FRANCIS SCHAEFFER

When Frances Schaeffer was converted to faith in Christ he at first refused to call himself a Christian because he thought Christianity was the ‘unreal stuff’ he had experienced at church. What he discovered was a whole new way of life. From then on his great desire and commitment was to tell others about God, that the Bible is true, and that it answers the big questions of life that philosophy can only raise. Schaeffer trained for the ministry and was sent, with his wife Edith, to Europe. They established child evangelism work and he developed a profound understanding of contemporary culture and the state of the church. He experienced a spiritual crisis which made faith and prayer more real to him, and founded the L’Abri Fellowship. Here, thousands of people have heard about the God who is Creator and Saviour. In his last decade Schaeffer became famous for his Christian film series and his anti-abortion stance. As Mostyn Roberts reviews the life of this man of God, variously called a prophet for his prescient analysis of trends in culture that explain where we are today, an apologist, and even a philosopher, he shows us that fundamentally Schaeffer rejoiced, to the end, in being a pastor and evangelist. ‘Francis Schaeffer, who was born exactly a hundred years ago, is arguably one of the five most important Evangelical leaders of the second half of the 20th century. This brief but excellent summary of his life and ideas is a helpful reminder of his importance. As a genuine prophet, Schaffer’s assessment of our times and of what we should be doing about them is, if anything, more relevant today than when he first wrote.’ Ranald Macaulay Founder and a director of Christian Heritage, Cambridge