The Lausanne International Consultation on Nominalism meeting in the United Kingdom in December 1998 issued a four-page statement to the churches expressing a common concern about the challenges of pastoral care and evangelization posed by nominal Christianity. Sixty-five participants from 15 countries and six continents attended the consultation, organised by Christian Research of the UK under the auspices of the LCWE. Five people who agreed to identify themselves as nominal Christians discussed their views with the participants. The interviews with these five persons were video-taped by Christian Research UK. The definition of ‘nominal Christians’, based on studies of Biblical characters, was ‘those who belong to the people of God, but by their behaviours and attitudes cast doubts on that identification’. Papers on various aspects of nominalism were presented by 14 participants, including three former executive directors of LCWE: Tom Houston, Fergus Macdonald, and Gottfried Osei Mensah.
The four-page statement issued by the consultation called on churches to be more sensitive and less judgmental, simplistic, rigid, arrogant, and exclusive in relation to nominal Christians.