By Samuel Escobar

The Lausanne movement that started after the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization (Lausanne I) had a significant impact on the practice of mission around the world. The genius of the Lausanne movement was to promote mission activity and also theological reflection on that activity in light of God´s Word. Liberated by its missionary thrust from the bonds of sterile fundamentalism, evangelicalism was again able to rediscover the holistic dimensions of Christian mission clearly presented in the Bible.

The Lausanne movement has restated theological convictions characteristic of evangelicalism; however, it has also deepened evangelicals’ understanding by responding to contemporary questions. This is evident, for instance, in the selection of documents edited by John Stott under the title Making Christ Known, which offers an account of the years between 1974 and 1989. The nine lengthy documents that start with the Lausanne Covenant are a good record of the points of agreement of missionaries, evangelists, and theologians about burning issues related to evangelism.

Almost all of these documents strike a balance between the theological foundations and the pragmatic consequences. The lists of participants in this reflection include evangelicals from every region of the world.

Thirty years later, the massive three-volume work A New Vision, A New Heart, A Renewed Call gives an idea of this process of practice and reflection currenty going on around the world. It is a series of Lausanne Occasional Papers produced during the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization that took place in Pattaya, Thailand, 29 September 2004 to 5 October 2004. There are currently sixty-one papers which record the global process of missiological reflection that is carried on by new generations of practitioners and theologians.

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