LAUSANNE MOVEMENT IN CANADA

In 1974 at the time of Lausanne’s 1st Congress, Mariano DiGangi was appointed Chair of Lausanne Canada. Then 10 years later in January of 1984, Leighton Ford along with Brian Stiller and a few others formally incorporated the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization in Canada as a Registered Charity.

Over the years Lausanne in Canada has contributed to the Lausanne Movement globally by holding its own consultations on issues that have a strong Canadian connection. Canada has also generated many thought leaders who continue to influence the global stage as Lausanne Catalysts. Their papers and books on topics such as the Diaspora are leading the global discussion on the changing realities of Christian mission.

Today, as missions is now from everywhere to everyone, and those who have not come to know and follow Jesus are as near as our own workplaces and neighbourhoods, we call the Church towards what Jesus wants in how we represent Him to others, to live and proclaim the good news He made possible for all!

This will require Kingdom-mindedness, and innovative spirit.

Friendship is the Foundation of Lausanne

The story of the Lausanne Movement begins with a special friendship.

In 1955, the evangelist Billy Graham was invited to lead a mission to Cambridge University with John Stott as his chief assistant. These two young men formed a lifelong friendship, which would later lead to the launching of the Lausanne Movement.

About twenty years after their friendship began, Billy Graham perceived the need for a global congress to reframe Christian mission in a world of political, economic, intellectual, and religious upheaval. He believed this could only happen if leaders from around the world gathered to unite in ‘the common task of the total evangelization of the world’.

Graham and Stott’s friendship was foundational for the First International Congress on World Evangelization in July 1974. Over 2,400 participants from 150 nations gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, for what TIME magazine described as ‘a formidable forum, possibly the widest-ranging meeting of Christians ever held’.

From this Congress issued the biblical declaration that Billy Graham had hoped for, The Lausanne Covenant, with John Stott as its chief architect. The Covenant was to prove one of the most significant documents in modern church history, shaping evangelical thinking for the rest of the century.Throughout their lives, Billy Graham and John Stott gave peerless leadership to evangelicals around the world. We should not look for successors. Their joint work in establishing a movement that bound evangelistic passion with theological reflection, and orthodoxy with orthopraxy, has proven a watershed for evangelicals. To this day, world congresses, global gatherings, and issue-specific forums and consultations have continued to be convened in what Billy Graham called ‘the spirit of Lausanne’—a spirit of humility, friendship, prayer, study, partnership, and hope—the very spirit mirrored in his friendship with John Stott.