Skip to main content

Schaeffer, Francis A. (Francis August) (1914-1984)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1914 - 1984

Biographical Statement

Francis August Schaeffer IV was born on January 30, 1912. Raised in a blue-collar working-class home, Fran, as he was called, learned the value of work from his father. Later, as a minister, he lifted up hard physical labor and working with your hands as the calling of God.

Though he valued physical labor it was intellectual effort that would characterize Schaeffer's legacy. Purchasing a text on Greek philosophy by accident, it grabbed Fran's interest and opened the door to his intellectual pursuits. Further studies in philosophy led him to explore basic questions about the meaning of life. This set Schaeffer on a path of search and inquiry.

In late summer 1930 Schaeffer attended a revival and experienced an old-style, sawdust trail, conversion. His new found religious fervor was coupled with his emerging intellectual appetite. In 1931 Schaeffer began his studies at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. With the nickname “Phily,” Schaeffer worked his way through school, continuing to value the synergy found in combining physical work with intellectual pursuits.

In 1935 Francis began studying at Westminster Theological Seminary, following J. Gresham Machen there after his departure from Princeton Theological Seminary. Unfortunately, another split surrounded Machen after his death. After Fran's second year at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia the new Presbyterian Church in America denomination split and Schaeffer left Westminster, along with Dr. Carl McIntire, and helped found Faith Seminary in Wilmington, Delaware. Upon the completion of his studies he was ordained in the Bible Presbyterian Church.

In the early summer of 1938 Schaeffer and his family moved to Grove City, Pennsylvania to pastor the small Covenant Presbyterian Church. There were few children in the church and the Schaeffers helped organize and teach a summer Vacation Bible School—the first summer, in a church that had no Sunday school, seventy-nine children attended. However, not all of their early efforts were as successful. Their efforts to reach college students at Grove City College failed. However, with Schaeffer’s preaching and encouragement the church grew and in less than three years they built a new building and the membership exceeded one hundred.

In 1941 Fran began serving as the associate pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Chester, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. He served this church for less than two years. Though his ministry was marked by compassion, Schaeffer was known to display a quick temper that expressed itself in sudden outbursts among his family.

In 1943 the Schaeffer family left Pennsylvania for Bible Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Here Schaeffer’s ministry was known as one of personal hard work and working his congregation hard. Shortly after his third daughter’s birth in 1945 Fran traveled Europe for three months on behalf of the American Council of Christian Churches and the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions visiting different churches in order to learn about their situation following the war. On his return he reported on his journey and its personal toll. Though it was one of his greatest spiritual experiences, it exhausted him. After months of recovery and a return to his pastoral duties, Schaeffer was given another leave to travel and speak in preparation for a meeting of the International Council of Churches meeting to be held in Amsterdam in August 1948.

The trip began an over-three decade involvement with Christian activity in Europe. One of the key friendships that began in Holland was with art critic and professor, Hans Rookmaaker. After the meeting in Amsterdam the family moved to Switzerland. Here they lived and ministered to those they met, particularly Americans military personnel. 1951 marked the beginning of a spiritual revival and renewal for Schaeffer and his ministry. He had been in Europe for three years, facing the crisis of how best to communicate the gospel in a culture that was not his own. He struggled to communicate to those who had suffered through two destructive wars and whose churches had spurned a biblical theology. He reaffirmed his belief that the Christian faith is rooted in the revelation of God in the Bible. By this time the Schaeffers were living near Champéry, preaching in a small Protestant chapel located in a heavily-Catholic canton.

After returning from a seventeen-month furlough in the United States where Schaeffer taught at his former seminary, Faith Theological, he perceived fractures in his denomination. The Schaeffers were concerned for the future of their ministry. Some of his teaching generated controversy and their financial support suffered. However, the Schaeffers returned with a fresh emphasis upon trusting God with financial cares. It was in this context that in 1955 L’Abri, (“the shelter”) would be started, first in Champéry and then in Huémoz in the Canton of Vaud. One of the hallmarks of L’Abri was a continual trusting in the provision of God for their needs from the original down-payment to purchase Chalet les Mélèzes to monies needed to buy everyday necessities.

The Schaeffers described the purpose of L'Abri as showing forth by demonstration, in life and work, the existence of God. Fran and Edith came from opposite backgrounds and it was this diversity that would be exhibited in those who came to stay at L’Abri. Students from diverse backgrounds—Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, liberal Christians, Roman Catholics, and others of various anti-Christian and Christian views—came to their door from all over the world. Over the next decade and a half the work of L’Abri was extended to England and through broadcasts on Trans-World Radio. These efforts served to draw more seeking answers to the little Swiss village.

