| Lausanne Connecting Point - January 2008 |
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NO TRANSLATION AVAILABLE In This Issue:By Doug Birdsall Editors Note: Beginning this month, Doug has launched a regular blog to share his thoughts, his travel, his vision for missions and evangelization and more on the preparations leading up to Cape Town 2010. Read Doug’s new blog - http://www.lausanne.org/lausanne-blog/ The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization continues to generate enthusiasm and commitment as news about Cape Town 2010 is disseminated among leaders around the globe. I am greatly encouraged by so many who have written in the early weeks of this year to express their eagerness to be involved. Let me just share a few notes with you: “Exciting things are happening across Europe and beyond right now. It is a good time to be alive!! Among other things, we are able to speak into the preparations for the Cape Town 2010 event, which are really exciting and developing quickly.” Mr. Andy Goodacre, Marburg, Germany (From a memo to Lausanne Younger Leaders Team) “It was certainly great to meet you and spend some time together at the recent Fellowship of Evangelical Seminary Presidents on Marco Island. Your presentations on Lausanne III fired me up! I am really hoping that CIU can be “at the table” in Cape Town in 2010.” Dr. George W. Murray, Chancellor Columbia International University “I would very much like to be part of the team that dreams and implements what Lausanne can and should be once again. What is happening with Lausanne is exciting and I very much would like to play a part from my position at CURE International.” Dale Brantner Senior Vice President of Spiritual Ministries Additionally, Gideon Para-Mallam wrote recently from Nigeria to share news of more than fifty leaders from across Africa who have accepted the invitation to serve on the Lausanne III Council of Reference. Norberto Saracco wrote last week from Argentina to report that the Latin American Regional Committee plans to establish selection committees all across the region by the end of February. Earlier this month, we were in Malaysia where Bishop Hwa Yung hosted 18 people from all six continents who gathered to work on the Participant Selection criteria and time table for selecting the 4,000 global participants. Next month, Lindsay Brown and Ramez Atallah will host a gathering in Oxford of the 12 International Deputy Directors and 15 other leaders who will work on the program for the congress. I should also mention that the Theology Working Group will meet in Thailand in mid-February under the leadership of Chris Wright. That same week, the Resource Mobilization Working Group will meet for its inaugural consultation under the leadership of Ram Gidoomal. In April, Paul Eshleman will gather the Strategy Working Group to focus on issues that give emphasis to the holistic nature of Christian mission. The Lausanne Researchers Network will also meet in Melbourne, Australia under the leadership of Dr. Peter Brierley. Some 80 researchers from around the globe will focus on world evangelization issues. More Than A CongressIndeed these are exciting days for Lausanne. 2008 promises to be a challenging and fruitful year.As we continue to plan for Cape Town 2010, we have identified five priorities for Congress preparation:
It is quite natural that preparations for the Congress will be the focal point for much of our work this year. The Congress will be the priority issue when the Lausanne Administrative Committee meets in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 9-13 June; and when the Cape Town 2010 (Lausanne III) Leadership Team meets in Cape Town 13-17 October. However, as the planning process for the Congress gains strength and momentum, it is important to remember and to re-articulate that Lausanne is much more than a Congress. The Lausanne Movement represents the aspirations of the global church for a concerted response to the challenges and opportunities that are before the church with respect to world evangelization. The “Spirit of Lausanne” is once again bringing together leaders to develop priorities, to forge new partnerships, to produce publications, to identify and develop people who are emerging as leaders, and to mobilize prayer - all for world evangelization. These leaders are representative of the new demographic and theological global realities in the church. As such, the majority are from Africa, Latin America and Asia. They are younger and they include growing numbers of women; and there is increasing involvement from the house churches and indigenous movements. We thank God for the way His hand of favor is upon the Lausanne Movement. We are particularly grateful for the growing spirit of collaboration with leaders in the World Evangelical Alliance as they have accepted our invitation to be partners in the work of Cape Town 2010. As we join hands and hearts and voice in calling the “whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world,” it is our prayer that our joint efforts will result in growing unity for the church, greater clarity with respect to the message we share, and shared priorities for those global challenges that require our concerted and coordinated response. It is our conviction that God is developing a cadre of leaders like the men of Issachar who “understood the times and knew what to do.” May God grant us wisdom, vision and courage.
A Call from Afar – The Challenging Task of African Evangelization
3-8 April 2008, Nairobi, Kenya
 The establishing of the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) can be traced back to the 1974 Lausanne International Congress on World Evangelization. For more than three decades, through conferences and publications, CCCOWE has been striving to be a catalyst to mobilize worldwide Chinese churches for world mission. In 1998, the first “Chinese Missions in Africa” was convened in Pretoria, South Africa. In the past decade, the development of gospel work in Africa has been going through quite a few changes. In order to address the needs in the new missional realities of Africa, CCCOWE will convene the second mission conference in Kenya in April. It is CCOWE’s sincere prayer and hope that more Chinese churches around the world will learn about the pressing need and the present situation of this vast land – Africa.  Plenary Sessions and Speakers –
Revival Meetings will also be held –
If you are a missionary serving in Africa, prospective missionary going to serve in Africa, or prayer warrior for the evangelization of Africans, you’re invited to this conference! This conference will be conducted in English and Mandarin. For more information go to www.cccowe.org/eng or email Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser, du m sl p Javascript for kunne se den. .
