로잔세계복음화운동의 선교신학적 고찰 (상)* ―로잔언약, 마닐라선언, 케이프타운헌신을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper was designed to help the Korean church to understand what Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization is all about. In other words, it was written to encourage the Korean believers to grasp what the Lausanne movement seeks to achieve in the midst of secularism, postmodernism, and pluralism based on the Enlightenment in the 18th century. In fact, Christianity was greatly challenged by humanism, science, materialism, and various ideologies. Some great Christian leaders were awakened to recover the passion of the early church to follow the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as the legacy of the apostles like the apostle Paul. Lausanne Movement has followed the tradition of missions carried on by the Reformation, Moravianism, the Great Awakening Movement, the Great Century, and Church Growth Movement. Lausanne Movement has developed along the following theological axioms. 1. The authority of the Scriptures 2. The loss of those who are apart from Jesus Christ 3. The salvation possible only in Jesus Christ 4. Witness in word and deed 5. The necessity of evangelization The evangelical theological axiom is constant while cultural context is always changing. The Lausanne Covenant has maintained this principle from the beginning to the present. Considered theologically and historically, the Lausanne Covenant has been consistent with the Manila Manifesto and the Capetown Commitment in terms of theological positions and practical missions where Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization has sought its aim in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Lausanne documents (LC, MM, and CC) clearly reveal that God's ultimate purpose is the salvation of humans who are lost: they believe the authority of the Bible which is God's revelation and leads us to eternal life. Also, the Lausanne documents clearly state the belief in the uniqueness and universality of the Jesus Christ through whose name humans can be saved. They believe that evangelism was finally committed to the disciples of Jesus Christ to evangelize the whole world until He comes again. The Lausanne documents affirm social responsibility of Christians while emphasizing evangelism in terms of priority. In the same vein, they stress the importance of evangelism of local churches to extend God's kingdom. In doing so, all the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ need to cooperate with each other. The Lausanne World Evangelization Movement has progressed on a solid healthy biblical and theological foundation. All the Christian churches need to transform the world into the kingdom of God through effective evangelism across different cultures in the power of the Holy Spirit and through the guidance of the Holy Bible.