Lausanne Movement

Preface

Lausanne Occasional Paper #51
Jane L. Crane

After two years of research for its 2004 Forum, the Lausanne Committee identified 31 roadblocks to world evangelism, one of which was the need to empower men and women to utilize their gifts together for the Gospel.  This focus on gender was a natural progression.  Through the Lausanne movement’s major worldwide gatherings over the last 30 years, the topic of gender has been emerging in increasing depth. 

The historic Lausanne Covenant of 1974, signed by many leaders and still used across the world, cites gender under the topic of social responsibility.  It states that we should share God’s “concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of injustice.  Because men and women are made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, colour, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he or she should be respected and served, not exploited.” 

The Manila Manifesto, produced 15 years later in 1989, addresses gender issues in more specificity in two of its 21 “Affirmations:”

Affirmation # 13:  “We affirm that we who claim to be members of the Body of Christ must transcend within our fellowship the barriers of race, gender and class.”

Affirmation # 14:  “We affirm that the gifts of the Spirit are distributed to all God’s people, women and men, and that their partnership in evangelization must be welcomed for the common good.”

Further, The Manila Manifesto states that women “must be given opportunities to exercise their gifts” and called for suitable training for both men and women.  The Manifesto deplored “the failures in Christian consistency,” including “sexual discrimination,” and affirmed that “co-operation in evangelism in indispensable,” with “both sexes working together.”

As the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization drew to a close, “Summary Affirmations” were released with this powerful statement on gender:  “In this Forum we have experienced the partnership of men and women working together.  We call on the church around the world to work towards full partnership of men and women in the work of world evangelization by maximizing the gifts of all.”

The Lausanne Occasional Paper of the 2004 Forum’s Issue Group 24, “Empowering Men and Women to Utilize Their Gifts Together for the Gospel,” addresses this full partnership, as well as issues of abuse and injustice.  The paper begins with the group’s Declaration made to the entire Lausanne 2004 Forum in Thailand and is followed by suggested Action Steps for the Church, as well as Issues and Research.  Included are papers written by some of IG 24’s nearly 50 participants, leaders from over a dozen countries.

We look forward to seeing further strategies emerge around the world, as others recognize the need to empower both women and men, and rescue those in situations of abuse, all the while advancing the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.