Cape Town in Retrospect

I would guess that everyone who attended the Lausanne Congress is still processing what they learned, the individual conversations they had, and the emotions of the experience. The question of "Where do we go from here?" looms large. If Lausanne is going to be more than just a missions conference on steroids, each of us needs to seriously consider what we do as a result of Lausanne III.

While there was a major push for the North American delegation to commit to attending a follow-up meeting in Orlando in the spring, I did not hear a lot about how we could help each other determine our personal follow up. Maybe it is just too idividualized. Anyhow, I've been carving out some time to determine how God would have me respond in the wake of the conference.

First of all, I would like to share some of the highlights with as many of you as possible. In groups, over dinner (that can be taken as a not-so-subtle hint, lol), or via letter/email, etc. I hope that I can somehow convey some of the feeling of what it means to be a 21st century Christian who is part of a global body of Christ as never before experienced. You and I have opportunities prior generations never dreamed of. We the church also face unprecedented opposition and hurdles--challenges that should be tackled together.

I am also in the process of following up with some of the people I met in Cape Town. Please pray for wisdom for next steps of collaboration in at least two important opportunities--one in North America and one in Asia.

Thanks to all of you who have followed this blog. I may add some other posts from time to time and will anounce them from Facebook and possibly Twritter. (Confession, my tweets have been few and far between.)

Hunting the "Big Five"

Today was African safari time! Well, the real safaris happen hundreds of miles north of here in or near Kruger Park, but there are private game parks within a couple of hours of Cape Town that offer sightings of “the big 5” as they are called and other wildlife in a fenced, 11,000+ acre preserve.

We climbed into an open jeep-type vehicle and bumped out over the rather arid landscape surrounded by stony hills.  There were beautiful, fragile-looking springbok (something like a tiny deer with strips) all over the area. Two Cape Buffalo ignored us (fortunately, as the driver said, “If they move, we move.”). A mama and baby hippo were sleeping on a sandbar, and we saw a giraffe in the distance.  Ostriches roamed everywhere. There were several groups (not quite what I would term herds) of beautiful zebras that blended into the landscape in an amazing way (you would think the stripes would make them stand out, but they don’t).  Two huge rhinos seemed sound asleep. Two adolescent elephants were standing right alongside what passes for a road. Then we drove into the separate lion section. We almost gave up seeing them, but then finally the guide spotted a female with his binoculars. Eventually two more females and a young male ambled into view.

While it was all a bit contrived, it doesn’t seem like you have been in Africa until you have seen some of the famous wildlife. The day was a good finale to my time in Africa, especially because there was another woman on the trip who had also been at the conference. We informally debriefed our experience for the whole two-hour ride out and back.

Heading home tomorrow. I’m ready!! Looking forward to seeing you!

I will post one or two Lausanne summary/evaluation blogs in the next week or so.

Lausanne Concludes!

 Lausanne III, Global Congress on World Evangelization closed last evening with an extended time of worship and celebration of communion together. Then over 4,000 delegates left for their homes in almost 200 countries around the world. I believe that all of us return with a deeper commitment to work toward reaching every one of earth’s 7 billion people with the gospel, and for doing so with bold proclamation accompanied by acts of mercy and justice.

My final day was highlighted by several exciting conversations. There were good profitable discussions with a couple of missions pastors. The leader of the evangelicals of the Philippines would like to get a simplified version developed for his country in time for me to come to the Philippines in May to share it at the national Call2All conference that will draw church leaders from all over the island. This is exciting! I also chatted with a man who, I was told, is something of the founding father of missions in Korea—a very self-effacing gentleman, still training missionaries even though he appears to be in his senior years.

Saturday at Lausanne

Our morning sessions today focused around issues of humility and integrity. One emphasis was on the prosperity gospel, a huge problem in much of the developing world. (Prosperity gospel theology teaches that if you give to God, i.e. to your pastor or leader, God will bless you with riches and health.)While we don't subscribe to this devastating doctrine, we in the West have our own sins of pride, power, and greed.

I talked at break with the head of The Seed Company (a division of Wycliffe Bible Translators), at lunch with a beauitful, young woman running a preschool in Zimbabwe, and at dinner with a German who is thinking through how to practice more intentional marketplace evangelism at home and globally. Talk about three different perspectives!

