Recently I found a copy of the “Lausanne Covenant”. Many believers have never heard of it. It was the key document that came out of a very significant global congress in 1974. It was organized by Billy Graham and his ministry and held in Lausanne, Switzerland. I was privileged to attend another missions conference in that beautiful city in 1982.
The “Lausanne Movement” emerged after the first 1974 congress and led to later conferences in the Philippines (1989) and South Africa (2010). A few weeks ago, “Lausanne 4” took place in South Korea with over 5,000 participants from almost every country (and an equal number following on-line).
So, what can we learn from the “Lausanne Covenant” that inspired it all?
The Author
God used a leading British pastor and theologian to write the covenant in 1974. John Stott was the author of more than 50 books and had a global teaching, preaching and writing ministry. He was the lead pastor for many years of an evangelical Anglican church called “All Souls” in London, England. He also served as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II. Stott remained the honorary chairman of the Lausanne Movement until his death in 2011.
The Document
The covenant covers 15 topics. The 95-page booklet that contains and explains the covenant can be summarized with the opening lines of each topic…
The Purpose of God: We affirm our belief in the one eternal God, Creator and Lord of the world, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who governs all things according to the purpose of his will.
The Authority and Power of the Bible: We affirm the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of both Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety as the only written word of God, without error in all that it affirms, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
The Uniqueness and Universality of Christ: We affirm that there is only one Savior and only one gospel, although there is a wide diversity of evangelistic approaches.
The Nature of Evangelism: to evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that, as the reigning Lord, he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gifts of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.
Christian Social Responsibility: We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression.
The Church and Evangelism: We affirm that Christ sends his redeemed people into the world as the Father sent him, and that this calls for a similar deep and costly penetration of the world.
Cooperation in Evangelism: We affirm that the Church’s visible unity in truth is God’s purpose.
Churches in Evangelistic Partnership: We rejoice that a new missionary era has dawned.
The Urgency of the Evangelistic Task: We lament that more than two-thirds of all humanity have yet to be evangelized.
Evangelism and Culture: The development of strategies for world evangelization calls for imaginative pioneering methods.
Education and Leadership: We confess that we have sometimes pursued church growth at the expense of church depth, and divorced evangelism from Christian nurture.
Spiritual Conflict: We believe that we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare with the principalities and powers of evil, who are seeking to overthrow the Church and frustrate its task of world evangelization.
Freedom and Persecution: It is the God-appointed duty of every government to secure conditions of peace, justice and liberty in which the Church may obey God, serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and preach the gospel without interference.
The Power of the Holy Spirit: We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Father sent his Spirit to bear witness to his Son; without his witness ours is futile.
The Return of Christ: We believe that Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly, in power and glory, to bring to completion his salvation and his judgment.
The Bottom Line
One sentence from the Covenant became the motto and rallying cry of the Movement – “World evangelization requires the whole Church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.” You can read the entire Covenant by googling “The Lausanne Covenant”. The word “covenant” was chosen for this document because it implies a commitment to action.
The action required is to pray, to plan and to work together as believers to bring the good news of Jesus in a meaningful way to everyone in the world… and that includes you and me.
Rob Weatherby is a retired pastor and missionary.
