I posted below a short video-talk by Joseph D'Souza given at the Lausanne Congress taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. But I need to introduce the congress to those for whom it is new. David Virtue, of VirtueOnline, is onsite and posting articles on this historic congress. He writes:
In Cape Town more than 5,000 men, women and youth have come from 198 nations - literally from every tribe and language and people group. They have one single objective - to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person on earth. We are now living in the age of the global church.
There are more languages being spoken here than at Pentecost. This is a gathering of people who are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ or to tell the truth about Jesus, preaching Good News to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, unreached people's and unengaged (no known missionaries) groups, both old and young. There are 469 out of 639 people groups representing 550 million people who have only recently been reached by mobilizing Christian agencies.. .
The congress is being linked through 700 global link sites in 97 countries reaching 100,000 people in eight languages. The Book of Ephesians is the guiding Biblical document uniting this congress. . . Fully a third of all the participants here at the Lausanne Congress on Evangelism are young people in their late 20s and early 30s. . .
"Forty per cent of our participants are in their late 20s, 30s and 40s, one third are women, 1,200 are missionaries, 1,200 are pastors and 1,200 scholars as well as 600 from business, government, other ministries and media. We are here as a global gathering with 4,200 participants plus 1,100 stewards."
Geoff Tunnicliffe, Secretary General for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) the world's largest association of evangelical Christians serving 420 million people in 128 national evangelical alliances located in 7 regions, said the idea of a Third Lausanne began in a café in London 4 years ago. "We had a deep theological conviction; we were convinced by the prayer of Jesus in John 17 that we must demonstrate our unity in Christ for the sake of the gospel.
"The Church faces unprecedented challenges. We have an AIDS pandemic, children are at risk, our environment has been degraded, rogue nations have nuclear weapons. There is rampant consumerism and widespread corruption with increasing ethical and moral dilemmas. The present time presents a remarkable opportunity to present a witness to Christ as evangelical Christians rooted in the nature of the gospel and the Lausanne Covenant. Our commitment is to seek God's purposes."
Tunnicliffe said evangelicals must be God's agent of reconciliation bringing peace and justice. "At this seminal moment we have gathered to hear Gods voice. We can be a significant catalyst for the advancement for God's kingdom. In this week we will be heard by hundreds of thousands of churches around the world."
Birdsall also noted the absence of the Chinese delegation and prayed that God would bless them and open the eyes of the leaders of that nation. . .
Some 230 Chinese evangelicals due to participate in a global congress on evangelism this week have been denied visas to South Africa because the Chinese government views the gathering as "anti-China."
Communist leaders blocked the delegation of Chinese evangelicals at airports across the country thus denying them access to meet with some 4,000 evangelical participants from 190 countries who are bent on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
Leaders at the Lausanne Congress on Evangelism here are reluctant to talk about the situation owing to sensitive political relations between China and South Africa.