Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 24:2 (Summer 2020)
Article: “The Church Before The Watching World:” Francis Schaeffer’s Burdens
Author: Andrew Fellows

SBJT 24:2 (Summer 2020) p. 31

“The Church Before The Watching World:” Francis Schaeffer’s Burdens

Andrew Fellows

Andrew Fellows is a teacher and conference speaker, and the director of apologetics for Christian Heritage, Cambridge. After serving a term in the pastorate he spent twenty one years with his family in the English branch of L’Abri Fellowship and from 2011 to 2016 served as the Chairman of L’Abri International. Andrew has recently written Smuggling Jesus Back Into the Church; How the Church Became Worldly and What to do About It due for publication by IVP in early 2022. He has several other books in the pipeline written for skeptics. Andrew has a special interest in cultural apologetics.

In this article I am arguing for a retrieval and serious re-engagement with Francis Schaeffer’s message to the church. There is no doubting that Schaeffer left a considerable and enduring legacy—one I would argue is worthy of our attention today. For many he is best known for L’Abri, the community he founded in Switzerland with his wife Edith in 1955. Among its various purposes, this “shelter” served as a place of asylum for doubters who had questions the church failed to take seriously. Schaeffer also achieved notoriety for his work as an apologist to sceptics. Through his lectures, writings and documentary styled films he argued for the credibility of the faith, encouraging a generation of evangelicals to be confident in the truth. Others may remember him for bravely tackling the ethical issues of the day. His book entitled, Whatever Happened to the Human Race (later turned into a film) brought issues like abortion infanticide and euthanasia to the attention of Christians who otherwise would have remained oblivious to such matters. The component of Schaeffer’s legacy that is less appreciated was his burden for the church.

SBJT 24:2 (Summer 2020) p. 32

To get a sense of this concern, one only needs to peruse the body of his writings. In his collected works of five volumes, one exclusively addresses “The Christian View of the Church” (Volume 4). To read through the various books that make up this volume, Schaeffer’s message is not the musing of an armchair theologian discussing the finer points of ecclesiology and missiology. What strikes one immediately is the practical tenor of his communication reflecting the burden of a pastor. Of the many descriptions you could make of Schaeffer–apologist, public intellectual, cultural observer, and prophet—the designation “pastor” is the one that most aptly characterizes his calling. One just needs to read through his published letters to get a sense of this.

His commitment to the church goes back to his early years when he completed a theological t...