The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization: Cape Town 2010 was an event that lefts its strong mark on the 4.200 participants. The torches and flames from Cape Town will, in turn, spur fresh visions and create many bush fires in regions, countries, towns and villages. An essential factor in spreading the experiences and new insights is to have them published in various corners of the world and in various languages. We have already completed a printed version (in the Didasko Files) of The Cape Town Commitment, and soon there may also be a major volume reporting on Cape Town.
The Danish participants in Cape Town were quick to gather their reflections on Cape Town in a booklet with “Challenges and Glimpses from Lausanne III in Cape Town: For God so Loved the World”. The book is available from the Danish Missionary Council ([email protected]). The many contributions deal with some of the big issues like reconciliation, powerlessness as strength, the unengaged and Diaspora. In addition, excited participants tell about the table group experience, about the Chinese who did not come, and about the global Pentecostal movement. A major chapter looks critically at the evangelical movement in light of Lausanne III. The booklet also contains a Danish translation of the first part of The Cape Town Commitment. The second part has now also been translated so that the whole document is available in Danish from the Danish Missionary Council.
The Cape Town Commitment has also been translated in Norway. It is an important part of a major book on “Transforming Mission. Reflections and Visions from Lausanne III”. The book is available from the Norwegian Council on Mission and Evangelism ([email protected]). This book contains contributions on the Cape Town event as such, but the emphasis is on dealing with the major issues in mission and evangelism in light of Lausanne III. These issues include “God’s Footsteps in the World” and the “Spread of Christianity and Christian Mission in a Changed World”. Then follow articles on truth and integrity, the Christian faith and other faiths, reconciliation and unity, globalisation, persecution, diaspora, discipleship, mission to the Jews, Christians and the media, and building local leadership. The book thus covers the whole field of mission in the 21st century.
Also in Norway, the latest issue of the Norwegian Journal of Missiology highlights the three major mission conferences in 2010: Tokyo, Edinburgh and Cape Town. The journal, available from [email protected], includes the English-language versions of The Cape Town Commitment, the Tokyo 2010 Declaration, and the Edinburgh 2010 Common Call. The three events are reviewed and brought to dialogue with one another. An important perspective for the editors is for the readers to lay aside the usual stereotypes of the various mission movements and look at similarities rather than differences. The journal also contains an article about how the Edinburgh 1910 centenary was celebrated in Norway.
A major series on mission in the 21st century is in progress and will also include volumes on Tokyo, The Lausanne Movement and the joint celebration of Edinburgh 1910. Six volumes have already been published in a project that could become the major series on mission in our century. The series has grown out of the worldwide centenary celebration of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference. The essential work and legacy of this conference were the findings of eight think-tanks or ‘commissions’. These findings can today be found on the shelves of mission libraries around the world. The centennial celebration last year therefore used a similar model and set in motion study groups on nine themes identified as being key to mission in the 21st century. Reports from these study groups have been compiled in one of the first volumes in the Regnum Edinburgh 2010 Series under the title Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today. The reports were then discussed in a major event in Edinburgh 2010 that brought together people from all corners of the church universal, including quite a number from Lausanne and the World Evangelical Alliance. The report from this event has been published under the title Edinburgh 2010: Mission Today and Tomorrow.
Four other volumes in the series are already available. The publications reflect the ethos of Edinburgh 2010 and intend to make a significant contribution to ongoing studies in mission. The material published in this series will reflect a diverse range of views and positions. The series editors hope in this way to encourage conversation between Christians and encourage collaboration in mission. The volumes are intended for study and reflection in both the church and the academy. Copies of the series will be placed in 20-30 major libraries of mission and theology around the world.
Many of the forthcoming titles will relate to the nine study themes (including foundations for mission, Christian mission among other faiths, mission spirituality and authentic discipleship, mission and postmodernities) while other titles will explore missiological thinking within the major confessions. In addition there will be titles on mission and the next generation, mission at and from the margins, Bible and mission, and mission and reconciliation. And the series will, as I said, include volumes reflecting on major 2010 events in Tokyo and Cape Town. The plan is to bring the series to completion in 2013.
The series is edited by myself (Knud Jorgensen, chair of the Edinburgh 2010 Study Process Monitoring Group), Wonsuk Ma, the director of Regnum Books International and of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Kirsteen Kim, Edinburgh 2010 Research Coordinator, and Tony Gray, Words by Design. The current list of titles and details for ordering can be found at http://www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum/list.php.
Knud Jørgensen is an adjunct professor at MF Norwegian School of Theology and at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong.
This article was published as part of the Anniversary reflections one year after Cape Town 2010: The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.