Schaeffer’s ideas and talks were in great demand. He was invited to speak at European universities and Ivy League schools. Accomplishing what few could, Schaeffer easily packed Princeton Seminary’s chapel. His twenty-one books have sold in the millions and have been translated into at least twenty-four languages. Some of his influential titles are The God Who Is There (1968), Escape from Reason (1968), He Is There and He Is Not Silent (1972), How Should We Then Live (1976) and Whatever happened to the human race (1979). His last books before his death were the best-seller A Christian Manifesto (1981) and The Great Evangelical Disaster (1984).

Diagnosed with cancer in 1978, Schaeffer felt that he had accomplished more in the last five years of his life than he had in all the years before he had cancer. Francis Schaeffer died early in the morning of May 15, 1984. An ally in pro-life efforts, Ronald Reagan remembered Schaeffer “as one of the great Christian thinkers of our century.”

Citation:
Author: Wheaton College Archives & Special Collection staff

Found in 11 Collections and/or Records:

Assorted religious messages and broadcasts.

 Unprocessed Material — Box: 1
Identifier: 1988-012
Dates: 1972-1979

Christianity Today Records

 Collection
Identifier: CN 008
Brief Description Correspondence, memos, forms, financial reports, minutes of meetings, study papers, clippings and other records of the Evangelical Christian publishing organization. The records describe the founding of the organization to publish the magazine Christianity Today and its creation or acquisition of other publications such as Campus Life, Leadership, Leadership 100, Partnership, and Your Church. Besides material on the editing, publishing and distribution of these periodicals, the files also...
Dates: Created: Majority of material found within 1930, 1954-2002

Collection 111 Papers of Charles H. Troutman, Jr.

 Collection
Identifier: CN 111
Scope and Contents Correspondence, minutes, reports, manuals, and other records documenting Charles Troutman's career in Christian ministry among university students, first with Inter-Varsity in the United States and Australia and then with Latin America Mission. This collection also contains a great deal of information on evangelical Christianity in the United States, Australia and Latin America; Troutman's letters from his service in the Pacific in World War II; and reports and other information relative to...
Dates: Created: 1924-1992

Collection 192 Papers of Harold Lindsell

 Collection
Identifier: CN 192
Scope and Contents Collection contains correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, manuscripts, and other materials documenting the career and life of Harold Lindsell as a theologian, author, speaker and editor, dating primarily from his becoming Associate Editor of Christianity Today magazine in 1964. Collection contents contain considerable information on Christianity Today, Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Westmont College, the Simon Greenleaf School of Law, and Lindsell's research on the...
Dates: 1938-1994

Collection 279 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth Evans

 Collection
Identifier: CN 279
Scope and Contents Oral history interviews with Elizabeth Morrell Evans (1899-1976) in which she discusses her childhood; education at Wheaton College; work with J. Elwin Wright; her Christian education activities; the development of the New England Fellowship, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the World Evangelical Fellowship; and her work as a missionary in Taiwan. The time period covered by the interviews is 1899-1976.Elizabeth Evans was interviewed by Robert Shuster on October 8,...
Dates: Created: 1984-1985

Collection 349 Papers of Clarence W. Jones

 Collection
Identifier: CN 349
Scope and Contents Collection includes correspondence, reports, sermons, memos, minutes of meetings, clippings, photographs, videotapes, slides, and other materials relating to the career of mission executive Clarence W. Jones. The materials deal mainly with his work at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle and the growth and development of the organization he helped found, the World Radio Missionary Fellowship, and especially its primary broadcasting station, HCJB in Ecuador. There is also an extensive amount of...
Dates: Created: 1915-1986

Collection 459 - Fellowship Foundation Records

 Collection
Identifier: CN 459
Brief Description Correspondence, reports, minutes of meetings, reference files, clippings, newsletters and other material related to the work of the Foundation (also known as International Christian leadership) which involved developing small group prayer fellowships, especially among government, business and academic leaders. There is a great deal of information on the United States and other countries. Also documented is the group's involvement in various community development, patriotic, and personal...
Dates: Created: 1937-1988, undated

International Christian Broadcasters Records

 Collection
Identifier: CN 086
Brief Description The collection contains correspondence, audiotapes, photographs, financial reports, slides, blueprints, and memos related to the activities of International Christian Broadcasting's (originally the World Conference on Mission Radio) work to promote interest in Christian broadcasting and to support and encourage Protestant Christian radio and television broadcasters, largely engaged in evangelism. Materials include data on the International Communications Congress in Tokyo (1970), Muslim...
Dates: Created: 1937-1978; Other: Majority of material found within 1954-1978

