|
|
-
The Evangelical Alliance/
World Evangelical Fellowship [1846]
-
-
“It was an
impressive sight. 800 Christians, who had gathered in Freemason's Hall,
Great Queen Street, London,
in August, 1846, were standing to shake hands and sing the Doxology.
They had just voted to establish what has been called "a new thing in Church
history--a definite organization for the expression of unity amongst Christian
individuals belonging to different churches… They called it ‘The
Evangelical
Alliance…*’”
1.
-
-
Universal
Week of Prayer
-
-
“Undoubtedly the second most significant and tangible contribution of the
Evangelical Alliance was the establishment of the annual universal week of
prayer… Kessler notes that ‘in 1858 for the first time, the appeal for
a week of prayer was directed not only to the Alliance members, but to
all Christians throughout the world.’” 2. [emphasis added]
-
-
Note:
The Evangelical Alliance would later be renamed the World
Evangelical Fellowship in the U.S. 1951; other nations, such as the UK,
still retain the name Evangelical Alliance.
-
-
Additional
references to the missions gathering at Freemasons' Hall:
-
-
A History
of the Evangelical Movement 1517-1948,
Ruth Rouse and Stephen C. Neill, Philadelphia, The Westminister Press, 1967,
p. 324.
-
-
A Report of
the Proceedings of the Conference Held at Freemasons' Hall, London,
1846, London, Partridge and Oakey, 1847, p. 5.
-
-
A Study of
the Evangelical Alliance in Great Britain,
J. B. A Kessler, Netherlands, Oosterbaan & LeCointre N.V.--Goes, 1968, p. 17.
-
-
Masonic
Roots of EA/WEF/NAE?
-
-
The article
entitled “From the Evangelical Alliance to the World Evangelical Fellowship:
150 years of unity with a mission,” states in footnote #4:
-
-
4.
Minutes of the Proceedings of the Conference held at
Freemasons' Hall, London,
1846.
-
-
What is the
significance of this meeting in London?
-
-
The venue
of the 1846 conference which founded the Evangelical Alliance is significant.
The Grand Lodge of England at Freemason Hall is the mother of all Masonic
lodges, the headquarters of International Freemasonry. The United
Grand Lodge of
England directed our
Masonic Founding Fathers**
in the American Revolution and establishment of the U.S. government.
3. The
original Grand Lodge of England was built in 1717 and the present lodge
is the third building on the same site.
-
-
-
The
United Grand Lodge of England
web site states:
-
-
“In 1768
the premier Grand Lodge took the momentous decision to build a Hall as
its headquarters in
London.
A site was purchased in Great Queen Street, an architectural competition held,
the Foundation Stone laid, and on 23 May 1776 the Hall was formally
dedicated to the purposes of Freemasonry.” [emphasis added]
-
-
One can view the present
United Grand Lodge of England,
which is situated on the original site of the 1846 global missionary meeting
where the Evangelical
Alliance/
World Evangelical Fellowship
was born.
-
-
From EA/WEF
to the LCWE / AD 2000 & Beyond
-
-
W. Harold
Fuller
is vice-chair of the WEF International Council. Excerpts from Fuller’s
article, “From the Evangelical Alliance to the World Evangelical Fellowship:
150 years of unity with a mission” show the close relationship of the
Evangelical Alliance/World Evangelical Fellowship to the 1974 Lausanne
Consultation on World Evangelism (LCWE) and the A.D. 2000 and Beyond Movement:
-
-
As John
Stott has stated, “The story of the World Evangelical Fellowship, with its
roots in the Evangelical Alliance (which is more than one hundred years older
than the World Council of Churches), deserves to be better known.” Billy
Graham adds, “WEF has been a major force in uniting evangelicals
throughout the world.”(1) The evangelical movement, highlighted by the
150th-anniversary celebrations of Britain's Evangelical Alliance in November
1996, makes a fascinating study in missiology. Its growth has been fueled by
its core characteristic - the evangel, the preaching of the Gospel worldwide.
WEF itself is, in a sense, the bottom line of mission: churches planted as a
result of mission, forming a fellowship to help each other disciple the
nations.
