In 1974 evangelical Christians from around the world gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland for a congress on the meaning of evangelical. It was called The International Congress on World Evangelization. There were 2,473 participants from 150 countries and 135 Protestant denominations.
From the congress came the Lausanne covenant, a statement of faith that purports to be “a covenant with one another, and a covenant with God himself.” It covers fifteen sections, including, in order:
1. The Purpose of God
2. The Authority and Power of the Bible
3. The Uniqueness and Universality of Christ
4. The Nature of Evangelism
5. Christian Social Responsibility
6. The Church and Evangelism
7. Co-operation in Evangelism
8. Churches in Evangelistic Partnership
9. The Urgency of the Evangelistic Task
10. Evangelism and Culture
11. Education and Leadership
12. Spiritual Conflict
13. Freedom and Persecution
14. The Power of the Holy Spirit
15. The Return of Christ
Introducing a series of essays (The New Face of Evangelicalism: An International Symposium on the Lausanne Covenant) published in 1976 that elaborated on the covenant’s articles, C. René Padilla wrote the essays are
a proof that Evangelicalism on the whole is no longer willing to be identified as a movement characterized by a tendency to isolate evangelism, in both theory and practice, from the wider context represented by the nature of the Gospel and the life and mission of the Church. (p. 10–11)
After affirming commitment to reach the unevangelized and the expected articles in a statement of this type, he notes:
But the Covenant goes far beyond that to show that biblical evangelism is inseparable from social responsibility, Christian discipleship and church renewal….No one would claim that socio-political concern was a new discovery for evangelicals at Lausanne. The fact remains, however, that Christian social responsibility (as grounded in the doctrine of God, the doctrine of man, the doctrine of salvation and the doctrine of the Kingdom and therefore inextricably connected with evangelism) is given in the Covenant a place of prominence that can hardly be regarded as characteristic of evangelical statements. (p 11)
Further, addressing article 5, Christian Social Responsibility, Padilla writes,
[T]he recognition that Christians should share God’s concern ‘for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men from every kind of oppression’ and that ‘evangelism and socio-political involvement are both parts of our Christian duty…leaves no room for a lopsided view of the mission of the Church. (p 11–12)
This is the “truncated gospel” you’ve heard tell of.
I’m no expert on the history of evangelicalism or of Lausanne, but when I picked up Padilla’s book a couple of months ago, I was immediately struck by how deeply these articles resonated with me, especially article 5. Here, in its entirety:
We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all men. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression. Because men and women are made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, colour, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he or she should be respected and served, not exploited. Here too we express penitence both for our neglect and for having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive. Although reconciliation with other people is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty. For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and Man, our love for our neighbour and our obedience to Jesus Christ. The message of salvation implies also a message of judgment upon every form of alienation, oppression and discrimination, and we should not be afraid to denounce evil and injustice wherever they exist. When people receive Christ they are born again into his kingdom and must seek not only to exhibit but also to spread its righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous world. The salvation we claim should be transforming us in the totality of our personal and social responsibilities. Faith without works is dead.
(Acts 17:26,31; Genesis 18:25; Isaiah 1:17; Psalm 45:7; Genesis 1:26,27; James 3:9; Leviticus 19:18; Luke 6:27,35; James 2:14-26; John 3:3,5; Matthew 5:20; 6:33; 2 Corinthians 3:18; James 2:20)
With the recent rush to condemn “social justice,” even that which is biblically defined (as above), we are at a crossroads. Evangelicalism in some parts is returning to a time when Christianity is that which meditates much but mediates little, holding aspiration of the ivory tower but avoidance of the street, an emphasis on the spiritual but dismissal of the physical. Padilla’s hope (pg. 15) that “Evangelicalism has taken a stand against the mutilated Gospel and the narrow view of the Church’s mission that were defacing it, and has definitely claimed for itself a number of biblical features that it had intended to minimize or even destroy” may, in the end, find itself dashed on the stones anyway.
fides quaerens intellectum
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