Okay, today I wanted to share with you a little known document that has arisen out of Cape Town 2010. It is called "Cape Town Convictions" and was produced by the Lausanne Younger Leaders Team. I have posted it in full below with a few of my own comments in highlighted italics.
Lausanne Younger Leaders Team: Cape Town Convictions
The Lausanne Younger Leaders Team (YLT) celebrates the faithfulness and grace of God that was displayed at Cape Town 2010. It was an amazing gathering of global Christian leaders, and we are excited for the future of the global church with great hope for growing unity, humility, truth, passion for Christ and His mission, compassion for the lost and hurting, and partnership toward the whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world.
We particularly rejoiced over the fellowship in Cape Town of the 1000 leaders under the age of 40 from around the world. [Well, we did rejoice, but let's not overdo it. I mean young leaders are not the Messiah or anything. We also rejoice in our elders. In fact, we want to ask them to invest in us, to pour themselves into us more and more.] We not only represent the future of the global church, but all of the issues, challenges, and opportunities discussed and prayed about in Cape Town will impact our generation and our world more than any other generation represented at the Third Lausanne Congress.
Cape Town 2010, however, was an event, and we have a sober and hopeful conviction that the event did not exist for itself but rather to serve the vision that the Lord has given to Lausanne and to the global church. Therefore we invested a significant portion of the week of the Congress together in discussion, prayer, and consultation with younger leaders, older leaders, and valued counselors and mentors toward the goal of leaving Cape Town with a unified understanding of and commitment to our calling, our values, and our plans for the post-Cape Town years informed by what we learned and experienced during the Congress. [Wow, that was a tough sentence to get through. I think the reality is that most of us don't feel that there was enough prayer, but okay. And I'd rather us be talking about leaving Cape Town with a "unified understanding of and commitment to God's calling, God's values, and God's plans ...".] Here is a summary of those convictions.
Our Calling -
1) We reaffirm our calling to advance the purposes of God through Lausanne towards the goal of world evangelization and the whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world [Amen. Though I wish there was less dissension among the younger leaders as to what "evangelization" actually entails.]
2) We have deep conviction about the stewardship we and the Lausanne Movement have been given for global younger leaders who represent both the present and future; Cape Town will impact the younger generation more than any other; it will impact OUR world
3) We commit to participating as a vital part of the Lausanne Movement as movement - not to exist for our own perpetuation or to set up inflexible organizational structure but to facilitate relational links, facilitate dialogue & partnership, and seek to connect the greatest needs of global younger leaders with the best resources (people, ministries, information)
Our Values -
1) We reaffirm our commitment to displaying Christ-like humility and joy in words, attitudes, and actions
2) We reaffirm our commitment to Christ-honoring relationship building within the Lausanne Movement both inner-generationally and inter-generationally; in particular we commit to and ask for your continued commitment towards developing deeper trusting and entrusting relationships with the Lausanne Board and the IDD's (International Deputy Directors).
3) We reaffirm our conviction that God has called our team to trust Him first and foremost, to also trust the leadership that He has placed over us, and to ask also for the trust of the Lausanne leadership to pursue by faith the purposes and passions that He has given to us
Our Plans -
1) CONNECT
We rejoice that the Lord has provided an amazing network of global younger leaders. This YLN (Younger Leaders Network) consists of YLG '06 (Younger Leaders Gathering 2006) alumni, regional YLG alumni, Cape Town 2010 alumni, and even the possible inclusion of GlobaLink alumni. We feel a call to connect this YLN through:
a) Utilization of a younger leaders section of the Global Conversation that we hope can be a source of on-going connection and cooperation post-Cape Town; this will include the establishment of subgroups for regions, ministry area foci, and other affinity groups in multiple languages
b) Continued organizing of national and regional YLG's with IDD support focused on gathering starting in 2011 through 2014
c) Prayer and planning towards the Third Lausanne YLG in 2015
We affirm that we are not event focused, but events contribute towards the depth, breadth, and richness of the movement and its purposes.
2) INFORM
There is an evident eagerness and desire among the younger leaders to get more involved in inner-generational and inter-generational activities of Lausanne. There is also a general lack of awareness of what people can get involved in and how. Towards that end we will focus over the next year in systematic introductions of Lausanne working groups to the YLN. These will likely start with the LDWG (Leadership Development Working Group) and other groups particularly focused on and relevant to younger leaders. This will take the form of consultations with various working group leaders and clear descriptions of the vision, activities, and opportunities of these working groups for younger leaders. One working group will be highlighted every 3-4 months.
3) EQUIP
We cannot do everything, but we can focus on the most important things. We choose to focus our efforts for younger leaders in the areas of mentoring and partnerships. Mentoring is a priority as it is crucial towards the healthy spiritual development of younger leaders. Partnerships and collaboration training and facilitating is crucial towards the connecting, mobilizing, and collaboration of younger generation leaders for the purpose of the fulfillment of our vision to see the whole church bring the whole gospel to the whole world. We will focus in the years to come on three areas:
a) Mentoring through the development of the Lausanne Younger Leaders Mentoring Partnership. This will be a program sponsored by the YLT and facilitated by MentorLink and other similar ministries with potential for 1000 younger leaders partnered with 200 mentors. A dedicated website will be developed with the possibility of new research and technologies being developed to aid in this endeavor. [At Orlando 2011, the desire for mentors was among those top-tier requests given by younger leaders. So, this seems to be a very important point.]
b) Collaboration Implementation Training (CIT) will be offered as a part of the regional YLG's. This will focus on training younger leaders in how to move from vision/passion to the building of strategic ministry partnerships, all towards the goal of the whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world. In addition a core network of global younger leaders will be trained to mentor younger leaders who are currently in their teens and early 20's.
c) Resource mobilization towards the goal of world evangelization efforts in our generation. We will pray and work toward the development of a culture of generosity and stewardship through Biblically-based teaching and the strategic deployment of resources. This will be supported in partnership with the Resource Mobilization Resource Group of Lausanne and other similar groups/organizations.
We, the YLT, ask for your prayers, counsel, and support towards these endeavors. The future is at stake, and we rest assured that the future is in God's hands.
"Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - for he has done it." (Ps 22:30-31)
Michael Oh (coordinator)
Grace Samson
Adel Azmi
Gabriela Gencheva
Jacob Isaac
Marcell Steuernagel
Mark Kolo
Rike Huettmann
Marcell Steuernagel
Mark Kolo
Rike Huettmann
Remo Paul
Larry Russell (advisor)
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