The Rev is in Cape Town at Lausanne’s Third World Congress on World Evangelisation. Despite some settling in issues; the Wi-Fi system in the Convention Centre couldn’t cope with over 4,000 users trying to access it simultaneously and trying to locate 150 people from the South Pacific Region among 5,000 people walking through the halls while bumping into someone he knew every 2 or 3 paces, The Rev is revved and ready to go (sorry couldn’t resist).
Here’s his roundup of the first few days:
Saturday evening we attended a reception at Silverhurst Estate with 120 people and heard from Stefan Gustavsson, who spoke on Secularism and the New Atheism.
Sunday morning I preached at a church south east of Cape Town and in the evening the Opening Ceremony gave us a grand welcome to Africa!
Each morning starts with a Bible Study from the book of Ephesians.
Monday’s theme was “Truth” which forms the basis for the rest of the week’s discussions because everything rests on our clear grasp of Christ. We grapple with making the case for the truth of Christ in a pluralistic, globalised world. We ended the afternoon with a meeting of all the delegates from the South Pacific Region to think about some of the issues that affected us and what we might start to do about them.
Each evening there is a session looking at how God is at work in a particular part of the world. Monday was dedicated to Asia followed by a session on the ‘Suffering Church’ and ‘Religious Freedom.’
Tuesday’s theme was “Reconciliation”. The Congress’ overall theme is “God in Christ: reconciling the world to himself”. So having established the case for the Truth of Christ it was good to turn to this theme. We saw a powerful drama on the effects of war and the conflict soldiers face as they “obey” orders and kill. Issues of reconciliation were addressed in the areas of ethnic, religious and gender divides. The last session for the afternoon allowed people to choose from 1 of 24 topics to spend time discussing how we might sharpen our skills in the context of our ministries. The day concluded with a focus on the Middle East and the global issues of HIV/Aids and human trafficking.
The Rev is thinking and talking about how to make a difference in the world. How to get God’s Word into the hands of people who need and want it.
Do you think he can make a difference? Can you make a difference? What can you change or influence?
What do you think?
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Tough call on trying to influence the whole world Rev, I like the ambition though. We might need to discuss this with some higher authorities. Maybe the kind who own the place. I’ll get back to you if He gives me any ideas.
In the mean time I’ll stay focused on influencing the people I know
Good to hear that you have been in Cape Town. We have just spent two weeks there because my grandson married a South African lady. Her father is a pastor of a church in Athlone, and she is trying to get herself and her children out to australia to live with her new husband and the extended family. We saw so many people who just love Jesus and want to make Him known. We also went to a Soup Kitchen at Elsies river. What an experience to see those kids and people line up for a feed, stand quietly while grace was said, and accept a handout telling them about Jesus. What a great experience this was for our family.
Wonder if the Rev is dissapointed he didnt get the National CEO gig?