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THE STORY OM GRE4T CHRISTEN /MOHż/HENT

JOHN STOTT ■ ED DAYTON ■ CLIVE CALVER BONG RIN RO ■ BILLYGRAHAhK & OTHERS

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2023 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/evangelicalsilluOOOOalla

THE EVANGELICALS: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

EVANGELICALS-COMMITTED TO A TASK At the heart of the Christian faith is an affirmation: “That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them’’ (2 Corinthians 5:19, NIV). We were made for fellowship with God, but because of our rebellion and sin against him, we have become separated from God and his blessings. Christ, however, came to take away our sins and our judgment through his death on the cross. By faith in him we can be forgiven and restored to a personal - and eternal - relationship with God our Creator. This is the good news of the Gospel. At the heart of the Christian faith, however, is also an imperative: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation’’ (Mark 16:15). We are not meant to live for ourselves; Christ has commanded us to tell others of his saving and transforming power. Thus evangelicals have always given priority to evangelism. Evangeli­ cals may disagree on some minor points of doctrine or practice, but they unite on their common commitment to evangelism. When evangelism has been neglected in the history of the Church, the Church has become ingrown, losing its spiritual vitality and influence. When evangelism has been given priority the Church has grown, both statistically and spiritually. Its vision has been lifted, individual believers have become revitalized, and countless people outside of Christ have come to know him in a personal way. “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” asked the Apostle Paul. "And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14). Across the ages God’s plan to' call out a people for his name has not changed. Neither must our commitment to evangelism.

DR. BILLY GRAHAM

THE EVANGELICALS: An Illustrated History Commentary by J. D. Allan

MÄKK BUlUTT •«■...

Th* C;« • • Cincinnati Bible

Exeter, U.K. THE PATERNOSTER PRESS

BAKER BOOK HOUSE Grand Rapids, U.S.A.

'

Copyright © 1989 World Evangelical Fellowship

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of THE PATERNOSTER PRESS AUSTRALIA: Bookhouse Australia. Ltd., P.O. Box 115, Flemington Markets, NSW 2129 SOUTH AFRICA: Oxford University Press, P.O. Box 1141, Cape Town

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Allan, John, 1950 — The evangelicals : an illustrated history. 1. Christian Church. Evangelical I. Title 270

ISBN 0-85364-499-3

Photoset in Great Britain by Photoprint, Torquay, Devon, and printed for The Paternoster Press, Paternoster House, 3 Mount Radford Crescent, Exeter, Devon, and Baker Book House, P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI. 49516-6287, U.S.A.

CONTENTS Chapter One : THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS

1

Chapter Two : A PROTEST MOVEMENT

13

Chapter Thr ee: WARS, PERSECUTIONS, REVIVALS

27

Chapter Fou r: LAND OF THE SAWDUST TRAIL

39

Chapter Fiv e: AN AFRICAN RELIGION

53

Chapter Six : FROM ESKIMOS TO ABORIGINES

69

Chapter Sev en: ‘ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD’

75

Chapter Eig ht: EVANGELICALS MEET THE ORIENT

87

Chapter Nin e: RUSSIAN DARKNESS, PENTECOSTAL FIRE

101

Chapter Ten: GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR

115

Chapter Elev en: UNITY AROUND THE WORLD

135

SOURCES OF PICTURES

We would like to acknowledge the courtesy, helpfulness and generosity of a large number of organizations and societies in the preparation of this book. There has been all too little space to provide a just appreciation of their work alongside their pictures. Enquiries about any particular group can be sent via the national evangelical fellowship of the country concerned, or information can be sought from World Evangelical Fellowship, 1 Sophia Rd., 07—09 Peace centre, Singapore 0922. All attempts have been made to credit sources of copyright pictures. We would be grateful for advice if any ommissions have unwittingly occurred.

