"Twenty-ten has been chosen for a couple of reasons. First of all it’s the centenary celebration of the historic Edinburgh nineteen-international missionary conference, which was a truly great congress that helped to set the agenda for the twentieth century. So it’s the one-hundredth anniversary of that gathering. But also we feel that the time is right for another congress. We’re ten years into a new century, ten years into new challenges, new realities and feel that the time is right for such a congress," Birdsall told ASSIST News Service (ANS).

Birdsall was asked why Cape Town was chosen as the next venue?

"Well, we began looking for a site that would be in a part of the world that reflected some of the same impulses for mission that Scotland would have a hundred years ago, so we were looking at places like China, like Africa, other parts of Asia as well. But we really sensed that Africa as a continent was pulsating with life because of the growth, resources, confidence creative ministries also a part of the world that is faced with enormous challenges. So we want to go there for mutual benefit. The global church benefiting from all that Africa has to offer, also to provide encouragement to the African church and let them know that the rest of the world stands with them. Lausanne has never had an international gathering on the continent of Africa so we go there to learn from and to contribute to what God is doing in that continent," said Birdsall.

What are some of the challenges and opportunities Birdsall sees presented to the church at large in the 21st cebtury?

"I think the opportunity is, there are certain times when evangelicals realize that something is wrong -- we’re too fragmented, we’re too out of focus, we’re too scattered ,we’re being smashed to pieces on the rocks of individualism. That is often a signal of hope. The recognition of the problem is halfway then to beginning to find solutions to the problem. The fact that people no-one around the world disputes the fact that evangelicalism, which is big and unwieldy, is in danger of unraveling. So the challenge and the opportunity are two sides of the same coin. We’ve got the challenge of proliferation, of fragmentation, but we also have the opportunity to bring unity.

"I think secondly -- and that’s a part of the whole church -- we want to bring the whole church together, challenging but an opportunity. With respect to the whole Gospel, which is a part of our vision, is I think that there is ambivalence about the uniqueness, the truthfulness of the Gospel in this world. There’s the opportunity to reaffirm what we believe about God and his purposes in the world; and then also when it comes to the vision of the whole world it was once said that 'if everything is mission than nothing is mission.' There’s a certain sense where we’re calling everything missions, but really do we have any focus? I think that there is the opportunity for us to be much more strategic in terms of what we do, in terms of the deployment of our limited resources maximizing cooperation minimizing competition and duplication. Those are some of the challenges and opportunities before us."

ANS wanted to know what some of the negative challenges the church faces today?

"When we think of the loss of Judeo-Christian moral foundations, which really helped to build Europe and North America, and then in turn those countries had enormous influence, we see the loss of that in much of the world which I think contributes to the disintegration of the family, the loss of self discipline in communities, the specter of AIDS as it moves from Africa to India and China. We see the exploitation of children, and historically the church has been there to protect widows and orphans, the marginalized, the weak those that could not help themselves. These are issues that we cannot ignore. And that, fortunately, is a part of the heritage of the Lausanne movement -- rediscovering that we have a responsibility to all of society: holistic ministry for us to deal with those with compassion, with clarity, with hope. Those are enormous challenges."

Another factor Birdsall mentioned is that evangelicalism is much closer to the prosperity Gospel than we often recognize.

"We again because of the fact that it was strongest a hundred years ago in places of tremendous affluence, there was a certain sense in which God will bless us in material and physical ways in this life. And where the church exists in the midst of tremendous suffering, war, disease you’ll find some real heroic expressions of faith, but you’ll also find that those are the places where the prosperity Gospel is flourishing. So, whereas that serves as a narcotic as a form of denial of suffering, I think that we need to dig deep into our biblical heritage to discover the power that we have in the Gospel to be able to show the world how to live in the midst of suffering with hope."

Birdsdall was aked what he saw as the future of the church in Africa and the South World?

