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In this week's SojoMail, Adam Russell Taylor writes about the Lausanne Congress's origins and how it has evolved alongside the church: “A church that is not faithful to the Gospel in all its dimensions inevitably becomes an instrument of the status quo.” Fifty years ago, Latin American theologian Rev. C. René Padilla shared these words at the first Lausanne Congress, a global gathering that brought together Christian leaders from nearly 150 countries to address challenges and opportunities in world evangelism. In his speech, Padilla made a compelling biblical case for why we can’t separate evangelism from a commitment to justice. It was a radical speech, but through dialogue with Padilla, Latin American theologian Samuel Escobar, Anglican priest (and former Sojourners contributing editor) John R.W. Stott, and other key leaders, the Congress listened and ultimately released the Lausanne Covenant. The document was a groundbreaking statement of modern evangelicalism affirming God’s “concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression.” The 1974 statement admitted humbly how far the church had neglected this concern and committed themselves to upholding the dignity of every person, “regardless of race, religion, colour, culture, class, sex or age.” Last week, as I attended the fourth Lausanne Congress in Incheon, South Korea, I was struck with how much the global evangelical movement has evolved in the past half century. Yet, I was also reminded how much global evangelicalism remains stymied by old debates, including overly narrow conceptions of evangelism.
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