{"id":742,"date":"2010-10-21T06:07:07","date_gmt":"2010-10-21T06:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/10\/pros-cons-lausanne-congress-2010.html"},"modified":"2010-10-21T06:07:07","modified_gmt":"2010-10-21T06:07:07","slug":"pros-cons-lausanne-congress-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/10\/pros-cons-lausanne-congress-2010.html","title":{"rendered":"Pros & Cons: Lausanne Congress 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I posted<\/a> on the Lausanne Congress being held in Cape Town, South Africa right now. <\/p>\n

My good friend Mary DeMuth gave her viewpoint in this excellent post<\/a><\/b>. Mary is in Cape Town for Lausanne, and is experiencing the deep joy of being personally connected to brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world. In her post, she concludes:

<\/i><\/p>\n

So is Cape Town 2010 a giant waste of kingdom resources? Could the money
\nbe spent wiser? Perhaps. But I have a feeling as I interact with people
\nwho love Jesus from all four corners of this big world that the impact
\nin the kingdom through relationships, discussions, unity, conflict,
\nhope, and divine appointments cannot be measured by simple economics.
\nThe kingdom of God is a woman taking her most costly gift and pouring it
\nat the feet of Jesus. Perhaps that’s a better picture of Lausanne-a
\ngathering of people who pour their resources out on the feet of the
\nBroken and Scarred One, in hopes that He would further His paradoxical
\nkingdom. And it’s a testimony, too, of the many, many people who
\nsacrificed to help others to get here.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand, Simon Cozens, blogger and missionary, responded to Mary’s post with a contrasting viewpoint<\/a><\/b>. He writes:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The odd thing is that I’m normally in favour of things which promote
\nChristian unity and things which don’t necessarily have measurable
\noutcomes. But I feel that the organizers of Lausanne have so downplayed
\nthe idea of outcomes (while at the same time hyping the size, scope and importance<\/a> of the conference) that the main driver for the conference appears to be “Let’s all get together and talk about mission.” <\/i><\/p>\n

Now, I don’t know about you, but I get together with people and talk
\nabout mission almost every day, and I expect most of the attendees do
\ntoo. A global mission conference for people who <\/i>don’t spend most of their days talking about mission would be a great idea, but this isn’t it.<\/i><\/p>\n

And because there are no outcomes, paradoxically, the conference will
\nbe declared a great success. Things are always a great success if you
\ndon’t have any metrics by which to understand them; my last driving test
\nwas a great success if there wasn’t any expectation that I should pass.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Add your perspective to Mary and Simon’s thoughts about Lausanne 2010 in the comments section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I posted on the Lausanne Congress being held in Cape Town, South Africa right now. My good friend Mary DeMuth gave her viewpoint in this excellent post. Mary is in Cape Town for Lausanne, and is experiencing the deep joy of being personally connected to brothers and sisters in Christ from all over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,20,8,149],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-christianity","category-current-affairs","category-evangelical"],"yoast_head":"\nPros & Cons: Lausanne Congress 2010 - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/10\/pros-cons-lausanne-congress-2010.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pros & Cons: Lausanne Congress 2010 - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week I posted on the Lausanne Congress being held in Cape Town, South Africa right now. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. 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