-
-
In 1843
a meeting in Scotland commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Westminster
Assembly issued a plea for closer unity. The same year, Presbyterian
William Patton of New York wrote to British Congregationalist John
Angell James, recommending an interchurch conference to outline the truths
on which churches agreed.(3) A series of discussions and prayer gatherings led
to a General Conference held in London August 19 to September 2, 1846.
Eight hundred leaders from fifty-two “bodies of Christians” in eight nations
decided to form a confederation under the name “The Evangelical
Alliance.”
The delegates agreed upon a doctrinal statement of basic evangelical views.
They pointed out that they were not forming “a new ecclesiastical
organization” but expressing the spiritual unity that already existed “among
all who, loving the Lord Jesus Christ, are bound to love one another.”(4) [4.
Minutes of the Proceedings of the Conference held at Freemasons’ Hall, London,
1846.]…
-
-
In 1951
at
Woudschoten,
Netherlands,
91 men and women from 21 countries met as the International Convention of
Evangelicals. They voted to establish the World Evangelical Fellowship. (8)
Two Anglican theologians, A. Jack Dain and John R. W. Stott, (9)
provided a biblical outline of the threefold purpose of WEF… [9. John Stott
later drafted the historic
Lausanne
Covenant, 1974.]…
[See
Key Leaders of WEF***]
-
-
Today WEF,
headquarted in Singapore, embraces 150 million evangelicals in 112
national and regional fellowships representing an estimated 600,000
churches.
-
A Filipino
lawyer/clergyman, Agustin Jun Vencer, is international director,
responsible to an International Council elected by member bodies…
-
-
Whereas
some evangelicals have at times been reactionary and defensive, African
theologian Tokunboh Adeyemo, chairman of the WEF International Council,
positions WEF positively. "We do not define ourselves by what we are against
as much as what we are for," he says. "That includes the inspiration of the
scriptures, the deity of Jesus Christ, salvation by faith alone in the
finished work of redemption provided by Jesus Christ, and the unity of the
Spirit among all who confess Jesus Christ as their personal Savior."(16)…
-
-
Because of
its positive, well-defined position, WEF is now recognized by WCC
and other global councils as representing a distinct worldwide constituency.
For instance, WEF participates in the annual Conference of Secretaries of
World Christian Communities, for purposes of communication. WEF also
maintains close ties with other evangelical global organizations. The
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism (LCWE, or “Lausanne”) and WEF at times
have formed joint task forces and copublished reports.
The two movements are currently examining a closer relationship, while
recognizing their distinctives: WEF derives its authority from ongoing
evangelical fellowships, while Lausanne functions through ad hoc committees.
(17) Another global evangelistic conglomerate, AD2000, often works through
WEF leaders and personnel in national projects.
-
-
In its
first century the EA was active in defending religious liberty and human
rights, but its national bodies were less active in the mid-twentieth
century.
-
-
Social
action.
The natural reaction of a minority group, such as evangelicals find themselves
to be in many lands, is to retreat into defensive isolation. WEF encourages
them to find creditable ways to address their community's needs, such as
relief and development, reconciliation, and special problems such as may be
found, for instance, among women and youth.
-
-
Religious
liberty.
WEF helps to bring international public opinion to bear on regimes that
violate human rights, particularly religious liberty. As well, the size of its
global constituency can cause a government to respect local minorities,
whether Christian or of other faiths. 4.
-
-
References
-
-
1.
David, M. Howard,
The
Dream That Would Not Die: The birth and growth of the World Evangelical
Fellowship 1846-1986,
The Paternoster Press, 1986, p. 7.
-
2.
Ibid., p.
16.
-
3.
U.G.L.E. later orchestrated the Civil War through the
agency of Confederate General Albert Pike, who was the Sovereign Grand
Commander of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the Southern Jurisdiction. “Why
Albert Pike’s Statue Must Fall: The Scottish Rite’s KKK Project,” Anton
Chaitkin,
http://www.etext.org/Politics/LaRouche/pikefall.txt
-
4.
“From the Evangelical Alliance to
the World Evangelical Fellowship: 150 years of unity with a mission,” W.
Harold Fuller, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, October, 1996.
W. Harold Fuller is vice-chair of the WEF International Council and author of
the updated history of the EA and WEF, People of the Mandate (Carlisle, U.K.:
Paternoster; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996).
-
-
-
-
|
|