"I believe that the future of world evangelization in Africa and with the church in Asia is something very unique here in American culture that black people, black men are often given an opportunity to speak in a way people would accord much more respect when they speak about matters of faith, religion, spirituality. I think of the Super Bowl -- the two coaches were both African Americans as they shared their faith the announcers didn’t try to get rid of it as quickly as they could they were interested in them. A part of it is a response to the wrongs that were that were perpetrated upon Africa by the West in previous centuries. So there is an opportunity for the voice to be heard, but at the same time there are issues that have to do with the depth and maturity of the church in Africa, and African leaders are very aware of this, they’re aware of the description 'it’s a mile wide and an inch deep.' So I think that just as it takes two or three generations for the Gospel to really work its way into a community, into a family, that it will be two or three generations, and that’s why we need to think longer term. We’re too accustomed to thinking short term strategies, that as we encourage and serve the church in Africa, as it moves to greater stability, greater strength, I think that in turn the rest of the global church will benefit from that."

What is so important about Lausanne 2010?

"We don’t know of any other movement or group that has the extensive networks and the heritage that can draw people together like the Lausanne movement," said Birdsall.

"The Lausanne movement, I think largely because of the DNA the heritage of people like Billy graham and John Stott, had the ability to convene people from across a broad spectrum and in today’s world where we know that there are evangelicals within the mainline churches within the orthodox churches within the catholic communions, we know that there are people in the African independent churches, the Chinese house churches that have no way of relating to one another, and thus people in other parts of the world are not benefiting from what they have to offer and they’re not receiving what the rest of the world has to offer. Lausanne 2010 does represent great hope to bring church leaders together from every part of the church in the world to deal with both the theological issues (and) serves as a church council and also serves as a catalyst for world evangelization."

With 4,000 attendees wouldn’t that make it one of the largest such gatherings of world Christians?

"There have been many much larger gatherings of Christians, but I think that this would be a large gathering of church leaders who influence all the church so the potential, hopefully, we will have people there who will have the opportunity to reflect the realities and then shape the realities of approximately 600 million people around the world who are identified as evangelicals. So the potential impact of those 4,000, if properly selected, will be enormous."

In Malaysia last year Lausanne focused on youth and young leadership. ANS asked Birdsall who are the up and coming names of people that he could give in such a situation that Lausanne is looking at for future world leadership?

"Mark Noll, the historian now at Notre Dame, said that when history of this era is written many of us in the West will not even be able to pronounce the names so I would mention a person like Marcel Stewernagel in Brazil who God has been gifted in the arts. I think of a person like Joshua Paul in India, Vickie Calver in England, Rob Rendle in North America. These are people whose names are unknown, but in a few years will be national and international leaders. I was at the 1984 Singapore young leaders gathering. I sat on a bus one day as we were taking a tour of Singapore during the day off in the middle of that ten-day conference and I sat next to a young Baptist minister from Minnesota who I’d never met before whose name I’d never heard before. As we were talking I said remind me once again of your name he said I’m John Piper from Minneapolis. He was an unknown, but he was a part of the mix as was another unknown at that time who is the foremost leader of evangelicals in eastern Europe, probably one of the top ten evangelical leaders. If the director of that conference would have said any of the names people would have said, I don’t recognize any of them just as you probably don’t recognize many of the names I just gave you but these are people that God is raising up by virtue of bringing them together. I think they’re going to benefit from the enrichment of the Lausanne experience in the course of their careers long-term."

What does Birdsall expect will be the global impact of that congress in 2010?

"I believe that there’ll be a much greater commitment to the unity of the church I believe that there’ll be a much greater sense of clarity and respect to the message of the Gospel that we preach, and I believe that there’ll be a much greater sense of priority with respect to the things that should occupy the attention, the prayers, the resources of the global evangelical movement."

Birdsall concluded: "We certainly need the prayers of the people of God around the world, and I think as we begin to pray for unity, for wisdom that God responds, that He’ll provide the people, the ideas, the resources that will help to unite and strengthen the church for the unprecedented challenges and opportunities that we face."

** I would like to thank Robin Frost for the transcription of this interview.

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.