The Lausanne Congress

In 1966, more than 2,500 people from 150 different countries gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, for an international congress on global missions. Today, Stephen Nichols takes us back to this remarkable 10-day gathering.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. Today is July 17th, 2024. Yesterday, 50 years ago, the International Congress on World Evangelization opened. It was held in the town of Lausanne, Switzerland. It was a 10 day gathering around the theme of missions. The specific theme was “Let the Earth Hear His Voice.” Over 2,500 participants represented over 150 countries. Now, this congress was years in the making. Back in 1966, the first congress was held. It was held in Berlin, and then numerous congresses were held in various cities, one in 1971 in Australia, and all of that led up to the Lausanne Congress or the International Congress in 1974. One of the key people at Lausanne was Billy Graham. It was the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that called and organized this congress, and Graham was the honorary chairman. Another influential figure there was John Stott. John Stott said, “Many a conference has resembled a fireworks display. It has made a loud noise and illuminates the sky for a few brief brilliant seconds. What is exciting about Lausanne is that its fire continues to spark off other fires.”

The organizers of the conference saw the year 2000 coming, and they set as a goal for the global church to evangelize the world by the year 2000. They recognized the enormity of the task as they recognized that over two-thirds of the world’s population had never heard the gospel. And so, they held sessions together and seminars and sought how they could work together to promote world evangelization. They also produced the statement, the Lausanne statement. Chief architect of the statement was John Stott, and the introduction to the statement, Stott writes, “We, members of the Church of Jesus Christ, from more than 150 nations, participants in the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, praise God for his great salvation and rejoice in the fellowship he has given us with himself and with each other. We are deeply stirred by what God is doing in our day, moved to penitence by our failures and challenged by the unfinished task of evangelization. We believe the gospel is God’s good news for the whole world, and we are determined by his grace to obey Christ’s commission to proclaim it to all mankind and to make disciples of every nation. We desire, therefore, to affirm our faith and our resolve and to make public our covenant.” The statement goes on to have 15 paragraphs. The very first one is on “The Purpose of God.” The next one is on Scripture and makes the statement that “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.” Well, the next statement concerns “The Uniqueness and Universality of Christ.” The statement affirms that salvation is in Jesus alone. In fact, it goes on to say, “We also reject as derogatory to Christ and the gospel, every kind of syncretism and dialogue which implies that Christ speaks equally through all religions and ideologies. Jesus Christ, being himself the only God-Man, who gave himself as the only ransom for sinners, is the only mediator between God and people. There is no other name by which we must be saved. All men and women are perishing because of sin, but God loves everyone, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should repent.”

The statement goes on to say that “To proclaim Jesus Christ is a ‘Saviour of the world’ is not to affirm that all people are either automatically or ultimately saved, still less to affirm that all religions offer salvation in Christ. Rather, it is to proclaim God’s love for a world of sinners and to invite everyone to respond to him.” Well, that is from the Lausanne statement that comes from the International Congress on World Evangelization 50 years ago. And I’m Steve Nichols and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.