By Evan Burns
Student Volunteer Movement 2’s 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting (http://www.svm2.net/21days.html) beginning 15 February 2008 will engage the theme of returning to Christ as the Fountain of Life. Highlighted in each of the 21 days will be the core elements of repentance, personal holiness, finding joy, healing, and satisfaction in Christ, and being channels of that Fountain to the nations. Our conviction is that empowerment to proclaim the gospel to the nations comes from personal holiness. And personal holiness comes from diligently seeking the face of God, abandoned devotion to Jesus Christ.
“‘Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate,’ says the Lord. ‘For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and created for themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.’” (Jeremiah 2:12-13).  When the Spirit of Christ awakens us to all that Christ is, He comes in a flood. In seasons of awakening, the manifest presence of Christ is often described as a boundless fountain or a surging river. There is something about flowing water, whether it is a leaky pipe or a surging river, it cannot be stopped—just channeled. It is no mistake that some of the most passionate hymns were written during seasons of awakening, and they often describe the outpouring of the Spirit of Christ with flowing water. Even today, those hymns still speak to the often-discouraged longings in our hearts for something more. We sing songs like, “Here is Love,” which was the feature song written during the 1904 Welsh Revival. It has been considered the greatest far-reaching revival in history, literally wrapping the globe within a few years.
Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood, When the Prince of Life, our Ransom, Shed for us His precious blood. Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise? He can never be forgotten, Throughout heav’n’s eternal days. On the mount of crucifixion, Fountains opened deep and wide; Through the floodgates of God’s mercy Flowed a vast and gracious tide. Grace and love, like mighty rivers, Poured incessant from above, And heav’n’s peace and perfect justice Kissed a guilty world in love. Could it be that we sing old-fashioned songs like this even today because deep down inside we are longing for something more? Could it be that the prosperity gospel that is being broadcast around the world is leaving us disillusioned as with stagnant waterless wells? Could it be that the reason the emerging generation feels so unworthy and unqualified to follow Christ to the nations is because this generation has been so saturated with information and opportunity that we have lost our thirst for the Fountain? Of course, we have a strong spiritual thirst. This is evident in the record number of worship songs that have been sold and produced. It is evident in the books being sold. In this generation there are many players, but few prayers. We are quick to hang out and enjoy ourselves, but slow to wrestle in prayer and spend ourselves. We love to watch movies, but we’re lazy in watching over our hearts. There is so much levity and casualness in our generation, that we don’t even have a category for sobriety and holiness. Through discussion and reflection with message bearers and mission mobilizers, I have heard a common theme describing the emerging generation. This generation is looking for something real. Students are overwhelmed with the flood of opportunities at their finger-tips. This generation is also in bondage to feelings of unworthiness and uselessness. We Need HolinessWhat we need is not another church or campus ministry, not another website or blog. We need holiness. Holiness that heals. Holiness that offends. Holiness that hurts the eyes. Robert Murray McCheyne said, “The holy life is a God-besotted life.” The holy life is a life that goes hard after God. The Holy Spirit says without holiness we will not see God (Hebrews 12:14). And the pure in heart shall see God (Matthew 5:8). This generation is thirsty for waters that do not fail. We have rejected many of the old leaky, polluted wells our parents have dug. But if we do not watch over our hearts which are the wellspring of life, (Proverbs 4:23) we will dig our own wells. If we think we can see God in Christ with the casual, cool manner with which we seek and speak about Him, we are fools. And we are even more foolish to think we can make a difference in the nations without first being filled with power from on high, without first drinking from the Fountain.The baton of the Great Commission is being passed on to this generation, and it is ours to finish, if we would be filled with the fullness of Christ. But many in this generation feel unworthy and unqualified to take the gospel of Christ to the nations. And so in disappointment and despair, many put off getting right with God till some later date, maybe after they graduate or get married. Then they will really commit themselves to following Christ. So, until that “later date” comes, this information-saturated and opportunity-seduced generation builds its broken cisterns unaware, calling it hanging out or having fun. It would be different if it was fellowship, but if Jesus is never mentioned in our hanging out and there is no encouragement from the Word spoken, is that still biblical fellowship? Does our hanging out encourage holiness? After endless nights of fun and entertainment, do we feel refreshed by the Fountain or sick from bad water? Come To The FountainWe must come to the Fountain, and drink… and drink… and drink. Jesus Christ is the Fountain of Life. When we come to Him as our Fountain, only then will we know the cleansing power of the ocean of God’s love. We may know how to explain the basic truths of the gospel, but have we experienced the joy and the healing power of the gospel? Do we experience it regularly? This is the holy life that sees God—the Fountain-drinking life. This generation will make an eternal impact among the forgotten people and finish the Great Commission when it is infatuated with the Fountain, cleansed in the Fountain, refreshed by the Fountain, carried along in the current of the Fountain, and used as channels of the Fountain to the dehydrated souls of the forgotten peoples.Please join us for the 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting as we return to the Fountain, repent of our broken cisterns, and taste and see that the Lord is good. Maybe then, together, this generation will sing a theme of redeeming love.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more. E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die. (By: William Cowper) Student Volunteer Movement: http://www.svm2.net/21days.html The January Lausanne World Pulse looks at the challenges and obstacles with which the global Church must come face-to-face by focusing on Proclaiming Christ in an Era of War, Genocide and Trauma. Authors seek to take holistic, redemptive and fresh steps toward reaching those who are hurting with the gospel. How can the global Church be a more effective witness in situations which seem hopeless? Here is a sample of what you will read:
Other articles include:
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