Friday at Lausanne

This will be a short post as (along with pretty much everyone else here), I am totally exhausted. Today's focus was on unity from Ephesians 4 and on the continent of Africa this evening, along with a highlight on reaching children and youth. The African music was lively!

This morning there was a presentation on the unreached people groups that generated some significant objections from a couple of directions. Unfortunately, the information was not at all accurate, and the manner in which the challenge was presented left many of us with some significant concerns. But in a group of this size, there are bound to be a lot of different opinions and approaches. I guess it is an opportunity to practice some of the unity we studied this morning in Ephesians.

For whatever reason, the Lausanne leadership team has decided that they will not announce extra meetings, so the church mobilization/partnership meeting included just a few people I had talked with personally. Their situations varied widely, so it was an interesting informal discussion but pretty limited. I trust it was encouraging to the handful who were there.

Sightseeing Day for Lausanne Delegates

Despite the fact that it rained off and on, we had a delightful day driving down the Cape peninsula on a route that resembles the pictures I’ve seen of the Big Sur drive in California. We stopped at the lighthouse at the southern tip where you stare out to sea and realize the next land mass is Antartica! The cliffs plunge hundreds of feet into the sea, the waves crash onto rocky shores interspersed with beautiful beaches (the water is really cold, we are told), and the land is dotted with many beautiful spring flowers in bloom. We snapped pictures of wild ostriches and cute little penguins. Our driver/guide was a lovely Christian lady with a heartwarming testimony of how God has freed her from bondage to fear and given her a happy heart and a joy in sharing the beautiful area with tourists who visit. It was a relaxing day, and a needed change of pace between intense days of meetings.

Please pray for me tomorrow. Since there were no breakout sessions on church mobilization among the several hundred offerings, I have gotten permission to gather interested people during dinner tomorrow night. I have no idea if the information will be circulated in any fashion or if anyone will come, but I hope that we can gather at least a few people for the discussion.

Wednesday at Lausanne III

John Piper began the day today with a powerful challenge from Ephesians 3 focusing on the role of the church in reaching the nations, especially through suffering and prayer. There’s insufficient space or time here to unpack what he said, but I would encourage you to download his short message when it is posted online. His challenge was followed by an incredible testimony by Libby Little, whose husband was one of the 10 killed in Afghanistan just two months ago. She gave an illustration about the Nuristani goat cheese that you really need to listen to online. Wow! God really touched my heart with both of these messages.

The afternoon “dialog session” that I attended stimulating my thinking in some new directions about the financial aspects of partnership. In my small group were leaders from Kenya, Turkey, and Sri Lanka. Listening to their insights stretched my perspective about the difficulties faced by the church in the developing world. It was just the kind of interaction that I had hoped to benefit from here. The only problem was that it was too short.

A very stimulating discussion with a Canadian leader over dinner was probably worth the whole trip. The report he shared with me about how teams of young adults (including him and his wife) are moving into some of the neediest neighborhoods of the cities of Canada to live their lives alongside immigrants was tremendously exciting. I can’t wait to hear more. I am hoping he can come to Catalyst’s Interchange Conference in December.

As has been true each evening, we were treated to incredible worship led by an international team that presents music in multiple languages and uses musical styles from various places. It is so much fun to look around and see a woman in a beautiful sari clapping and singing a Latin worship song, or an Asian and an African with their arms over each other’s shoulders moving in the traditional manner of a Jewish praise number. This really is like standing on the edge of heaven’s glories as the multitude of peoples all join in praise to the Lamb of God!

We are all really tired and glad that tomorrow is our “day off” for sightseeing and resting.

Tuesday at Lausanne

Today’s theme was reconciliation, and there were powerful calls to respond to the tremendous brokenness and injustice of our world. We were reminded of the terrible plight of the Dalits of India—a totally disenfranchised people among whom, it is estimated, there are 25 million slaves, many of them children. We watched a young Arab woman stand beside a young Israeli man and tell how they could love each other only through Christ’s grace and transformation. We listened as a Rwandan told how God miraculously could heal the bitterness in the hearts of those who lost their families in the terrible Rwandan genocide.  Truly, only the power of God’s love and healing can bridge these situations in our hurting world.

In the evening, testimonies were shared by two Africans not only living with AIDS but who have created ministries to reach out to others suffering from this disease. Among the reports of pain were also stories of how God was working, especially in the Middle East today. At my table, a young Croatian shared how he found Christ even though his father was a Muslim imam who initially threw him out of the house, and how now many in his family have subsequently come to Christ.

