World Evangelical Fellowship Records

Collection

Identifier: CN 338

Staff Only

Brief Description

Correspondence, reports, minutes, budgets, audio tapes, photographs. Topics documented included the formation of the WEF in 1951 to foster fellowship, cooperation, and communication between evangelical national and regional associations around the world; the gradual growth of influence by non-Western associations; the activities of Evangelical Protestants in many different parts of the world; the leadership of J. Elwin Wright, Clyde Taylor, Waldron Scott, and David Howard, among others. Many of the twenty-eight audiotapes are of addresses presented at the Eighth General Assembly in Singapore in 1986.

Dates

Created: 1926-1992, undated
Other: Majority of material found in 1948-1986

Creator

World Evangelical Alliance. (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on access to materials in the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Organizational History

Protestant Evangelical organization; created in 1951; intended to foster fellowship, cooperation and communication between Evangelical national associations around the world; held international conferences of Evangelical leaders; sponsored cooperation in such areas as theological education, theology, communications, church renewal, missions, development, and women's issues; published books and periodicals.

The World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) had roots in the Evangelical Alliance formed in 1846, but its immediate beginnings were in the late 1940s when United States evangelical leaders, who had just formed the National Association of Evangelicals (NEA), began to discuss with church leaders in other countries the possibilities of some kind of international federation of national associations. J. Elwin Wright, who had played a major role in forming the NAE, also took the lead in this, first as executive director of the NAE, then as head of the Association's Commission on International Relations. He met with representatives of the Evangelical Alliance in 1948 and worked with Sir Arthur Smith of the Alliance to bring together delegates from twelve countries at Hildenborough Hall in Kent, England in March 1950 and at a similar meeting at Gordon Divinity School in Boston in September of the same year.

Following these meetings, Wright and Clyde Taylor, another evangelical leader very active in missions and international projects, traveled to visit evangelical leaders in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe to sound them out about the creation of an international organization. They found a generally favorable response and a call for an organizing convention was issued. The meeting (called the International Convention of Evangelicals) was to be held at Woudschoten hostel near the town of Zeist in the Netherlands from August 5-11, 1951. Forty-six people attended as delegates from eighteen countries. Including visitors and observers, there were 104 people from twenty-one countries at the convention. Geographically, almost all of the delegates were from Western Europe or North America. The meeting adopted for the new organization a constitution, a statement of faith, and a name, the World Evangelical Fellowship. The purposes of the WEF were defined as: "The furtherance of the Gospel, the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, and fellowship in the Gospel." More specifically, commissions were set up to promote evangelism, coordinate activities as far as possible between mission agencies, coordinate the activities of Christian literature producers, and speak up in defense of Christian liberties and persecuted minorities. Delegates also emphasized that the fellowship should be positive for Christian truth rather than negative in seeking out error. Membership consisted of national fellowships. The first president was Sir Arthur Smith, and F. Roy Cattell and J. Elwin Wright were elected co-secretaries. Cattell, based in England, was to do most of the administrative work while Wright would visit national associations. All early officers of the fellowship were unpaid volunteers. Because delegates from several European countries would not accept the word "infallible" in the statement of faith, they refused to join the WEF but instead formed the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA). The two organizations worked together on various projects and, in 1968, the EEA did formally affiliate itself with WEF.

The character of the Fellowship developed and changed over time. The most visible signs of the WEF's activities were its publications, scholarships for theological students, and meetings of evangelical leaders. One of its major functions was to serve as a conduit for the exchange of information and opinions between church leaders in different countries. The staff was usually very small and most of the work of WEF fell to its chief executive officer, whose title often changed but was usually called a secretary or a director. Until 1974, it was a part-time position. In fact, Wright was an important financial supporter of the fellowship.

The main executive officers were:

J. Elwin Wright (1951-1959)

F. Roy Cattell (1951-1953)

Arthur Jack Dain (1956-1959)

Fred Ferris, (1959-1962)

Gilbert Kirby (1962-1966)

Dennis Clark (1966-1970)

Gordon Landreth (1970-1971)

Clyde Taylor (1970-1975)

Waldron Scott (1974-1980)

Wade Coggins (1981-1982)

David Howard (1982-1992)

Agustin Vencer (1992- )

The office of the organization was usually the office of the secretary or director, and so moved frequently, often to some location within the United States. In late 1986, an international headquarters was opened in Singapore. From that point on, this office was the main base for the WEF. The location of the office in Singapore symbolized the gradual increase of the importance of non-Western church leaders in the fellowship and the effort to make its programs and deliberations truly representative of global Christianity.