Africa Inland Mission: 7, 59 (top right), 62, 66 (top), 68, 152, 154. Assemblies of God, Great Britain: 110, 112. UK Band of Hope Union: 3 (left), 10, 11, 46, 55, 61, 70 (bottom;, 74, 84 (bottom), 117, 118, 119 (top), 125, 126 (left), 138. Barnaby’s Picture Library: 27, 28 (top), 29 (left), 120 (top). Bible Churchmen’s Missionary Society: 15 (smaller), 56-7, 60 (top right), 91. Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship: 77, 82, 83 (top). Bible Society: 15 (larger). Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College: 39, 40, 41 (bottom), 42 (bottom), 47 (top), 48 (bottom), 49, 50, 51, 59 (top left), 73, 100, 113, 119 (bottom), 124, 132-3, 140 (both), 150-1, 153 (top). Camera Press: 3 (top), 19 (top), 65 (bottom), 104 (left), 145. Church Missionary Society: 53, 54, 58, 69. Corinium Museum, Cirencester, England: 10. Peter E. Cousins: 52 (bottom). Dohnavur Fellowship: 75, 83 (bottom), 85. European Christian Mission: 104 (right), 144, 146, 149. Evangelical Alliance of Great Britain: 10, 102-3. Evangelical Library (London): 6, 16, 17 (left), 18, 19 (bottom), 20, 21 (top), 22, 28 (right), 31, 32, 33 (right), 34 (top left and bottom), 38, 41 (top two), 42 (top), 43, 44 (top), 45, 48 (top), 59 (bottom), 60 (margin), 64, 78, 88, 89 (bottom), 116 (both), 121, 127, (top), 132, 148. Greenbelt Festivals: 153 (bottom). Japan Evangelistic Band: 87, 98 (all), 142. Keston College: 101, 105 (all), 106—107 (top four). Anthony N.S. Lane: 1, 4, 13, 14, 17 (right), 21 (bottom), 26, 44 (bottom). London City Mission: 128 (top), 134 (both). London Mennonite Centre: 23, 24. The Mansell Collection: 30, 126 (right), 129 (top). Mildmay Mission Hospital: 121. Mission Aviation Fellowship: 52 (top), 147, 153 (middle). Over­ seas Missionary Fellowship: 88 (top), 95. Rwanda Mission (CMS): 60 (top left), 63, 65 (top), 66 (bottom). Salvation Army: 3 (right), 129 (lower). Scripture Union: 99, 107 (bottom), 127 (lower two). Shaftesbury Society: 115, 128 (lower two). South American Missionary Society: 106-7 (bottom), 109 (both), 111. The Wesley Museum, London: 33 (left), 34 (right), 47 (bottom), 137 (all). World Council of Churches: 143 (bottom). Worldwide Evangelistic Crusade: 90. Cover photographs: front: Nineteenth century picture from Salvation Army; Glen Hoddle from Allsports; Amy Grant from Greenbelt Festivals; Tanzanian pastors from Church Missionary Society. Back: Both from Billy Graham Center, Wheaton.

CHAPTER ONE

An arena where early Christian martyrs are known to have lost their lives.

1

What is an ‘evangelical’? The word conjures up very dissimilar pictures in the minds of

different people. Some think of brash, loud-mouthed, self-obsessed preachers like Elmer Gantry; or of unctuous, sanctimonious Noncon­ formist clergymen in the novels of Charles Dickens. To other people, the ‘evangelicals’ are associated with noble causes — whether cam­

paigning against slavery, aiding prisoners, or running rescue mis­ sions — or with childhood memories of Sunday school teachers and pencils with texts written on them. Those who read the newspapers may remember that Jimmy

Carter, when President of the USA, was proud to be known as an

evangelical; that several other Presidential contenders, not to men­ tion sports stars and popular entertainers, have since claimed an evangelical ‘born again’ experience; that ‘evangelical’ churches in some parts of the world, such as Korea and Latin America, have built

congregations running mto tens of thousands. Our newspaper reader may also remember vaguely that evangeli­ calism is often accused of having something to do with the origins of

apartheid in South Africa, that evangelical missionaries are some­ times accused of destroying unique tribal cultures by trying to

convert the natives, that television evangelists have been the focus

of allegations of misuse of money and sexual hypocrisy. What is the truth of it all — and where has this thing come from? What is an

evangelical?