 It was a day of celebration of victories but also of powerful challenges to share the pain of a tortured world. So much suffering demands that the church boldly express the love of a Savior who died to set people free. I know that many of us soberly considered how God could use us in a greater way to mend the broken.

I had some great individual conversations today too. For example, at dinner, I had the privilege of spending some extended time with Steve Richardson, the director of Pioneers, one of the premiere mission agencies in the US today.  It was helpful to hear some of the passion and challenges of an agency on the forefront of reaching some of the least reached places. I met another woman with a vision to create a new associate to support and train people around the world doing prison ministry.

The picture below does an injustice both to the size of the room and the power of the changing images that serve as a backdrop to the  speakers as projected on the giant screens. But the statement, "God is on the move" has been powerfully demonstrated.

Monday at Lausanne Congress

The conference began in earnest today with morning Bible study in the book of Ephesians (we have been asked to study Ephesians for the past year) and discussion around our tables. Then we tackled the issue of “Truth in a Pluralistic World” with multiple presentations and discussion time. After lunch I attended a large group session on media. Probably most interesting in that series of presentations was the creative development of materials geared for Christians to use with a discussion group they gather after watching a major-release film. “United Africa” is such a major motion picture that can be used by Christians to create “public square” interaction about societal values.

All the delegates from the US met for a session late in the afternoon. This was primarily to “prime the pump” about how we could follow up after the congress to keep moving forward.

The evening session focused on what God is doing in Asia, and concentrated prayer on the persecuted church. A young woman of 18 gave a powerful testimony of spending her childhood in North Korea, then fleeing with her family to China where her parents became Christians and her mother died. Her father decided that God was calling him to carry the gospel back to his people in North Korea. Leaving his only child with a Christian family in China, he went back into the North and was eventually arrested and never heard from again. This young woman eventually responded to God’s love herself and with her voice breaking, she shared how she has committed her life to reaching the people of North Korea. The crowd of 5,000 rose to give her a standing ovation in respect for the power of her testimony of God’s love in her life.

Thanks to your prayers, I’m feeling better but tired from a long day. I’ll try to get some pictures tomorrow, although there is no way to capture the impact of believers from 198 countries praising God together or filling the hallways and meeting rooms with discussions in a multitude of languages.

Lausanne III Has Begun!

This afternoon the sessions began with a reported 4200 delegates and another 1100 stewards and observers from 198 countries. We began in our table groups of six people. One of the major goals of the conference is to be interactive, so we will spend extended time in our small groups. Mine is comprised of our leader who is the head of the Evangelical Association of the Philippines, a retired Korean Marine general who heads a ministry to Korean military personnel, an older gentleman from the UK who heads a movement of “warehouse churches” which has expanded around the world, a businessman from Germany who wants to expand his impact in the marketplace, and me. (Our 6th person wasn’t there.) It should make for some interesting dialog!

The evening was the official launch of the Congress with a wonderful welcome from South Africans complete with an interesting blend of musical styles, national dress, and dance.

Earlier today I spent some time with a missionary couple working with Muslims in the city. What a tremendous heart they have to reach the growing population of Muslims who immigrate to Cape Town from all over the world as well as South Africans that are being converted (often for monetary reasons such as the fact that traditional funerals can almost bankrupt a family, but Muslims practice very simple, inexpensive burials).

Thanks for your prayers. I have battled some health issues since I arrived, so please pray that I can feel really well for tomorrow’s sessions.

Sightseeing in the Western Cape

We've done some touring prior to the Conference. Yesterday we saw a little of Cape Town and today we had a tour of some of the beautiful and historic agricultural and wine growing areas. I was surprised to discover that along with the Dutch, the French Huguenots settled this area, bringing Christianity to the slaves. Sadly, little of their influence remains.

Meanwhile, the Congress is getting ready to launch on Sunday afternoon. Some challenges of translation, scheduling, and transportation are still to be overcome. Pray for the coordinating team that is struggling to have everything working smoothly by then.

This statue stands outside the last prison where Nelson Mandela was held and from where he made the "long walk to freedom."

