The Lausanne Movement: From 1974 to Today

When delegates left Lausanne in July 1974 carrying their copies of the covenant, they were also carrying the seed of a movement. The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization was formed to continue the work of the congress, and for the next fifty years it has convened evangelical leaders, produced research, and catalyzed mission partnerships across the globe.

Lausanne II: Manila (1989)

The second international congress met in Manila, Philippines in 1989 with 3,000 participants from 170 countries. It produced the Manila Manifesto, which reaffirmed the Lausanne Covenant while extending it. The Manila congress gave more explicit attention to the relationship between the church and social transformation, addressed the challenge of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and sharpened the focus on unreached people groups. It also elevated the voices of Global South leaders who had become the majority of the world's evangelicals.

Lausanne III: Cape Town (2010)

The third congress convened in Cape Town in 2010 with 4,000 leaders from 198 countries — the most globally representative gathering in evangelical history. It produced the Cape Town Commitment, a 10,000-word document that builds extensively on the 1974 covenant. The Cape Town Commitment addressed new challenges: creation care, the integrity of the church, diaspora missions, and the rise of anti-Christian persecution. It is the most comprehensive evangelical mission document ever produced.

The Movement Between Congresses

Between its major congresses, the Lausanne Movement has produced dozens of issue groups, consultations, and papers on specific mission challenges — from urban mission to business as mission to the persecuted church. Its Lausanne Occasional Papers have become reference documents for missiologists worldwide. The movement has no membership rolls or denominational authority; it functions through the voluntary commitment of those who have signed the covenant.

The Movement's Unique Contribution

What makes Lausanne distinctive is its combination of theological seriousness and global breadth. It is not a denomination, not a mission agency, not a parachurch organization. It is a movement of conviction — the conviction that the whole church must take the whole gospel to the whole world. That conviction, first articulated in a Swiss city in 1974, continues to shape how evangelical Christians think about their responsibility to the world.