Media attention for Cape Town 2010, the global gathering held October 17-25 by the Lausanne Movement, peaked and faded. But the work of Lausanne continues.
Two key developments just one week apart:
First, on Friday Part II of the Cape Town Commitment will be released. Chris Wright and the Statement Working Group delivered Part I of the Commitment near the end of that international conference. That half-document framed a missional theology in the language of love: love for God, love for the gospel , love for God’s word, etc. The result was a doctrinal statement that moved readers beyond mental assent to passionate action.
But what action? That’s the point of Part II, which was originally promised for November. I’ll analyze Part II on Friday, and Christianity Today will also belatedly post my review of Part I (which was printed in the magazine’s December issue but somehow never got posted on its website).
Second, just last Friday we received the official invitation to attend Orlando 2011.
Set for April 4-6 in (you guessed it) Orlando, Florida, this “leadership consultation” focuses on “re-imagining and re-shaping evangelism and missions, transforming the U.S. Church toward loving God and loving our neighbors, and listening to, learning from, and partnering with the global Church in reaching the nations.”
The meeting is convened by the Mission America Coalition (the U.S. Lausanne Committee) along with the National Association of Evangelicals, the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, Campus Crusade for Christ, Vision 360, and Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Attendance at the Cape Town event was severely limited and fine-tuned to maintain balanced participation between various parts of the global Christian community (see “Who Got Invited to Cape Town and Why”). For this North American follow-up meeting there is no need to worry that North Americans will squeeze others out of the conversation, and the invitation list will be broader. Find more information on Orlando 2011 here.
