| Lausanne Connecting Point - September 2004 |
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In This Issue: The 2004 Forum for World Evangelization begins soon in Thailand! Throughout the meeting, the Forum Media and Communications Team will provide regular updates via email and through informational and BLOG postings on the Lausanne web site (www.lausanne.org). We invite you to visit the web site often for current Forum news and photos. In today's enewsletter, a message from Forum Associate Director Gary Barnes and an update on Issue Group 29: Bioethics. Thank you for your continued prayers for Forum leaders and participants. Please see the Praise and Prayer report below for specific Forum prayer needs. May the Lord bless you! Naomi Frizzell, Editor By Gary Barnes, Associate Director 2004 Forum The past four years have been a rewarding and challenging experience in preparing for the Lausanne 2004 Forum. My journeys in planning for this Forum have taken me to Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Switzerland, Germany, England, Korea, Mexico, the United States and Thailand. World Christian leaders have exhibited the level of excitement and eagerness necessary to effectively address critical issues facing the global/local church. I have been honored to speak at churches, attend meetings and meet with leaders regarding these issues. Probably the most rewarding element of this experience has been working with emerging leaders of churches in Thailand. Since our first meeting in May 2001, these gracious brothers and sisters have worked together to make the forum a reality. The Church of Christ in Thailand and the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand have been accommodating and sacrificial. When the first Lausanne Congress met in Switzerland in 1974, the church in Thailand consisted of an estimated 1,000 small churches. Today, as an example, the Hope of Bangkok Church serves thousands of Bangkok members and has over 500 church plants in Thailand. Government estimates put the number of Christians in Thailand at a little more than 1% of the population, but this statistic is ascending steadily. Since 1993, I have traveled Thailand frequently. I have witnessed numerous new churches throughout the country; exciting and encouraging stories of church plants abound. You can't walk the streets of Bangkok, Pattaya, Chaing Mai, Chaing Rai and countless other cities without seeing new outreaches. House church movements share wonderful numbers too. And even more thrilling to me is the number of reports from Thai missionaries. These servants are working in the United States, various European countries and Asia--China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Maynmar and Nepal. In 1974, the center of Christianity was primarily in Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Today Thailand represents the emerging church of Africa, Latin America and Asia. In reading reports of how the church in Korea experienced growth over the past 100 years, I often contemplate, "Is Thailand the Korea of the 21st Century?" Although it is premature, signs indicate that the church is alive, healthy and multiplying rapidly in this scenic country. Those who visit Thailand will find world-renowned hospitality, gracious people, and a diligent, reproducing church. By Andrew Fergusson, Convener Bioethics is seen by some as "medical ethics" but although there are different definitions, it is more than that. It concerns all ethical questions raised by medical practice and by scientific and technological developments in biology and their application to decision-making for human beings and other species. We will be concentrating on issues for human beings but will inevitably cover some animal-related issues. It is tempting to dismiss bioethiocs as a problem for the developed world only, but life and death dilemmas apply in every country and with increasing globalisation even the high-tech dilemmas will soon affect many more countries. Our theologian has drafted a paper that we have been discussing online in special e-groups and the work is being revised in line with comments received. The paper includes an introduction, our theological framework, an overview of various bioethical issues from beginning to end of life and all points in between and a final section seeking to use a Christian response to these issues in evangelism. We believe this section is the most important. Bioethics is a huge subject and we are not trying to write another analysis of it. Rather we want to see the church around the world turn these bioethical dilemmas from being an obstacle to the Gospel into an opportunity for the Gospel. Here, we see the truth of the Biblical account of what it means to be human and how humans should treat each other, as a huge asset to our apologetics: properly expressed, the Christian case squares with the intuitions of ordinary people in many countries because they recognise the truth of its account in their lives. And the Christian approach works because it is true; it is not true because it works! Secondly, the challenge to Christians everywhere is not just to say "No," though we often must, but to accompany that principled objection with practical acts of caring that demonstrate Christ's love and render unethical actions unnecessary. In terms of writing the paper, we are doing almost too well! At the moment the paper is about 35,000 words and although excellent is quite academic/theoretical in tone. Editing is underway as we seek to add case histories/examples/models etc. to earth this in practice. One concern is about tangible outcomes after Thailand - we have begun to discuss models but no decisions have been made. We are seeking simple, practical, culturally sensitive, relevant tools for churches around the world to use for the next decade or so. There might be, for example, an ongoing "Lausanne" bioethics website with links to some of the excellent websites already run by groups represented in Thailand, though we recognise we cannot rely on the Internet alone. In addition to this tangible set of tools, the likeliest big outcome for our IG is the creation and development of relationships between key influencers around the world - some of us know each other already but we can build on that to "go more global" later. Indeed, perhaps the biggest challenge for all of us coming to the Forum is how do we keep the spirit going after the Forum ends? The current suggestions for regionalised activities to follow in the months and years after the Forum seem to offer a low-cost and practical way forward. Our Issue Group faced the challenge of being organized in late 2003, which led to our small group size of ten participants from five continents. There have been various headaches (!) for the convening group over the last year but we are now almost there and are all very committed to making as much happen as possible. May we glorify God together! By Glenda Weldon, Chair Intercession Working Group
Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for the preparations for the Forum. It has been a remarkable journey as we have seen the Lord bring together the people and the resources needed for this very strategic event that we believe will have a significant impact on the task of World Evangelisation. Praise God:
Please Pray:
Issue Group Prayer Requests:
IG 18: Evangelisation of Children This group reports that they have become very aware of how much could be done if the church took evangelism seriously and their prayer is for maximum impact out of the Forum. Please pray:
IG 24: Empowering Men and Women for the Spread of the Gospel
IG 29: Bioethics
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