There were also regional offices, which often were centered around one of the more prominent or active WEF members in that part of the world. The North American office was particularly important. Throughout its history, the fellowship was dependent for financial support on persons and organizations in the United States. This was part of the reason for the predominant influence of Americans during the early history of the WEF. At various times the staff tried fundraising projects, such as SHARE or Global Deacons, to create a more secure financial base for the organization, but these were largely unsuccessful. The pinch caused by lack of funds was a constant theme in WEF documents. Much of the fundraising, as mentioned, was done in the United States. For this purpose, the Commission on International Relations of the American NAE was incorporated in 1955 as the USA board of the WEF. The corporation functioned informally and later formally as the North American regional office of WEF.

One of the major activities of WEF was the holding of its General Assemblies, at which representatives from the affiliated national associations would gather together to exchange reports about activities, discuss common problems, and plan for the future. A complete list of these assemblies can be found elsewhere in this collection description. The 1974 General Assembly was held in Switzerland from July 26 to 29, partly to be near the International Congress on World Evangelization (also called the Lausanne Congress) being held in Lausanne from July 16 to 25. This meeting, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, brought together evangelical church leaders, many of them participants to some degree in WEF, to talk about ways and means of evangelizing the world. After the meeting, a continuation committee carried on this work. There were continual talks between the two organizations about how they could cooperate, since their purposes and members seemed to overlap to a large extent. The Executive Council of WEF even proposed at one point that the Lausanne group become the Fellowship's commission on evangelism, but nothing ever came of this.

In between assemblies, the highest official governing body of the fellowship was the Executive Council (called the Executive Committee until 1969; the name was later changed to the International Council), which was elected at assemblies, along with the president and other officers who were de facto members of the group. During the early days of the WEF, day-to-day or month-to-month decisions fell to the executive secretary because the Council was scattered all over the world. A secretary might go for years before he was able to make a report to a fully or almost fully assembled Executive Council.

Throughout its history, the WEf formed commissions to prepare publications and plan meetings or other projects in certain topical areas, such as youth work, or Christian education. Starting in 1974, these commissions began to play a much more important part in the life of the organization. Of particular importance was the Theological Commission headed by Bruce Nicholls. He began the WEF's Theological Assistance Programme (TAP) informally in 1968 (it was officially organized in 1969), which was initially most active in Asia but eventually expanded to other parts of the world. TAP published journals, such as the Evangelical Review of Theology, as well as books and pamphlets, held meetings on theological topics, established accreditation standards for seminaries, and gave money to schools to build up their biblical libraries. In 1974, TAP became the WEF's Theological Commission. The International Council of Accrediting Agencies (ICAA), which was organized in 1980 as an autonomous organization under the sponsorship of the commission, served as a means of improving theological education in many parts of the world and coordinating accreditation efforts.

Other commissions were more or less active, depending on their membership. They included Communications, Missions, Women's Concerns (initially called the International Forum of Evangelical Women), Church Renewal, Religious Liberty, and Youth. The International Relief and Development Agency functioned much like a commission, helped to coordinate relief efforts made by existing evangelical relief agencies. Like the Theological Commission, two of their major activities were publication of newsletters and the holding of conferences and consultations on relevant topics.

The mission of the WEF in 1994, as described in the WEF's newsletter, stated: "The World Evangelical Fellowship and its member organizations enable local churches to fulfill their spiritual mandate to disciple the nations by providing them with a global identity and presence, a structure for fellowship and cooperation, an international forum and a representative voice, and a network of information resources for holistic ministries. This is accomplished primarily through the strategy of establishing and strengthening regional and national evangelical fellowships and alliances."

Until 2001, the organization continued with the name World Evangelical Fellowship. In 2001, the name was changed to World Evangelical Alliance.

Extent

51.5 Linear Feet (103 Boxes (103 document cases); Audio Tapes, Negatives, Oversize Materials, Photographs)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement and Description

Introduction

The records of the WEF include correspondence, reports, agendas and minutes of meetings, newsletters, budgets, audio tapes, photographs and much miscellaneous material. The records were received from a variety of sources, especially the North American office of the WEF, but also former officials of the organization or their families who sent their files. These were all combined to make up the collection.

The arrangement of the overall collection was provided by the archivist, but in each individual section below he maintained the original order of the files where that was discernable.

Historical Files (materials gathered by David Howard for his history of WEF, The Dream That Would Not Die: The Birth and Growth of the World Evangelical Fellowship, 1846-1986 (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1986).

