Cape Town 2010
At its biennial leadership meeting in Korea in June, the Lausanne Movement named the expositors for Cape Town 2010. This third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, will take place from 16-25
October 2010.
Doug Birdsall, chairman of the Lausanne Movement, stated that the six Bible expositors will reflect the demographic, theological and cultural composition of Cape Town
2010. ‘The congress will be truly global while at the same time being distinctly African in nuance and feel.
‘Two hundred years ago, William Carey proposed a congress of similar scope for Cape Town, South Africa. In a very real sense, Cape Town 2010 will be the fulfilment of his dream. Each day, the congress programme will begin with expositions from the book of Ephesians. The six Bible teachers we have invited to Cape Town 2010 come from six different regions of the world and represent some of the finest Bible expositors of our generation’.
Ends of the earth
The named expositors are: Ajith Fernando, director of Sri Lanka Youth for Christ; Calisto Odede, associate pastor of Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Kenya; John Piper, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, US; Vaughan Roberts, rector of St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, UK; Ruth Padilla De Borst, general secretary of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (Costa Rica); and Ramez Atallah, director of the Egyptian Bible Society, and his wife Rebecca, who has a grassroots ministry among children and Sudanese refugees in the ‘garbage village’ in Cairo.
Lindsay Brown, Lausanne Movement international director, spoke of his hopes for the congress: ‘We are hoping for clarity on the nature of evangelism; for clear-sightedness on the critical issues to be faced by the church in the next 20 years; for many new international partnerships and initiatives such as characterise the Lausanne Movement; and for decisive action, as the gospel is taken to the ends of the earth – by which we mean both the geographical ends of the earth, and every area of society’.
The expectation is that 4000 participants from 200 nations will be on site. In addition, capacity is being built for virtual participation by churches and theological colleges around the world, through the Cape Town GlobaLink.
