton, Regional Director for Evangelism Explosion (EE), shared about the resources available through EE and the fact that they were poised and ready to engage the discipleship training process. They already had networks across the Caribbean. Lloyd Cooke, a missionary from Jamaica, was introduced as someone who could provide statistics on unreached peoples of the Caribbean. This information would be made available to nation states.
Resources for the work across the Caribbean would be raised by respective nation states and where possible from multinational sources who partner with us in the work of discipleship and evangelism.
The Jamaican meeting will take the form of a 1-day symposium for pastors and leaders. It will take place at Hope Fellowship Church on 23 November and will target between 200 and 250 Pastors and Christian Leaders. The first half of the symposium will address issues of evangelism and discipleship, and the second half will address Mission Caribbean and The Cape Town Commitment, the foci of Lausanne Caribbean.