Secretaries/Directors' Files (files of the chief administrator of the Fellowship, who at various times was called co-secretary, international secretary, general secretary, and general director)

Presidents' Files

Other Officers' Files

WEF Offices Records: North American office

Whenever possible, the original folder titles have been retained. This means, for example, that material on Taiwan may be found in files marked "China," "Formosa," or "Taiwan," and material about Sri Lanka may be under that name or under "Ceylon."

Because of the extremely wide variety of topics covered by the material in this collection, this Arrangement and Description note will not attempt to describe the information available on specific topics. The researcher should check the Box List for the names, times, periods or countries of interest. A few specific folders are mentioned in these notes solely as examples of the rich resources this collection contains.

The records provide fairly complete documentation for the WEF from its founding in 1951 down to the mid-1980s, except for a gap from 1962-1970. Topics covered include the organizational history of the fellowship; the gradual increase of non-Western church leaders in numbers and influence within WEF (see for example folder 40-3 and the correspondence in folders 56-5 to 57-1, 58-1); the programs of the General Assemblies, which often dealt with then-current concerns of the church; leadership discussions; etc. There is also a great deal of information in some of the later files about attempts to create some kind of ongoing relationship with the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE), especially since, to many people, the functions of the two organizations seemed to overlap (see, for example, folders 4-3, 24 4, 40-21 through 29, 67-8, 95-12, and 101-29). Fundraising as an activity of the WEF was also naturally a continuing concern, whether through formal programs such as SHARE and Global Deacons, or through direct solicitation of individuals. See, for example, folders 3-7 through 4-1, 11-9, 12-6,7,12, 14-31, 17-24, 33-8, 56-4, 60-5, 78-1, and 98-7,8,9,10,11, among many others.

The collection is also an excellent source of information on evangelical Protestant leaders, movements, and organizations in different parts of the world. The files contain many brochures, letters, and other documents received from evangelicals in different parts of the world reporting on their activities and problems and on social, economic, and political factors that affect the church. Besides the hundreds of such paper reports, there are also the regional and national reports on the tapes from the 8th General Assembly in 1986 (see the Sound Recordings (Audio Tapes) Location Record for tapes T10 through T26). Also, WEF officers often traveled to visit church leadership in different areas, and the files often include their reports evaluating what they learned. For example, folder 8-1 contains reports on the church in Cuba, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines; folders 56-5 to 57-1 contain information on evangelicals in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and East Africa; folder 60-4 contains a report on a trip to Norway; folder 60-6 contains information on evangelicals in various European countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium (as well as interesting reports on meetings of the EEA, the WCC and the 1990 World Congress of Christian Fundamentalists, attended by Ian Paisley and Carl McIntire). Another topic covered is the success or failure of various attempts between evangelical organizations to cooperate on specific projects. The files also contain papers given at conferences, including WEF General Assemblies, on topics such as missions, church renewal, social justice, relations between evangelicals and Roman Catholics, and other topics of interest to church leaders.

The growth of non-Western churches in numbers, strength, and influence is another major topic of these records (see, for example, the national reports from the various General Assemblies). Also of interest is information on non-Western missionary efforts, such as the reports on Brazilian, Korean, and West African missionaries in folder 59-6 and the report on programs for training Majority World missionaries in folder 59-3. Many folders contain information on the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States, including folders 11-2,7. Others deal with controversies involving Carl McIntire and the International Council of Christian Churches, a kind of fundamentalist rival to the WEF (folders 10-18, 11-2, 15-24, 60-6).

Billy Graham was a friend of many of the WEF leaders, and information about him and the work of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is scattered in various folders, mainly the earlier ones. Folder 7-2 contains information on the financial support which the BGEA gave to the fellowship, as well as reports on the 1957 New York City Crusade. Folder 58-4 contains a description of Clyde's Taylor informal responsibilities as liaison for Graham with WEF and NAE. Folder 7-9 includes a letter from J. Elwin Wright to Billy Graham suggesting he call a national meeting of American evangelicals. Because the BGEA was the major sponsor of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization (also known as the Lausanne Congress), much of the material mentioned above about Lausanne also contains documents by BGEA staff members.

Series: Historical Files

Arrangement: Alphabetical

Date Range: 1913-1986

Volume: 3.0 linear feet

Boxes: 1-6

The materials in this section contain much useful background information of and on WEF. They were gathered by then General Director David Howard when he was working on his book about the fellowship. Many files contain Howard's notes on WEF history, others contain actual documents or, in some cases, paraphrases. Folders 4-5 through 4-12 contain documents used in the book, although most of the other folders in this section also have materials used directly in the book. The section contains relatively few original documents, however; most of the materials are copies. There are a number of letters that people like Gilbert Kirby (folder 4-7), Elizabeth Evans (folder 1-24), and Clyde Taylor (audiotape T4), among others, sent to Howard containing their own memories of WEF events. Also, there are scattered throughout these files many notes by Howard on WEF files, such as the lists of officers and General Assemblies in folder 5-12.

