Collection 014 Records of the World Congress on Evangelism

Collection

Identifier: CN-014

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Biographical sketches, participants' lists, form letters, programs, audio recordings of speeches, and study papers relating to the World Congress on Evangelism held in Berlin on October 26 to November 4, 1966. Besides the English materials, there are study papers in French and German and there are programs, correspondence and speech transcripts in German, French, and Spanish. Thirteen audio tapes contain speeches by various individuals including Billy Graham, Carl Henry, John Stott, Oswald Hoffmann, Haile Selassie I, Richard Halversen, Harold Ockenga, and others.

Dates

Created: 1966-

Conditions Governing Access

No materials in this collection may be duplicated.

Historical Information

Conference Name: World Congress on Evangelism

Conference Venue: Kongress Halle, Berlin, Germany

Conference Dates: October 26- November 4, 1966 (October 25 was a "Day of Preparation")

Conference Theme: One Race, One Gospel, One Task

Conference Background: Billy Graham, Carl Henry and other American Protestant Evangelicals desired to provide a forum for the growing Evangelical Protestant movement worldwide. The congress was intended as a spiritual successor of the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the meeting, many Evangelicals leaders were in touch with each other for the first time. The meeting was overwhelmingly American planned, led and financed, and was sponsored by Christianity Today magazine, with heavy support from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 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. The 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland was a successor to this conference.

Conference Purpose: 1)To define and clarify Biblical evangelism for our day 2) To establish beyond any doubt its relevance to the modern world 3) To underline its urgency in the present situation 4) To explore new forms of witness now in use throughout the world and new ways of reaching contemporary man 5) To deal frankly with problems of resistance to the Gospel 6) To challenge the church to renew its own life through an intensified proclamation of the historic faith 7) To show the world in a fresh and dramatic way that God is in truth Lord of all, and that He saves men through His Son.

Attendance Figures: 1,200 invited delegates from most Protestant denominations and Roman Catholic, Jewish and ecumenical observers (700 delegates, 300 observers, 100 newsman)

Conference Figures: Honorary Chairman Dr. Billy Graham

Chairman: Dr. Carl F. H. Henry

Coordinating Director: Dr. W. Stanley Mooneyham

Chairman, Planning Committee: Dr. Clyde W. Taylor

Chairman, Program Committee: Dr. Robert Evans

Chairman, Finance: Robert C. Van Kampen

Treasurer: Dr. George Wilson

Executive Committee: Robert Evans, Carl F. H. Henry, W. Stanley Mooneyham, Walter Smyth, Clyde W. Taylor, Robert Van Kampen, George Wilson

Financial Support: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christianity Today

Post-Conference Resources: Publication of two volumes, One Race, One Gospel, One Task: Official Reference Volumes: Papers and Reports, edited by Carl F.H. Henry and W. Stanley Mooneyham, 1967

Extent

1.30 Cubic Feet (2 Boxes (DC), Audio Tapes, Photographs)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Accruals and Additions

The materials in this collection were received from the Atlanta Office of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in August 1976 and January 1999 and from W. Stanley Mooneyham in June 1988.

Accession: 76-14, 99-1

Revised, April 3, 1985

Robert Shuster

J. Nasgowitz

Revised, February 9, 1999

Robert Shuster

Accession: 88-70

Updated, December 7, 2004

Wayne D. Weber