Lausanne World Pulse – The Reconciliation Journey to and since the 2004 Lausanne Forum

October 2007

By Dr. Samuel Barkat

At times, international gatherings and conferences may seem to amount to no more than an opportunity for participants to see old friends and listen to speeches. However, for me, the journey of preparing for, participating in and continuing the work of the Reconciliation Issue Group of the Lausanne 2004 Forum for World Evangelization in Pattaya, Thailand, has been one of the most exciting and meaningful experiences of my life.

Preparation for Pattaya

I was asked to be on the leadership team for the Reconciliation Issue Group at the 2004 Forum. This team, composed of members from several countries, different denominations and diverse organizations, met several times in preparation for the Forum. Together, among other things, we drafted a paper titled, “Reconciliation as the Mission of God.”

One of our meetings was held in Rwanda in 2004, the tenth anniversary of the Rwanda genocide. The very painful and sobering experience of learning about the genocide joined us together in a powerful way as a team to deal with the issues of reconciliation in a broken world. This experience prepared us for working with a much larger group of participants at Lausanne who came from conflict-ridden and broken places in the world.

Participation in Pattaya

It was very exciting to be with hundreds of followers of Christ in Pattaya. Clearly, the Pattaya participants took their faith, the mission of God and their own responsibilities in kingdom work quite seriously. Although I enjoyed participating in the larger plenary sessions, I found my most meaningful interactions and learning took place in the Reconciliation Issue Group.

Very solemnly and gently, the members of each cluster poured water into the basins and washed each others’ feet.

Our Issue Group included Palestinians and Israelis, Hutus and Tutsis, blacks and whites from North America and South Africa, men and women, Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox, South and North Koreans, and representatives of other groups. We listened to each others’ stories, laughed together, cried together, worked together and, above all, prayed together. The most thrilling experience at Pattaya occurred on the evening when we were scheduled to present a summary report of our work to the entire Lausanne assembly. We were faced with the dilemma of deciding how to present the results of several years of intense work in a five-minute report. Jeannette Yep and I shared our report as briefly as possible and, as much as possible, without using words. In three or four sentences we shared our vision.

Dr. Samuel Barkat is the executive director of the Institute for Collaborative Engagement, which works on issues of organizational and social change and conflict resolutions. He is an international consultant to many colleges and universities, and for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the US and overseas.