Series: Secretaries/Directors' Files

Arrangement: By individual, then alphabetically by folder title

Date Range:

Volume: 29.0 linear feet

Boxes: 7-55, 82-90

This section contains the files of the chief executive of the fellowship, with a subsection for each individual. (The Archives does not have the WEF files of F. Roy Cattell, A. Jack Dain, Gilbert Kirby, or Dennis Clark.) Thus, the files of J. Elwin Wright are listed together in the Box List of this guide. The actual name of this post changed greatly over time, from co-secretary to secretary to executive secretary to international secretary to international director, and probably other permutations. However, the basic task remained the same: representing the WEF at various conferences (other WEF officials such as the president also did this), supervising special projects and the production of publications; monitoring expenditures; and directing long-range planning on the fellowship's goals and methods. The files in this section make up a little more than half of the collection and there are references to many, many evangelical leaders, projects, and movements around the world, far too many to attempt to refer to them in this note. J. Elwin Wright and Clyde Taylor were very active in WEF whether or not they happened to be officers, so their files contain correspondence and reports from times even when they were not serving as general secretary.

The arrangement of the files varies somewhat from secretary to secretary, and the archivist attempted to maintain the original order where possible. Most files are in a strict alphabetical order. Clyde Taylor's files were rather confused, so they were alphabetized by the archivist. Some folders, such as that for Australia (folder 22-9), contain correspondence from previous general secretaries, which he apparently had kept for reference.

Of particular note is the material in folder 11-8 which deals with the evolution of the NAE's Commission on International Relations into the WEF's United States board.

Subseries: J. Elwin Wright

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1926-1962

Volume: 3.5 linear feet

Boxes: 7-13

There are files in Wright's section which are worth mentioning, even though they are not relevant to the WEF. Folder 12-3 contains materials from the 1920s and 1930s from a group called the Industrial Defense Association (IDA). These include such documents as an attack on civil rights leader Philip Randolph, a description of the activities of alleged subversive organizations in the US, anti-Semitic brochures, reports on efforts to restrict immigration from Mexico, correspondence about Wright's involvement in plans in the early 1930s for a national day of prayer (the purpose of which was to rally people against communism) organized by Hugh White in which the IDA participated, and a pamphlet by evangelist Gerald Winrod on the alleged leftist leanings of the Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Folder 28-14 contains correspondence between Bob Jones, Sr., L. Nelson Bell, J. Elwin Wright, and T.W. Wilson of the BGEA about Jones' attacks on Billy Graham for what he called ecumenical and unbiblical evangelism. Also of interest is folder 11-12 which contains radio talks Wright gave on Christian topics, beginning in 1939. Subjects covered include church unification, meditations on biblical passages, and descriptions of his travels for the New England Fellowship.

Subseries: Fred G. Ferris

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1951-1962

Volume: 4.0 linear feet

Boxes: 14-21

Subseries: Clyde Willis Taylor

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1946-1982

Volume: 6.0 linear feet

Boxes: 22-33

Subseries: Waldron Scott

Arrangement: By topic, followed by alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1950-1982

Volume: 14.5 linear feet

Boxes: 33-55, 82-87

Waldron Scott's files in boxes 33 through 55 and 82 through 87 are arranged somewhat differently. First, there are several groups of files arranged by topic and then alphabetically within the topic: Administration (folders 33-4 through 33-30); Materials concerning WEF's various commissions such as the Communications Commission or the Theological Commission (folders 33-31 through 35-2), General, which includes clippings and articles that Scott gathered on topics of interest, such as neo-fundamentalism or evangelical trends, as well as miscellaneous files (folders 35-5 through 35-25), correspondence from and information about various foreign mission societies or organizations involved in missions (folders 35-28 through 39-19); correspondence with and information about various national associations of evangelicals, some of which were affiliated with WEF (folders 39-20 thorough 40-8); files about WEF publications (folders 40-10 through 40-15); and files about WEF's relationships with various other significant Christian organizations, such as the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, the National Association of Evangelicals (United States), and the World Council of Churches (folders 40-16 through 41-8); and reports on the trips Scott or other WEF officials took to different parts of the world to meet with church leaders (folders 41-9 thorough 41-17). There then follow several boxes (42 through 55, 82 through 87) of correspondence arranged alphabetically, regardless of topic. In many cases, correspondence in these alphabetical files duplicates that in the topical files. For many letters of the alphabet there is one file with general correspondence and another labeled "Individuals" with important leaders.

