Lausanne Covenant

   The Lausanne Covenant was a doctrinal statement adopted at the 1974 International Congress for World Evangelism that reaffirmed the need for world missionary effort. The statement, which also affirmed biblical inerrancy, was a response to proposals by some Protestant leaders that the church in the West should refrain from sending more missionaries to other regions.

   The covenant was written largely by John R. W. Stott (b. 1921), pastor of All Souls Church (Anglican) in London. The congress, which met in Lausanne, Switzerland, was a global meeting designed to mobilize Evangelical Protestants to even greater efforts in the world.

   The covenant has proved a popular statement of Evangelical belief. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and adopted by a number of denominational bodies and parachurch organizations as their statement of belief.

   See also Evangelicalism.

   Further reading:

   ■ Klaus E. Bockmuehl, Evangelicals and Social Ethics: A Commentary on Article 5 of the Lausanne Covenant (Downers Grove, ill.: intervarsity Press, 1979)

   ■ C. Rene Padilla, The New Face of Evangelicalism: An International Symposium on the Lausanne Covenant (Downers Grove, ill.: intervarsity Press, 1976).