GroshLink

Many of us have been blessed by the ministry of Francis Schaeffer.  While students at Grove City College, Theresa and I attended Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church, where Schaeffer served as a pastor, and I read page after page of his various books as I sought a truly incarnational/liveable faith rooted in the Reality of God's ultimate purposes.  Several of my friends have visited L'Abri and have given testimony to the value of its ministry back in the day and as I type.  Out of all of his books, True Spirituality has spoken to me the most.

So how does one respond to the critique of Francis' work such as provided by Holy fools, which springboards off of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back written by his son Franky?  I asked my friend Miller his thoughts, you'll remember him from the recent post L'abri Today.  He forwarded to me a number of personal communications, see below.

schaeffer certainly was God's person in his early years at l'abri (50's and 60's)....but times changed....when i was there he had given up the "fundamentalist" label...his purpose was to give honest answers to honest questions...the old rational apologetics seemed right then...but later, students arriving there were more concerned about personal and social problems...and academic philosophers attacked his broad generalizations (so he backed off and said he was not a philsopher, but an evangelist)... frankie's conversion to eastern orthodoxy gives him a strong bias against his background...he didn't like the way his parents captured "evangelistic moments"  (for instance, if they were to see someone struggling with a flat tire, they would stop, help, and before leaving, present the gospel briefly)....but people like doug groothuis did get their start there, and also os guinness, and many others...those can't be taken away...late in his life (and maybe related to his cancer) he did get involved with social issues of the right, and became friends with d. james kennedy and others who worried about the direction of our country, abortion, etc....i think frankie is too harsh... -- Miller

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I wanted to share a few short reflections after finding the piece below by Frank Schaeffer, written for the San Francisco Chronicle in May. I understand cynicism about the evangelical world. There is much that has gone wrong without a doubt. I only need to say a few words to prove it. Rick, Joel, Benny. You get the picture. I spend a great deal of time exposing this error and calling people back to a confidence in the authority of God's Word. But there is a growing trend among thinking Christians to cast out the Reformation and to go back to either Rome, or in Frank's case, Constantinople. Back to the future. The idea that salvation is a lifelong podvig or struggle towards God is taught by the Orthodox church. Gone is the teaching that salvation is found through by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now we have to go back to the system of working our way towards heaven. Frank has made his choice. He now finds himself on the other side of where he began. He would once have pointed out the error very bluntly of a column such as the one below. Now he is writing them. There is a warning here. In the mist of our disenchantment with the current state of the evangelical church, let's not make the mistake of jumping from one error to another. Frank's bitterness against his parents and evangelical Christians (he uses the term fundamentalist loosely) have resulted in his leading many away from the truth, back to the bondage of salvation by works in Orthodoxy. He now makes a living by publishing columns attacking those of us who embrace the Word of God as our sole authority. In his mind and in his writings, we are no better than mullahs who cling to 7th century Islamic laws or crazed fanatics who fly planes into buildings. With Frank there truly is no neutrality. It's just that now he finds himself on the other side. When the persecution of true believers begins, I expect that this is the pretext that will be used--Christian fundamentalists will be viewed as Frank paints them. Dangerous. -- unknown source

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I’ve known quite a number of people who were deeply impacted by L’Abri—not only Groothuis and Guinness, but Edgar, Hurley, Keyes, Barrs, MacAulay, the Middelmanns, Pearcey, Andree Seu, many others. My whole generation (and the next) was deeply influenced by Schaeffer, and I am hugely grateful to God. I only met the man a couple times and had a brief correspondence with him. But I read his books eagerly, visited his lectures whenever I could, and taught many of his converts. People converted at L’Abri often exhibit a high intelligence, combined with a balance that I’ve rarely seen elsewhere. And they are just such awfully nice people.

I quibble somewhat with his apologetics and with his interpretations of philosophers. I won’t vouch 100% for his politics either, but I think that on the whole his influence on the religious right was salutary. Think what Falwell and Robertson would have been like without the influence of Schaeffer. His communication skills were astonishing. He could illustrate anything. And even at the height of his fame he could talk to you as if you were the only thing on his mind. His and Edith’s hospitality was legendary. And God’s providence at L’Abri is the most remarkable story since George Muller.

The one time I was really disappointed in Schaeffer was when he made a speech in the PCA GA, effectively scuttling the prospects of union between PCA and OPC.

But whatever inadequacies there may have been in his ministry, I think they are trivial compared with the blessing that he was to the church. There is a legitimate place for critique, but those who try to diminish S’s stature (including Frank) ultimately diminish themselves. -- John Frame's tribute to Francis Schaeffer

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those coming to l'abri in the early days were atheists looking for answers, and burned-out christians from dumbed-down evangelical churches (schaeffer was not happy with most christian colleges...little christian colleges turning out little christians)...when he visited here in new wilmington, he wondered how i could continue to teach at westminster ...he said he would be screaming all the time...

how did God use him in so many ways?  his defense of the faith was not the "shouting" kind...he was willing to listen for hours to doubts of students (often up very late at coffee houses, and in dorms at cambridge and oxford)...his basic apologetic method is still pwerful: listening to uncover the basics of a person's stated worldview, but then showing that they in fact had an often unstated set of practical assumptions that made lliving possible...and that they were double-minded...they talk like atheists, but as a result of living in a world and body made by God, they are compelled to hold to much of God's principles...dave brownlee, a student at yale and formerly of beverly heights UP in mt. lebanon, visited me at l'abri...and schaeffer was willing to spend an evening with him...dave's church was evangelical and recently left the denomination...but as with many evangelical students, their depth of understanding and committed is shallow...schaeffer's concern for all of culture (why is frankie upset with the father's love for the great works of art and music) and willingness to listen to any point of view, and to attempt "honest answers to honest questions" ...l'abri was a place where "heresies could bounce off the walls"...in the saturday night free discussions in the livingroom of the chalet where fran and edith lived, he brought biblical answers to questions that sometimes continued for hours...he asked students to attack the question at hand (placing it in the middle of the floor, so to speak), and not attack each other...back to dave...his time at yale pushed him toward atheism, and as they talked together, schaeffer noticed dave talking about how much he loved his girl friend...schaeffer wouldn't let him use this "christian word"...he asked that he replace it with "a chemical attraction"...soon, dave said, but i REALLY love her...that was schaeffer's point...secular people borrow so much from a biblical worldview without recognizing it...and need to be made aware of the despair and emptiness of their secular views...that their longing for love, forgiveness, acceptance, purpose...all of these things are available only in the God of the bible....

during a recent visit to l'abri, we talked briefly with john sandri (schaeffer's son-in-law) about the changes...those coming there now are often staying for extended periods, a sabbatical from the world, a time to find themselves in an accepting atmosphere, where "we don't push a system on you", but are there to assist you as you work through an area of study of your own choosing (with guidance from a tutor, and the three or four Ph.D's who live there)...john said most of the students coming these days are from two groups that are disenchanted: with liberal churches that have no answers, and  cultic charismatic-type churches...everything now is low-key there...no guru giving out answers....i asked why there didn't seem to be much singing, and was told that too many were burned by home churches that used music to manipulate them into a spiritual high...

so many students became christians there over the years, and developed a ministry that was "speaking the truth into our culture"....schaeffer's deep sadness in later years on the collapse of a biblical foundation for our country was well founded...we are seeing anarchy now as a result... -- more from Miller