Subseries: Wade Coggins

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1980-1981

Volume: 1.0 linear feet

Boxes: 87-88

While the sole year reflected in the Coggins subseries, 1981, mirrors the year-by-year alphabetical arrangement of Waldron Scott's that preceded it, it is distinct and falls in Coggins' short tenure.

Subseries: David Howard

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1979-1985

Volume: 1.0 linear feet

Boxes: 89-90

Series: Presidents' Files

Arrangement: Alphabetical

Date Range: 1953-1992

Volume: 3.5 linear feet

Boxes: 56-62

Subseries: Everett Cattell

Arrangement: Alphabetical

Date Range: 1953-1971

Volume: 1.5 linear feet

Boxes: 56-58

Subseries: Theodore Williams

Arrangement: Alphabetical

Date Range: 1979-1992

Volume: 2.0 linear feet

Boxes: 59-62

The files of presidents Everett Cattell and Theodore Williams are in alphabetical order and in general deal with the same topics as those found in the secretaries/directors files. (There are no files for presidents Arthur Smith, I. Ben Wati, or Huson T. Armerding.) Of particular interest is folder 57-4, which contains copies of the incorporation papers of the United States branch of the fellowship, as well as an early copy of the constitution, some of the WEF's early brochures, and minutes of advisory and finance committees. Folder 57-3 contains an interesting report on the church in Russia and Eastern Europe. Folder 58-4 contains letters from Elizabeth Evans about the Evangelical Fellowship of Taiwan as well as correspondence on the early plans for the 1966 World Congress on Evangelism, held in Berlin. Folder 58-5 contains correspondence with Horace Fenton (of Latin America Mission) about possible cooperation with the World Council of Churches in South America and the relation of the WCC to the LAM's Evangelism-in-Depth program. (See also folder 12-13 for the reaction of WCC's W.A. Visser 't Hooft to the formation of the WEF.) Folders 61-2,3 are almost exclusively concerned with plans for the 1992 General Assembly, which was eventually held in Singapore. The folder of correspondence with the WEF's European representative (folder 60-6) contains many interesting reports on activities on that continent. Folder 61-4 includes reports on German evangelicals, trip reports on travel to Mongolia and other counties, and information about the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Other Officers' Files: John Langlois

Arrangement: Chronological

Date Range: 1975-1987

Volume: 9.0 linear feet

Boxes: 63-81

This section consists solely of the records of John Langlois, who was administrator of the Theological Commission as well as treasurer for the fellowship. (As the Archives receives the files of other WEF officers, they will be added to this section.) The arrangement in Langlois' files is the one he created. The material is arranged chronologically by year, more or less, and then each year is divided into topics: WEF's commissions and executive bodies, Publications, Educational and Library projects, Financial records and Fundraising; the Americas; Europe; Africa; Asia; Miscellaneous (Lausanne Committee, World Council of Churches, Wheaton '83, etc.). Although the arrangement is Langlois', since he used numbers to designate the files, the archivist had to guess at the exact topic the numbers indicated. The section is naturally particularly rich in material on the activities of the Theological Commission, such as publications and the work of study groups such as the 1982 Consultation on Evangelism and Social Responsibility, co-sponsored with LCWE.

Regional Offices' Files: North American Office

Arrangement: Topically

Date Range: 1958-1988

Volume: 6.5 linear feet

Boxes: 91-103

The only regional office the Archives received material from was the North American Office. These files were arranged topically. First, there are the files relating to the National Association of Evangelical's Commission on International Affairs, which eventually was incorporated in the United States as the WEF's North American branch. These files relate mainly to the activities of the Commission, which became board of directors after it was incorporated (folders 91-1 through 93-7). There are folders for the various WEF Commissions: Communications (folders 93-8 through 94-12), Missions (folders 94-13 through 94-25), Theological (folders 95-1 through 96-5), and Women (folders 96-6 through 98-11). Next come files of correspondence between the North American office and other national associations affiliated with WEF (folders 99-1 through 100-10), and finally records of the 7th General Assembly, held in England in 1980 (folders 100-11 through 103-22).

Custodial History

Accessions: 83-24, 84-34, 85-91, 91-2, 91-85, 92-32, 92-90, 92-135, 93-93

March 4, 1994

Robert Shuster

Steven Gertz

Provenance

Records were created or gathered by the officers and staff of the World Evangelical Fellowship. Materials were given to the Billy Graham Center Archives by individual officers and by the North American branch office of the Fellowship, 1983-1993.