INFEMIT Summit Daystar University Nairobi, Kenya March 6-9, 2011

The journey since

Why 1974? International Congress of World Evangelization, Lausanne Switzerland

Lausanne plenary presentations were lauded later as powerful catalysts for an evangelical theology of holistic mission

Lausanne 1974 Rene Padilla’s “Evangelism and the World”

Lausanne 1974 Samuel Escobar’s “Evangelism and Man’s Search for Freedom, Justice and Fulfillment”

Lausanne 1974 Carl F. H. Henry’s “Christian Personal and Social Ethics in Relation to Racism, Poverty, War and Other Problems”

The need for a theology that embraced both evangelism and social concern was articulated compellingly and definitively at Lausanne ’74. But these papers merely articulated what God was already stirring in evangelical churches in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, as well as in pockets of evangelicals in Western Europe and North America. God already on the move

Lausanne 1974 Article 5 of the Lausanne Covenant, entitled “Christian Social Responsibility,” validated evangelical relief and development ministries as part of the work of the gospel in the world

Lausanne 1974 However, for many at the Congress, the Covenant did not go far enough in affirming the centrality of social justice in the work of the gospel

A Statement on Radical Discipleship was drafted to articulate more forcefully the place of social concern in the mission of the church. Nearly a quarter of the number of delegates signed it, and was also included as an Addendum to the Lausanne Covenant Theology and Implications of Radical Discipleship A number of issues have thrust themselves upon us from papers delivered in this Congress and, from the subsequent wrestling with them under the authority of God’s Word, a number of us have felt the compulsion of his Spirit to share this response. We affirm that... The evangel is God’s Good News in Jesus Christ; it is Good News of the reign he proclaimed and embodies; of God’s mission of love to restore the world to wholeness through the Cross of Christ and him alone; of his victory over the demonic power of destruction and death; of his Lordship over the entire universe; it is Good News of a new creation of a new humanity, a new birth through him by his life-giving Spirit; of the gifts of the messianic reign comtained in Jesus and mediated through him by his Spirit; of the charismatic community empowered to embody his reign of shalom here and now before the whole creation and make his Good news seen and known. It is Good News of liberation, of restoration, of wholeness, and of salvation that is personal, social, global and cosmic. Jesus is Lord! Alleluia! Let the earth hear his voice! The communication of the evangel in its fullness to every person worldwide is a mandate of the Lord Jesus to his community. There is no biblical dichotomy between the Word spoken and the Word made visible in the lives of God’s people. Men will look as they listen and what they see must be at one with what they hear. The Christian community must chatter, discuss and proclaim the Gospel; it must express the Gospel in its life as the new society, it its sacrificial service of others as a genuine expression of God’s love, in its

The Holistic-Contextual Connection It was more than coincidence that those advocating for a more socially-informed theology of mission were primarily from the Two-Thirds World

The Need for an Evangelical Theology of Mission that is both holistic and contextual As evangelical missiology continued to relegate social concern to secondary status and continued to be managed predominantly by the Western missionary establishment even after Lausanne, some began to sense the acute need to forge a holistic, contextual way of doing mission theology

Enter: The International Fellowship of Evangelical Mission Theologians (INFEMIT)

INFEMIT From its inception, INFEMIT has sought to catalyze theological reflection and action (praxis) from a holistic or integral perspective in response to contextual realities

INFEMIT As a holistic and contextual theological movement, INFEMIT has always emphasized the fact that it is mainly constituted by regional bodies

INFEMIT The three original regional bodies that made up INFEMIT were:  Partnership in Mission, Asia (PIM)  Latin American Theological Fraternity (LATF)  African Theological Fraternity (ATF)

INFEMIT One way to trace the development of INFEMIT is by its various small but important international gatherings:  “Sharing Jesus in the Two-Thirds World” – Bangkok, Thailand, 1982  “The Holy Spirit” – Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1984  “The Living God in Contemporary Life” – Kabare, Kenya, 1987  “Freedom and Justice in Church-State Relationships” – Osijek, (former) Yugoslavia, 1991

INFEMIT At the fourth gathering, INFEMIT underwent an organizational restructuring, which involved declaring Dr. Vinay Samuel as INFEMIT’s executive director

INFEMIT Another way to trace its development is through its undeniable influence on significant conferences. One of the most important and definitive of these conferences was Wheaton 1983

INFEMIT In Track III, “The Church in Response to Human Need” at Wheaton ‘83, many members of INFEMIT were instrumental in defining holistic mission in terms of Transformation

INFEMIT Mission as Transformation The definition for “Transformation” has changed somewhat since Wheaton 1983, but as of 1999, its working definition is: “... to enable God’s vision of society to be actualized in all relationships, social, economic and spiritual, so that God’s will be reflected in human society and his love be experienced by all communities, especially the poor."

INFEMIT Through various important avenues, INFEMIT has contributed greatly to the development of holistic mission around the world, not just for the evangelical missionary community, but for the whole church in mission.

INFEMIT Three of them are worth noting:

INFEMIT  Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, providing high-quality, contextual, holistic theological education

INFEMIT  Oxford Centre for Mission Studies  Transformation Journal, providing a forum for international dialogue on relevant theological and missiological issues

INFEMIT  Oxford Centre for Mission Studies  Transformation Journal  Regnum Books International, providing in-depth research to advance holistic and contextual theology and practice in the service of the church and academy

INFEMIT Through these avenues, INFEMIT continues to inform missionary praxis throughout the world. Although we can claim progress in the global church’s move toward a more holistic and contextual mission, there is still much work to do

The Future Needs INFEMIT!