Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 24:2 (Summer 2020)
Article: Editorial: Honoring The 65th Anniversary Of L’Abri
Author: Stephen J. Wellum

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Editorial: Honoring The 65^th Anniversary Of L’Abri

Stephen J. Wellum

Stephen J. Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. He received his PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he is the author of numerous essays and articles and the co-author with Peter Gentry of Kingdom through Covenant, 2nd edition (Crossway, 2012, 2018) and God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Crossway, 2015); the co-editor of Progressive Covenantalism (B&H, 2016); the author of God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of the Person of Christ (Crossway, 2016) and Christ Alone—The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior (Zondervan, 2017); and the co-author of Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ (Zondervan, 2018); and the author of The Person of Christ: An Introduction (Crossway, 2021).

My family and I had the privilege of visiting L’Abri in Switzerland in July, 2019.

Although I personally never met Francis and Edith Schaeffer, the impact of their work through their lectures, books, and films has been enormous in my life.1 As a young Christian seeking to share the gospel with my friends in high school, I was challenged to explain why I believed the Bible, and Francis Schaeffer was of immense help to me. Introduced to him by my mother, I read his famous trilogy—The God Who is There, Escape from Reason, and He is There and He is not Silent—which was so helpful in articulating the truths of the Bible and the glory of the gospel. In fact, the Lord greatly used Schaeffer’s works to call me into the Christian ministry and specifically, into theological

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education. Francis Schaeffer’s charge for Christians to know what they believe and why, to give honest answers to honest questions, and to give our lives as “radicals for Christ,” challenged me to serve the Lord and his church.

So given the influence of Francis Schaeffer in my life, one can only imagine how excited I was finally to visit L’Abri. Yet, as I walked around L’Abri, what struck me was its size, or better, lack of it. In contrast to large institutions or churches in America, L’Abri was minuscule in comparison. It is located off the beaten path, and if you are not careful, you will drive by it! But as I walked among the chalets, I was struck at how God graciously and powerfully used this “little” place and the Schaeffers’ lives to influence so many. In fact, as I walked around L’Abri, th...