Good news The word itself is not much help. It comes from the Greek euangelion, which means ‘good news’ — especially, in the New Testament, the

gospel, the heart of the Christian message. And at first the word

‘evangelical’ was used simply to refer to the four Gospels in the New Testament. But early in the sixteenth century, when some rebel

thinkers began to believe that the Church had slipped a woefully long way away from the genuine Christian message, they started to

use the word to stand for what they themselves believed in — the original Christianity of the apostles and the early Church. So ‘evangelical’ came to mean a return to basics, a desire to be faithful to the spirit of the New Testament. And evangelicals today would claim that their ideas are no exotic, esoteric development of Christian theology: they simply represent the original, orthodox

faith of the Church, which is as valid today as it has ever been. 2

Evangelicals have always aimed to proclaim their forcefully ...

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In this book we will trace the story of the evangelical impulse throughout Christian history. It is a complicated trail. ‘Evangelical­

ism’ has taken thousands of different shapes and forms — and a book

of this size cannot hope to outline sketchily anything more than some of the main ones — but one thing unites them all. That is the convic­ tion that evangelical Christianity is true, original Christianity. It

goes right back to Jesus and his earliest followers. What is it, then, that evangelicals look back to? What was it about Jesus and his message which evangelicals have found it so important

to preserve?

CAN WE BE SURE WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH BELIEVED? D.E. Wright The creeds are one of the gr< ; mt legacies of the Church of the fathers — the Church of the first five or six centuries. The Apostles' Creed may have nothing to do directly with the apostles, but it unambiguously affirms God’s creation of the world and the genuinely historical life and death of Jesus (“crucified under Pontius Pilate”). The Nicene Creed no less clearly declares the full deity of Christ (“true God from true God”) and the equal dignity of the Holy Spirit (“the Lord and Life-giver, ... who with the Father and the Son is jointly worshipped and jointly glorified”). Of course, there are a few phrases in these creeds whose meaning is not completely certain — for example, “He descended into hell" and “the communion of the saints”. But the central affirmations of the creeds are not in doubt — even though they were produced in a different culture and may need some “translation” if they are to speak just as clearly in the contemporary world. The statement of faith, or “Definition”, of the council of Chalcedon — the greatest in the early Church — is not strictly a creed, but it is just as important: it spells out emphatically that Jesus Christ was both fully human and truly divine in one “person”. It was western churchmen, led by Augustine, who insisted that all human beings are sinful from birth and are incapable of turning to God unless they are made alive by God’s grace — which is never earned or deserved but always a free gift. Not all who claimed to be Christian accepted all these beliefs. In fact it was nearly always divergent teaching that provoked churchmen into spelling out clearly the faith of the Church — and condemning as heretics those who perverted this faith. And there was room for some difference of opinion within the common faith — e.g. on quite how the divine and human natures in Christ were related to one another, or on what was the best way of expressing the oneness of the three divine "persons” — Father, Son and Spirit — in the Trinity. But the outstanding galaxy of church teachers whom we call the “fathers" have left us in no doubt about their fundamental beliefs.

David F. Wright is Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Edinburgh University, Scotland.

4

One of the first Christian

Jesus and the early Church It has sometimes been claimed that we cannot be sure of very much about Jesus Christ; that his identity and his real intentions are shrouded in myth and legend. Rudolf Bultmann, one of the greatest New Testament scholars of this century, wrote in 1934, T do indeed think that we can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus.’ And popular paperbacks have spread the idea that Jesus may have been all sorts of outlandish things: a revolutionary freedom fighter, a sorcerer, a misunderstood rabbi, the leader of a drug cult . . . The impression given is that there is no real evidence. Jesus may have been any of these things — or none. But today scholars are generally a little more hopeful than Bultmann was. Noted historian J.M. Roberts, for example — who is not a Christian himself — has said of the Gospels: (J.M. Roberts, The Pelican History of the World, London, 1980, 263)

Their inadequacies can be exaggerated . . . They need not be rejected; much more inadequate evidence about far more intractable subjects has often to be employed. There is no reason to be more austere or rigorous in our canons of acceptability for early Christian records than for, say, the evidence in Homer which illuminates Mycenae.

