The Lausanne Movement Has a History
John Stott, Billy Graham, Lausanne ‘74
It is our duty to be involved in socio-political action; that is, both in social action (caring for society’s casualties) and in political action (concerned for the structures of society itself).
In 1974 John Stott led the Lausanne movement to embrace both evangelism and social action as two sides of the same coin representing the mission of God. John Stott saw evangelism and social action as “two blades of a pair of scissors or two wings of a bird”. A view that Billy Graham did not support.
Lausanne has a long history that stretches back to a student missionary movement that emerged on the campuses of the United States and the United Kingdom in the late 1800s. This movement committed itself to the “Evangelization of the World in this Generation.” Tens of thousands of students took up the challenge and took the gospel to the ends of the earth. They helped shift Christianity from a predominantly European-American movement to a global movement.
This student movement ultimately led to the first World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh 1910. The conference was driven by the watchword of “the Evangelization of the World in this Generation”.
The student missionary movement provided key leadership for Edinburgh which ultimately led to the founding of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948. Yet by then, the Evangelization of the World in this Generation was no longer their watchword. Evangelism was acknowledged, but the real action lay with the social and political agenda. Eventually, the motto became, “The world sets the agenda for the church.”
Ironically, Lausanne 74 was initiated by Billy Graham as an evangelical response to the WCC’s embrace of political and social movements. Such movements were regarded as expressions of the kingdom of God. Yet the Lausanne Covenant, largely crafted by John Stott, includes the statement championed by the WCC that ‘evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world’. The “gospel” had expanded to include social, political, cultural and economic transformation.
How does that vision compare with Jesus’ example and teaching on the movement of God?
When Jesus rose from the dead he confronted a defeated band of disciples. In just forty days he transformed them into a missionary movement. How did he do it? He took them on a journey through the whole Old Testament laying a foundation for the movement of God.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Luke 24:44–49
The kingdom doesn’t come without the King and good news of his death and resurrection and the call throughout the world to repent and receive forgiveness of sins.
When the promised Spirit comes in power and the Word goes out Luke shows us what the mission of God looks like in every age and in every place and among every people group. It’s all there in Acts 2 — disciples and churches to the glory of God, beginning in Jerusalem and spreading to every people and every place.
What about political and social transformation? Everywhere the gospel goes in Acts towns and cities are transformed — into riots. When the dust settles disciples and churches emerge. Was Jerusalem transformed? Jesus handed Jerusalem over to the judgment of God. Was the empire transformed? Paul stood before Nero in chains with nothing but the call to repent and have your sins forgiven.
I don’t know if the Lausanne movement is on the same trajectory as the WCC. Movements rise and fall, but not inevitably. The key to renewal is to return to the life and ministry of Jesus—his obedience to the Father’s Word, his dependence on the Holy Spirit and his faithfulness to the core missionary task.
Previously. . . Lausanne and the Evangelization of the World