Cape Town Delegates Are Arriving

People are pouring into Cape Town literally from all corners of the earth. It was fun to stand in the registration hall today and watch people come in. Delegates were running up to people they had not seen for years because they live in different places. I think it must resemble what goes on in heaven all of the time.  “So great to see you! I haven’t seen you for so long!” I kept hearing.

Cultures made the greetings very different too. There were Africans exuberantly hugging and slapping each other on the back. There were Europeans shaking hands. And over in another direction you would see Asians greeting each other with big grins and bows.

Unfortunately the China delegation has been denied permission to travel by government officials. However, one American working there was telling me today how God has already brought tremendous benefit from the Congress for these Chinese leaders. In the months leading up to the Congress, many of the Chinese church delegates (many of them significant leaders in some of the various church networks)began meeting and working together for missions in a way that has never happened before. People who had never joined their efforts realized that they needed each other. One person told me that some of these Chinese leaders have decided to hold their own conference since they were denied permission to come to Cape Town. God may want to do far more by bringing together the leaders of the growing, powerful Chinese church than in having them physically in Cape Town.

Pray that this time will be productive. Everyone is a little unsure of just what will happen and how they will be able to contribute. But there is an eagerness to see long-term effectiveness result.

Off to Cape Town

Thanks so much for your prayers. Steve Weir got the netbook functioning correctly. And I was able to participate in my uncle's funeral yesterday. The final crazy details this morning and then Chieko takes me to the airport. Please pray that I can sleep on that 17 1/2 hour flight from Washington DC to Johannesburg! Pray for safety for delegates flying from all corners of the globe.

Next post from Cape Town!

Last Minute Challenges

Why are there always multiple snafus when you are getting ready for a trip? Right now it is computer challenges. I'm taking a netbook to S Africa, and can't get it set up correctly. Please pray for patience and the right tech advice. Thanks!

Visa Problems

Delegates to the Congress from a large East Asia country are having difficulty obtaining their visas to travel to South Africa. Pray that God will change the attitudes of those who are blocking approval.

Blessing Cape Town

The fact that 5,000+ missions personnel are descending on their city doesn't seem to have been widely publicized in Cape Town. perhaps because there isn't room to accommodate visitors in the hall. But please pray that this Congress will have a beneficial impact on this city and the country of South Africa.

South Africa is a nation with great potential and great needs. Racial relationships are vastly improved from the apartheid days, but there are still huge economic, educational, and social gaps. Multiple quasi-Christian sects delude hundreds of thousands. HIV/AIDS is a huge problem. Muslim and Hindu minorities are largely unreached.

Ask God to ignite a new fire of evangelism in this land and to use the Congress to feed the flame.

Six Key Topics

Here are the six key topics for the Cape Town Congress:

Truth

Truth Matters, Stand Up for Truth

Witnessing to Christ in a Secular Culture

Reconciliation

Rediscovering the Gospel of Reconciliation

World Faiths

Bearing Witness to the Love of Christ with People of Other Faiths

Priorities

World Evangelization in the 21^st Century

 Integrity

Calling the Church back to Humility

Partnership

Partnering in the Body of Christ toward a New Global Equilibrium

Please pray that discussions around these topics will be honest, fruitful, and will lead to clear outcomes.

How to Pray for Cape Town 2010

Bringing together over 4,000 delegates from literally the four corners of the globe is no easy task. Here are some ways you can pray:

1. For unity among the very international team that is coordinating this Congress. As pressure increases during these last two weeks prior to the start, ask God to give them strength, grace, and wisdom.
2. For visa approvals for those coming from countries that are not friendly to the gospel. Ask God to powerfully move in the hearts of officials to approve these visa applications.
3. For speakers and small group leaders who are finishing preparations. Ask God to guide even in the small details that will help make the Congress of greatest benefit and impact.
4. For plans already underway to continue the networking and outworking of Cape Town into the months and years to come.

Thanks for praying with me about these things.

Cape Town 2010 Overview

What is Cape Town 2010 all about? Also known as the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, this gathering of Christians from almost every nation on earth is designed to further the collaboration of the church of Jesus Christ in proclaiming His Name and building His Kingdom at the farthest corners of the globe and to every man, woman, and child.

Approximately 4,000 delegates from around the world will gather October 17-24 to discuss major issues confronting the church as we obey Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations. You can read much more about the Congress at http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010 and download papers on each of the major topics. You are also invited to be part of the global conversation about this topics--the website will connect you to these ongoing dialogs.