The Lausanne Covenant is a 1974 Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 religious manifesto

Manifesto

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...

 promoting active world-wide Christian evangelism

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

. One of the most influential documents in modern Evangelical Christianity

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

, it was written and adopted by 2,300 evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

s at the International Congress on World Evangelization

First International Congress on World Evangelization

The First International Congress on World Evangelization held from July 16–25 July 1974, is sometimes also called the "Lausanne Congress", "Lausanne '74", or "ICOWE"....

 in Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, from which it takes its name.

The original Lausanne conference brought together 2,700 Christian religious leaders from over 150 countries and was called by a committee headed by Billy Graham

Billy Graham

William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...

 of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The drafting committee for the document was chaired by John Stott

John Stott

John Robert Walmsley Stott CBE was an English Christian leader and Anglican cleric who was noted as a leader of the worldwide Evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974...

 of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. In addition to the signing of the covenant, the conference also created the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization

Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, abbreviated LCWE, is an Evangelical Christian movement that grew out of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization and promotes active worldwide evangelism. LCWE is also known as The Lausanne Movement...

. The covenant is in the form of an ecumenical confession

Confession

This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...

, in which the signatories profess their shame at having failed to spread the Gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

 of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

. The covenant specifically affirms the beliefs in the Nicene Creed

Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...

. The signatories express their intention to be more committed to spreading Christianity throughout the world. It lists fifteen specific beliefs to which the signatories testify.

The original document is in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and has been translated into at least twenty different languages. In 1989, fifteen years after the original Lausanne conference, the Second International Congress on World Evangelization

Second International Congress on World Evangelization

The Second International Congress on World Evangelization, often called "Lausanne II" or "Lausanne '89" was held in Manila.The conference is noted for producing the Manila Manifesto, a renewed and expanded commitment to the Lausanne Covenant, an influential document in modern Evangelical...

 (sometimes called "Lausanne II") convened in Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and adopted the Manila Manifesto, an elaboration of the Lausanne Covenant.

The introduction of the covenant is:

We, members of the Church of Jesus Christ, from more than 150 nations, participants in the International Congress on World Evangelization

International Congress on World Evangelization

International Congress on World Evangelization may refer to:*The First International Congress on World Evangelization held in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland*The Second International Congress on World Evangelization held in 1989 in Manila, the Philippines...

 at Lausanne, praise God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

for his great salvation and rejoice in the fellowship he has given us with himself and with each other. We are deeply stirred by what God is doing in our day, moved to penitence by our failures and challenged by the unfinished task of evangelization. We believe the Gospel is God's good news for the whole world, and we are determined by his grace to obey Christ's commission to proclaim it to all mankind and to make disciples of every nation. We desire, therefore, to affirm our faith and our resolve, and to make public our covenant.

External links

• Text of the Lausanne Covenant in English with drop-down menu to access translations