Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 16:2 (Fall 2025)
Article: Still One Race, One Gospel, One Task? Returning To The 1966 Berlin Congress On World Evangelism
Author: Taylor Lassiter

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Still One Race, One Gospel, One Task?
Returning To The 1966 Berlin Congress On World Evangelism

Taylor Lassiter

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview, TX

Abstract: In 1966, global evangelical leaders met in Berlin for the Congress on World Evangelism. Held from October 26–November 4, 1966, the Berlin Congress was a global phenomenon. Championed by Billy Graham and organized by Carl F. H. Henry, the Berlin Congress called delegates from across the world to present papers on the theme “One Race, One Gospel, One Task.” Delegates from across the globe addressed topics of racial tensions, political nationalism, social concern, and denominational disputes from an evangelical perspective. This essay summarizes the perspectives of keynote and plenary speakers of the Berlin Congress, capturing the evangelical ethos of the era. Despite the event’s shortcomings, its aim and outcomes should be studied by contemporary evangelicals who are determined to continue the pursuit of world evangelization.

Keywords: Berlin Congress on World Evangelism, Billy Graham, Carl F. H. Henry, Evangelicals, evangelism, Lausanne, missiology, missions, racism

In 1966, evangelical leaders from across the globe met in Berlin for the Congress on World Evangelism. Held from October 26–November 4, 1966, the World Congress on Evangelism was a global phenomenon. Attended by nearly 1,200 delegates from over 100 nations, the virtual entirety of international evangelicalism was represented.1 Championed by Billy Graham and organized by Carl F. H. Henry, the Berlin Congress called delegates from across the world to present papers on the theme “One Race, One Gospel, One Task.” The event culminated in over 10,000 delegates and Berliners marching and singing the classic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” under the shadow of the Berlin Wall. The delegates audaciously claimed, “Our goal is nothing short of the evangelization of the human race in this generation, by every means God has

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given to the mind and will of men.”2 The event had distinctly missiological implications. Officially, the Congress named several purposes for coming together:

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
5. of reaching contemporary man.
6. To deal frankly with prob...
   
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