If this is the case, what picture of Jesus do we gain from the Gospels? Clearly he was an immensely popular teacher — but resolutely refused to set his sights for political success. His ‘kingdom’, he said, was not of this world. Instead, he spoke of a God who offered forgiveness and a family relationship to anyone — Jewish or other­ wise — who would repent and begin to live by a new standard. And he clearly believed that he had the authority to speak for God himself. (Kenneth Scott Latourette, The First Five Centuries, A History of the Expansion of Christianity Vol. 5, New York, 1970, 52.)

Out of his inner experience had come a conviction, differing at least in part from what he had inherited, of what his function as Messiah was to be ... He also appears to have believed that men’s ultimate welfare was bound up with their relation to him and claimed the personal loyalty of his disciples. When Jesus died, he seems to have made no provision for a continu­ ing organization which would keep his ideas alive. Clearly he expected that his message would survive and his followers multiply, but he left no instructions about the way in which they were to structure their work. Despite that, his followers were amazingly 5

successful. Less than three centuries after Jesus’ death, what began as a small Jewish cult had become so strong, so popular and so

widespread that it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. What was it about the early Christians which made them so successful? One factor must have been the strong sense of fellowship

and brotherhood which linked them. One early Christian leader commented that even the pagans were saying, ‘See how these Christians love one another!’ Aristides wrote: They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider them­ selves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God.

Christianity was inclusive in a way that its parent faith, Judaism, never could be. Anyone could come into the kingdom, regardless of racial or moral background. It scandalized some upright pagans: But let us hear what folk these Christians call. ‘Whoever is a sinner,’ they say, ‘whosoever is unwise, whosoever is a child, and, in a word, whosoever is a wretch, the kingdom of God will receive him.’ Because they were ready to receive anyone, the early Christians were determinedly committed to spreading their message whenever

possible. About two hundred years after Jesus’ death there were those ‘who make it their business to itinerate not only through cities, but even villages and country houses that they might make converts

to God’; but right from the start, it seems, there were some Christians whose recognized responsibility it was to propagate the faith as widely as they could. And dignitaries in the church were not exempt

from the responsibility; when Polycarp became a bishop, he was urged ‘to exhort all men that they may be saved’.

It meant that Christians had to take apologetics seriously, and give

reasons for what they believed founded on the best available evi­ dence. And so from the second century onwards a redoubtable group of Christian writers began engaging with the arguments of oppo­

nents, attempting to confute them and present the case for Christian­ ity; some of them — men like Tertullian, Justin Martyr, and Clement of Alexandria — extremely able debaters indeed.

To their Jewish opponents, they presented the argument that 6

7

Jesus was the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises. They stressed the passages in the prophets which seemed to foretell Jesus’ coming. To the non-Jews, they pointed out the irrationality of popular polytheism, the immorality associated with it, the inconsis­

tencies in many of the legends. They argued for a faith which made

sense both of the Scriptures and of our experience of the world. Their opponents hit back by accusing the Christians of evil

behaviour. Cannibalism, infanticide, incest, sexual orgies — the rumours circulated widely, and made the Christians determined to

disprove them by the moral quality of their lives: They follow local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship . . . They love every one, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and gain life They are poor and yet make many rich.

THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT OF THE EARLY CHURCH Harold H. Rowdon The missionary achievements of the Early Church were impressive. Without modem means of communication or uses of physical force or social pressures, in the face of intermittent but often savage persecution, and with little funding or personnel recruitment, the Christian Church spread out from Jerusalem. Soon Christians were to be found not only in Palestine but in Syria and Mesopotamia (and perhaps eastwards as far as India), in Turkey (where by the early second century they were very numerous in some areas), Eastern Europe, Italy, more slowly in France, Spain and Britain, extensively in North Africa and also in Egypt and deep into Africa, up the River Nile. Why did it happen? For the Christian, the purposes of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, the dynamic of the Gospel and the dedication of those who preached it are the ultimate explanation. But the evidence suggests that Paul and the many others who spread the message used sanctified common sense to exploit the opportunities and make the most of them. They took advantage of the stability of the Roman Empire that encircled the Mediterranean Sea, with the relative ease of communication and freedom of expression that it provided, and the common language — common Greek — that made language learning unnecessary. Paul made for the big cities where the Jewish synagogue provided a springboard for the Gospel. Here the (Old Testament) Scriptures in Greek were in constant use and the one true God was worshipped. Cities were the focus for the surrounding countryside whose market places with their shops, baths and open spaces provided an ideal opportunity for the communication of new ideas. There travelling philosophers provided cultural entertainment — at a price — and, though Paul was at pains to show he was not one of these, he did use their method, even to

continued on next page

{Epistle to Diognetus, 2nd. century.)

One of the reasons for dislike of the Christians was their uncompro­ misingly clear beliefs. There were plenty of cultic groups and private philosophies in the Roman Empire which were syncretistic; a person could subscribe to one of them, or even more than one at the same time, and still fulfil the religious duties attached to the official state religion; but for the Christians, syncretism was impossible. Jesus Christ was Lord, and that meant no rivals; no accommodation with any other religious framework. The pagan critic Celsus protested that the Christians were trying to convert everybody, when it would be much more natural and proper for people to stay within the religion in which they had been brought up. There were many who thought like him. But the Christians were convinced that their faith was something absolutely unique which everybody needed. When the Apostle Paul was first confronted with the worshippers of a pagan cult, we find him protesting, ‘Turn from these worthless things!’ And the word he uses — mataioi — means ‘vain, ineffective, groundless’. continued from previous page

the extent of hiring a lecture hall (Acts 19:9). From cities like Pisidan Antioch the Gospel spread to the whole region (Acts 13:49). What would have happened, one wonders, had Paul buried himself in some remote backwater area. Not only were individuals won for Christ. Self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating churches were established. And they existed, not in splendid isolation from each other, but with a sense of belonging together in the Body of Christ that enabled them — on the whole — to support one another. As time went by, and Greek had served its purpose, the Scriptures were translated into various languages, though, sadly, not into that of the Berber tribes of North Africa whose churches failed to survive the onslaught of pagan Vandal and Muslim invaders. The centrifugal force of Christianity was to show itself again and again in subsequent history. The pagan peoples who forced their way into the Roman Empire or later plagued Western Europe were almost all evangelized (though, on the whole, Muslims were not). The sixteenth century Roman Catholic church carried its form of Christianity into the newly discovered worlds of east and west. The Protestant missionary societies of the last few centuries adapted structures from the contemporary business world for a missionary purpose, and as a result the globe was encircled with Christian churches. Today the channelling of the missionary spirit of the Church calls for new, purpose-built structures suited to the contemporary situation. Those which served so well in the past need radical overhaul. It is to be hoped that the new missionary movements emerging from the churches in the Two-Thirds World will be enabled to apply the principles of Paul's missionary strategy to the world of their day, discovering their own relevant and appropriate methodology. Dr. H.H. Rowdon is Senior Tutor at London Bible College.

thinking ■ •

In things essential—Unity ; In things non-essential—Liberty;’ In all things—Love.

