Having searched the Lausanne Global Conversation for a place devoted to discussing the paper submitted by the Lausanne Theology Working Group and finding none existed, I thought I would simply create one. Understand at the outset that I am not submitting this profound and powerful document, but rather simply seeking to open up the conversation here. For those of you who have had the privilege of reading it, “The Whole Church Taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World” is a truly important, stimulating, and powerful submission — perhaps the highlight of my Cape Town 2010 reading thus far.
First things first, you may access the paper a couple different ways:
(You may also download a PDF of the full version directly from this conversation.)
I recommend reading the full version if at all possible. There really isn’t any “fluff” there — it is all substantial, important stuff. It is long to be sure, but well worth the effort. Also, from the second link, you can access a large number of wonderful “related content” on many of the topics the Theology Working Group was treating. Chris Wright and company have obviously accomplished a great labor of love for the Global Church.
Now as to the specific content, the paper is divided into three parts, corresponding to the Lausanne Movement “slogan” — “The Whole Church Taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World.” Allow me to quote fully the Working Group’s stated purpose in their work:
“When the three-fold Lausanne slogan was first used, it was probably meant primarily in a quantitative and geographical sense. It meant that the gospel should be shared with all the people who live in every place on earth. That is certainly a vital dimension of its meaning. We still face the fact that millions of the world”s inhabitants have never heard the name of Jesus Christ or the good news of the salvation that God has accomplished through him. We affirm and pray for all those whose calling focuses primarily on the world of the unevangelized, including particularly the Lausanne Strategy Working Group along with other Working Groups and Special Interest Groups within the Lausanne Movement.
Yet we recognize here that there are also qualitative dimensions to each “whole” that we need to address, and which the gospel certainly does address. The paragraphs that follow reflect our attempt to bring together both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of the Lausanne slogan that arise from the biblical texts and the story of God”s redemption of all of creation. These findings summarise some of what we learned together. They are not final or comprehensive but reflect the ongoing nature of doing theology – it is “theology on the way” and the results of the consultations of a working group. They serve as part of the Theology Working Group”s contribution to the Lausanne III Congress – Cape Town 2010.”
Now, for the sake of clearly distinguishing myself from this paper, I will save my own reflections for the comment section and my blog. But before I finish this part, I want to take the opportunity to encourage everyone who happens to be reading to use this paper well in you various contexts of mission and ministry. For me, we were able to devote a full Sunday service in a church I pastor to studying together this paper. It, of course, wasn’t enough time to get through the entire thing, but we had a tremendously fruitful time. I encourage you to do the same with this and other papers coming out of Lausanne.
And now . . . let the discussion begin!