First International Congress on World Evangelization

==History==
The congress started as a plan announced by American [[evangelism|evangelist]] [[Billy Graham]] in August 1972 to hold an international congress on evangelism as a follow-up to the [[1966 World Congress on Evangelism]] held in Berlin, West Germany.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Wheaton College | work = Billy Graham Center Archives | title = Berlin '66 | url = http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/berlin66.htm}}.</ref> The conference was called by a committee headed by Graham and brought together religious leaders from 150 nations.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Wheaton College | work = Archives | url = http://archon.wheaton.edu/?p=collections/controlcard&id=555| title = Home &#124; Archives of Wheaton College }}.</ref> Lausanne was selected for the congress in October 1972. The congress office opened in April 1973. The theme of the congress was "Let the earth hear His voice." 

Almost 2,700 [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] [[Christianity|Christian]] leaders attended the confernce at the [[Palais de Beaulieu]] in [[Lausanne]], [[Switzerland]] to discuss the progress, resources and methods of evangelizing the world.<ref> Mark A. Lamport, ''Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South'', Volume 2, Rowman & Littlefield, US, 2018, p. 451</ref>  The reports and papers at the congress helped to illustrate the shift of Christianity's center of gravity from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia and Latin America.

[[Millie Dienert]] chaired the prayer committee at the Lausanne conference.<ref>{{cite news|title=Churchwoman to give talk|newspaper=[[The Oklahoman]]|url= https://www.oklahoman.com/article/2553590/churchwoman-to-give-talk|date=October 26, 1996|access-date=March 10, 2021}}</ref> After the congress, the [[Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization]] was established.

The conference was attended by, among others, [[Francis Schaeffer]], journalist [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] and bishop [[Jack Dain]].<ref>[https://virtueonline.org/recalling-lausanne-congress-evangelism-1974 Virtue Online website]</ref>