10

What was it the Christians believed? First, they had a deep conviction that there was something morally wrong with the human race. Men and women were sinners. It was no good looking for a divine spark within, or trying to offer placatory sacrifices to capri­ cious gods and goddesses; the real Creator God was separated from us by a* barrier of unforgiven sins. ‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance,’ they claimed, ‘but now he commands all men everywhere to repent.’ Second, they believed that Jesus Christ held the answer to the problem of human evil. Not only was he the Messiah, and their inspiration, and the Son of God; but also he had died on the cross to make it possible for human beings to encounter God’s forgiveness. And so, third, they believed that the Christian life began with a life-changing experience of God’s acceptance. This could come only through personal faith. Many of the early Christians who came from a Jewish background wanted all converts to be told to obey the laws of Moses; but Paul insisted that this was not necessary — faith was the key to God’s new life. This whole scheme of belief was held together by a strong faith in the inspiration of the Jewish Scriptures. Christians pored over the Old Testament and found there many explicit prophecies of Jesus, which reinforced their faith. It was probably this dependence on a body of writings which prevented Christianity from becoming identi­ cal with the pagan cults whose place it took. Many of them believed in one God, and observed similar sacraments; but they were not built on the Scriptures.

The writings of the apostles were treated in just the same way. Gradually a list emerged of those writings which were regarded as specially inspired; and (considering how much Christian writing there had been) it is surprising how little real argument about it took place. The four Gospels, for example, were resolutely defended against all attempts to add to them, boil them down into one, or embroider them with fanciful detail. Origen wrote about ‘the four Gospels, which alone are undisputed in the Church of God beneath the whole heaven’; Clement of Alexandria drew a sharp distinction between ‘the four Gospels that have been handed down to us’ and any other bits of historical writing which might be used. Irenaeus wrote that of course there were four Gospels, since there were four winds and the world divided naturally into four quarters. Ever since the days of the early Church, as Christians have looked back at their origins, it is traits like these which have fascinated and 11

attracted them. And so ‘evangelicalism’ is an attempt to restore to Christianity some of the features of the original faith: a warm, practical, inclusive fellowship; an earnest ambition to spread the message to all who will listen; a concern for good apologetics, sound arguments and solid evidence; a new moral quality in daily life; and a clear system of belief founded upon the Scriptures, including

convictions about human sinfulness, Jesus’ supreme importance in

bringing us to God, and the experience of conversion which comes to those who have faith. Years of persecution under various Roman emperors kept the Christian faith lean and tough. To be a Christian in the reign of

Nero, for example, when one could find oneself nailed to a cross and set alight, or covered with an animal skin and torn apart by hungry dogs, meant that one had to be fairly sure of one’s convictions! Things

started to change, however, when the Roman emperor Constantine

decided in 313 AD to make his peace with Christianity. What exactly happened is in some doubt. The historian Eusebius claimed that Constantine, praying for victory over his rival Maxen-

tius, had seen a vision of a cross of light in the sky, together with the words ‘CONQUER BY THIS’. The same night Christ appeared to him in a dream, commanding him to use a certain Christian sign

‘as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies’. Constantine defeated Maxentius and was convinced. If there is anything in this story, it seems to show that Constantine

regarded Christianity primarily as a source of useful magic. And there may have been far more practical reasons for his decision to favour Christianity: the old paganism was losing strength, there

were Christian interests all over his empire, and he needed the support of the Christians. At any rate, although he retained pagan symbols on his coins for another ten years, and was not actually

baptized until the end of his life, his actions were decisive: conversion to Christianity was legally permitted; church property taken away

during earlier persecutions was given back; clergy were exempted from taxes; wills in favour of the Church were approved; the Chris­

tian Sunday was recognised alongside the pagan holidays. Constan­

tine had his children educated in the faith; he built and beautified

churches, and even allowed bishops to decide law suits. It was an amazing state of affairs for a faith which, at the time of

Jesus’ death, had had only a handful of adherents — all of whom had run away, or stood back, as their Master was put to death. The importance of Christianity was now indisputable. But because of its

importance, many things about it began to change. Twelve hundred years later, a German monk decided it was time to call a halt to the changes.

12

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