Spotlight on The Lausanne Movement
Spotlight on The Lausanne Movement
The phone rang in John’s flat, and John was pleased to hear a familiar American voice. It was Billy Graham. ‘I want to share an idea with you,’ said Billy. ‘What do you think of a plan to gather leaders from the whole evangelical Church, for a congress?’ As they talked, Billy outlined his thinking. So much had changed in the world, and so quickly, since the Second World War. There was much for the Church to talk about.
‘The Congress will last for about ten days,’ said Billy Graham. We’re thinking of holding it in Lausanne. It’s a beautiful city on Lake Geneva. You probably know it.’
‘Tell me a bit more,’ said John.
‘It will focus on the Church’s main task, world evangelization. We need to keep the main thing the main thing. I think we could draw leaders from around 160 nations. I’m asking Jack Dain from Sydney to be Chairman.’
John warmed to the idea of the event, planned for 1974. He knew Bishop Jack Dain from his visits to Australia, and he sensed this could be important.
‘John, I’ve a question for you. I know it’s a big ask,’ Billy continued.
‘I’m listening. What’s your big ask?’
‘It’s listening!’ said Billy, picking up on John’s word.
Billy Graham laughed. Then he went on to explain. ‘I want you to lead a small team to listen carefully to all the discussions. Then I’m thinking you would draw together a document to reflect all the voices you heard. That way it would be a document from the whole evangelical Church.’
John had theological weight and was a fine craftsman in the way he wrote. That was why Billy Graham’s mind went straight to him for this major task. John Stott agreed.
On the last afternoon of the first Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, John Stott presented the work of his small group. The group had pressed on solidly, through day and night, reading hundreds of notes sent to them by Congress participants. It was very hard work, but the outcome proved worth it. The document was called The Lausanne Covenant – as it was a covenant with God, and a covenant with one another. This came to be regarded as one of the most significant documents in modern Church history. From here a new movement was born. It took its name from the city where the first Congress took place, and is still known as The Lausanne Movement.
A second Lausanne Congress was held in Manila, in the Philippines, in 1989. John Stott was there again, and he shaped The Manila Manifesto which came out of it. This document built on The Lausanne Covenant.
Now let’s fast forward to The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.
In 2006, before the planning for this Congress began, Doug Birdsall, Chairman of The Lausanne Movement, called John Stott. They arranged to meet for dinner in a small Greek restaurant near Uncle John’s flat. Doug wanted advice. He sensed it was time to bring the Church together again, as so much had changed since the last Congress: Communism had all but collapsed; everyone now used computers and mobile phones; 9/11 had opened a new age of religious terrorism ... Life was completely different, and the Church faced new pressures.
The Church had grown wonderfully in the previous two decades. The Lausanne Movement would now have to span 200 nations. ‘It will be a huge task,’ said John. ‘Yet I believe we must do it.’
After dinner, they made their way back to John’s flat. He was now eighty-five years old, walking slowly, holding onto Doug’s arm with one hand, and holding his cane with the other. ‘I just hope I live long enough to see all this come to pass,’ he said as they parted.
The following year Uncle John moved into a home for retired clergy just outside London. He was frail, but his passion did not diminish. John Stott was delighted when he heard the news that Lindsay Brown would serve as International Director of The Lausanne Movement. John had first met Lindsay when Lindsay was studying history at Oxford, and was president of the university Christian Union. Lindsay, just like Oliver, gave his life to working with students. (He had, by this stage, served as General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.) John knew Lindsay and Doug would make a strong team, and he prayed for them.
Lindsay Brown invited a group of theologians from around the world to lay plans for the statement which would come out of the third Congress. ‘This statement will stand in the historic line of The Lausanne Covenant,’ he explained. ‘The first half will set out our evangelical convictions, as all we do comes from what we believe. The second part will be a call to action for the whole evangelical Church.’ The group Lindsay brought together included Chris Wright, John Piper, Sinclair Ferguson, Peter Jensen, Ajith Fernando, and several of John’s other friends.
‘We’ve had a Covenant and a Manifesto. What shall we call the statement this time?’ someone asked.
‘What about The Cape Town Commitment?’ suggested Chris Wright. ‘It has good alliteration, and it says exactly what it is.’ There were nods of approval right around the room and the name was agreed.
The first meeting of these theologians was held in Minneapolis. Chris took careful notes on his laptop, listening hard to everyone in the room. As he flew back to London, he screened down the notes. He had been asked to craft the statement, and he would need the Lord’s special help to fashion the outline. It was a huge responsibility.
A month later, Chris drove to The Hookses. He often went there to write, sitting at Uncle John’s desk overlooking the bay. As Chris was driving down the motorway, he was thinking and praying about how the Commitment should be shaped. Chris knew how much John Stott cared about The Lausanne Movement, and he called him when he reached The Hookses.
‘I’d like your view on how to shape The Cape Town Commitment,’ Chris began. ‘As I’ve been praying, driving down here, I’ve been thinking about God’s covenant love for us, and our love for God. This could form the backbone. What do you think?’
‘Then would there be a call to action coming out of this, from the Congress?’ John asked. ‘Have I remembered rightly?’ Chris confirmed this.
‘I like your plan,’ said John Stott. ‘It has a freshness about it. And there is no better basis for action than God’s love.’ John had preached until he could preach no longer. In his final public address, at the age of eighty-six, he had urged Christians to be more like Christ, who embodied truth and love. The Cape Town Commitment would continue to urge Christians to a life of love.
* * *
A few months after the Congress, the phone rang in Uncle John’s room in the middle of the afternoon. It was Doug Birdsall, calling from Boston. By this stage Uncle John had become quite frail, but his mind was still keen. Phillip Herbert, an old friend, was with him.
‘Hello. John Stott’s room,’ Phillip said, as he picked up the phone.
‘It’s Doug Birdsall here.’
‘What a coincidence!’ said Phillip, recognizing Doug’s name. ‘We’re just reading The Cape Town Commitment. Let me pass over the phone.’ Frances Whitehead had brought John Stott a copy of the newly-published Commitment a few days earlier. Phillip was reading it slowly and carefully so Uncle John could take in every phrase.
Uncle John was pleased to hear Doug’s voice. ‘It’s a beautiful and profound document,’ he said in a weak and halting way. Then he added, ‘With it, you seem to have achieved an astonishing degree of unity.’ This unity was what John Stott had been praying for. He knew that thousands of ministries and churches would adopt it, and he saw the vital importance of getting it right.
You can read The Cape Town Commitment online, or as a booklet. See ‘Ideas for things to do’