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Cape's crucial congress

At its biennial leadership meeting in Korea in June, the Lausanne Movement named the expositors for Cape Town 2010. This Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, will be on October 16-25 2010.

The Rev. Doug Birdsall, Chairman of the Lausanne Movement, stated that the six Bible expositors reflect the demographic, theological and cultural composition of Cape Town 2010. ‘The Congress will be truly global in scope, while at the same time being distinctly African in nuance and feel.

Carey’s dream

‘200 years ago, William Carey proposed a congress of similar scope for Cape Town, South Africa. In a very real sense, Cape Town 2010 will be the fulfilment of his dream. Each day, the Congress programme will begin with expositions from the book of Ephesians. The six Bible teachers we have invited to Cape Town 2010 come from six different regions of the world and represent some of the finest Bible expositors of our generation.’

The expositors are Ajith Fernando, Director of Sri Lanka Youth for Christ; Calisto Odede, Associate Pastor of Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Kenya; John Piper, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, USA; Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St. Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, UK; Ruth Padilla DeBorst, General Secretary of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (Costa Rica); and Ramez Atallah, Director of the Egyptian Bible Society, and his wife, Rebecca, who has a grassroots ministry among children and Sudanese refugees in the ‘garbage village’ in Cairo.

Facing critical issues

Lindsay Brown, Lausanne Movement International Director, spoke of his hopes for the Congress: ‘We are hoping for clarity on the nature of evangelism; for clear-sightedness on the critical issues to be faced by the church in the next 20 years; for many new international partnerships and initiatives such as characterise the Lausanne Movement; and for decisive action as the gospel is taken to the ends of the earth, by which we mean both the geographical ends of the earth, and every area of society.’

Global conversation

The Congress will draw 4,000 participants from 200 nations. In addition, virtual participation by churches and theological colleges around the world is being developed through the Cape Town GlobaLink. From October this year, the church on each continent is invited to join the Global Conversation at http://www.lausanne.org, the first of its kind to draw the world’s evangelicals together in engaging critical issues in world evangelisation. Peter Brierley, founder of the UK body Christian Research, said: ‘I suspect this will be the best-planned technologically-led global conference ever’.