When I was fifteen, my father told me to read Francis Schaeffer. At that time I began to read through his works and can honestly say that it changed me in deep and significant ways. At the same time I was reading C.S. Lewis and, through reading both, I came to see that one might be intellectually fulfilled, culturally engaged, and a follower of Jesus. This was a refreshing and liberating thought for me. While my appreciation for Francis Schaeffer has taken a bit of a hit over the last decade (perhaps I will write about that in a later post), I am still profoundly grateful for the impact his works have had on me and still think that his is a voice that should be considered. To that end, it is always encouraging to come across videos of Dr. Schaeffer that I had not seen or heard before.
Walking Together Ministries
A Resource for the Pilgrim Church
Thank you for sharing these videos. Early in my faith journey, albeit at a later age myself, I found Schaeffer helpful and challenging especially in the area of where the culture was going and the implications for the local church. My view of him has taken a beating also but in apologetics (non-classical, homespun style) he taught what I needed at the time. He seemed to have a real gift for cutting through the fog of acceptable norms to show the danger of NOT doing further study and thinking with an eye towards cultural engagement …the salt & light call of every believer. His warnings at the end of his life were a lot like that of A. W. Tozer who saw just as clearly we were in a mess mid-century. They both had a “prophetic” view that was alarming then and in a lot of ways was a clarion call to wake up. Sadly, it appears much of their effort went unheeded or soon enough forgotten. Every generation needs men like Schaeffer even with all their flaws and personal hang-ups which is more or less common to us all. His slow and methodical style of lecture would hardly work very well any more but with patience one can glean a lot of priceless truth about what it means to be human in a fallen world. Thank you for the reminder. Timely for me at least.
Thanks for the comment John. You and I feel the same about Francis Schaeffer. I’m profoundly grateful for his ministry, overall.