Jesus said of his followers: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world . . . that they may all be one.” (John 17:16, 21) He obviously did not intend for national and racial boundaries to put barriers between his followers. Yet, at Lausanne, worldly nationalistic and racial wedges were very much in evidence.

Delegates from one Asian country became upset over the presence of another Asian country’s flag left outside from an earlier convention. Certain African delegates complained that they had mostly been assigned to segregated housing. Other Africans suggested a possible ‘missionary moratorium’​—that foreigners should stay out of their country. “In a number of instances,” says Christianity Today, a strong supporter of the gathering, “participants brought to Lausanne the divisions that exist back home, and the national strategy periods were often tense and stormy.”

Congress leaders were not oblivious to such rivalries, and even called attention to them. But then the Lausanne Covenant, signed by at least 1,900 delegates and observers, and called ‘an evangelical consensus on matters that matter most,’ inconsistently included as point number five: “Evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty”! (Italics ours) Jesus’ voice says that his followers “are no part of the world,” thus prompting those who really listen to him to display a unity that transcends barriers. But the congress at Lausanne urged just the opposite course.

[Picture on page 13]

Anglican Bishop Jack Dain (left) and evangelist Billy Graham sign the Lausanne Covenant. Its first point says: “We confess with shame that we have often denied our calling and failed in our mission, by becoming conformed to the world or by withdrawing from it.”

Influenced by the World

The world​—not the Church—​is more influential in the lives of many Catholics. So the United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops notes: “At the very least, many would say that for a large number of Catholics, the influence of secular society​—and all that implies, for good as well as ill—​counts more heavily than the influence of the Church.”