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Records

 Collection
Identifier: CN 300
Brief Description Administrative records of IVCF spanning the time period from its founding in 1940 until 1991; includes materials created prior to the establishment of IVCF. Includes records of the presidents (Woods, Hummel, Troutman, McLeish, Alexander, McLeish), Paul Little, Campus chapters, Regional divisions and directors, Missions department, Urbana Missions Conventions, Nurses Christian Fellowship, Development department, Jim Nyquist, Strategic Planning, Finance, and manuscript material for the 1991...
Dates: 1928-2017

Prison Fellowship Ministries Records

 Collection
Identifier: CN 274
Brief Description Correspondence, memos, reports, newspaper clippings and other documents describing the founding and development of Prison Fellowship. Among the subjects covered in the files are the part played in the organization by Charles Colson, the realities of prison ministry, the conditions of prisons in the United States, relations between organizations involved in prison ministries, the testimonies of inmates, and the relationship between PFM and its constituents.  Persons featured included those...
Dates: Created: 1961, 1975-1989, 1990, undated

Sermon audio tapes of evangelists and preachers.

 Unprocessed Material — Box: 1
Identifier: 2001-063
Dates: 1979-1991

Filtered By

  • Subject: Evangelistic work. X

Additional filters:

Type
Collection 9
Unprocessed Material 2
 
Subject
Evangelistic work -- United States. 8
Evangelicalism -- United States. 7
Evangelicalism. 7
Church and social problems. 6
Evangelistic work. 6
∨ more
Religious institutions. 6
Christian leadership. 5
Evangelistic work -- Congresses 5
Mass media in religion -- United States. 5
Sermons, American. 5
Evangelistic work -- Canada. 4
Mass media in religion. 4
Missions -- Congresses. 4
Belief and doubt. 3
Bible. 3
Catholic Church. 3
Christian life. 3
Church and social problems -- United States. 3
Church and state. 3
College students in missionary work. 3
College students. 3
Conversion. 3
Discipling (Christianity) 3
Ecumenical movement. 3
Evangelistic work -- Great Britain. 3
Faith. 3
Fundamentalism. 3
Journalism, Religious -- United States. 3
Missions -- South America. 3
Missions. 3
Pentecostalism. 3
Preaching. 3
Radio in religion. 3
Sex role. 3
Women -- Religious life. 3
Abortion 2
Abortion -- Religious aspects. 2
African Americans -- Social conditions. 2
African Americans. 2
Authors and readers -- United States. 2
Businessmen -- Religious life -- United States. 2
Catholic Church -- Evangelicalism. 2
Catholic Church -- United States. 2
Christian education -- United States. 2
Christian education of adults. 2
Christian literature -- Publication and distribution -- United States. 2
Christianity and culture -- United States. 2
Christianity and politics. 2
Church and state -- United States. 2
Church work with students. 2
Church work with women -- United States. 2
College students -- United States 2
College students -- United States -- Religious life. 2
Communication. 2
Evangelicalism -- Latin America. 2
Evangelistic sermons. 2
Evangelistic work -- Africa. 2
Evangelistic work -- Australia. 2
Evangelistic work -- Brazil. 2
Evangelistic work -- Ecuador. 2
Evangelistic work -- Germany. 2
Evangelistic work -- Guatemala. 2
Evangelistic work -- Japan. 2
Evangelistic work -- Mexico. 2
Evangelistic work -- New Zealand. 2
Evangelistic work -- North America. 2
Evangelistic work -- South America. 2
Evangelistic work -- Taiwan. 2
Evangelistic work -- Washington (D.C.) 2
Fund raising. 2
Glossolalia. 2
Hispanic Americans -- Religious life. 2
Indians of North America. 2
Legislators -- United States. 2
Liberalism (Religion) 2
Mass media in missionary work. 2
Mass media in religion -- Congresses. 2
Missionaries -- Appointment, call, and election. 2
Missionaries. 2
Missions -- Ecuador. 2
Missions -- Educational work. 2
Missions -- Interdenominational cooperation. 2
Missions -- North America. 2
Motion pictures in church work -- United States. 2
Pentecostalism -- United States. 2
Prayer groups -- United States. 2
Radio in missionary work. 2
Radio in religion -- United States. 2
Television in religion. 2
Theology 2
United States -- Religion. 2
Voluntarism -- Religious aspects -- United States. 2
Women 2
World War, 1939-1945. 2
Youth 2
700 Club (Television program) 1
African American clergy. 1
African American leadership. 1
African Americans -- Religious life. 1
Anti-communist movements -- United States. 1
∧ less