Prior to the establishment o
f the L’Abri fellowship, Schaeffer trudged through a season of spiritual turmoil and profound questioning. He had grown disillusioned with the spiritual reality of his own life and of those within the separatist movement and in other orthodox churches with which he was familiar (Louis Parkhurst, Francis Schaeffer: The Man and His Message, 69-70). The result of the honest questioning his faith and of Christianity led Schaeffer, not to despair and unbridled skepticism, but to a deeper faith and experience of God’s reality as he saw the clear truth of God’s existence and his revelation in Scripture. This newfound joy in Christ would lead to a fruitful–albeit unique–ministry over the next several years.
When the Schaeffer’s completed a one-year furlough back in the United States, they were, through various (and at times, extremely difficult) circumstances, able to purchase a home that would “always be open to young people” (Hankins, 55). Shortly after their purchase of this home, the Schaeffer’s resigned from the Independent Board for Foreign Missions on June 4, 1955. Schaeffer’s break from fundamentalism was now complete (Hankins, 56).
The Schaeffer’s new venture would formally begin in July 1955 as L’Abri (“the shelter”) Fellowship became the official name of the Schaeffer’s new ministry. During the first years of L’Abri, a variety of visitors would come to the Chalet and find warm welcome. Shortly after they opened L’Abri, the Schaeffer’s were able to purchase and use other nearby buildings. These buildings would become places of study and accommodations for visitors. The main feature of L’Abri, however, was the discussions.
Schaeffer would entertain and encourage discussions of all kinds with visitors. These conversations typically flowed out of questions posed by the guests as they inquired into the nature and reality of Christianity or boldly asserted their unbelief. The talks, however, were, for Schaeffer’s part, never mere academic banter; they were, as Hankins observes, “about truth and how it affected real lives” (Hankins, 61). The Schaeffer’s were intentional in coupling sincere intellectual engagement with an environment of warmth and love. They were convinced of that the “final apologetic” for the truth of Christianity was the demonstration of the love that Christians had for one another and for others. Regarding the importance of this visible testimony to the reality of Christianity, Schaffer would later write in his book, The God Who is There,
The final apologetic, along with the rational, logical defense and presentation, is what the world sees in the individual Christian and in our corporate relationships together…What we are called to do…is to exhibit substantial healing, individual and then corporate, so that people may observe it (Schaeffer, The Francis Schaeffer Trilogy, 165).
This important facet of Christianity and the defense of its truth had been absent in much of the fundamentalism to which Francis Schaeffer had been exposed; he and Edith were resolute in their effort to make sure L’Abri would be different in this regard (Hankins, 72).
As L’Abri’s popularity grew, Schaeffer would have the opportunity to speak at university campuses throughout Europe. Yet, as Schaeffer became more convinced of the truth he was purveying in the work among the questioning visitors and among the universities, he also became frustrated that only a handful of people—those who visited L’Abri and those in the European universities—would hear these important messages. Schaeffer’s effort to speak to a larger audience would eventually lead to lecture circuits to colleges in the United States (Hankins, 74-75).
As Schaeffer spoke across the United States at various colleges, he would not only impress listeners with his engagement with the wider culture and his ability to make Christianity appear intellectually tenable and relevant to the contemporary era, he also demonstrated a notable compassion for those whose works he would analyze and interpret. This latter characteristic of Schaeffer’s approach to intellectual engagement was illustrated vividly when, after reading a nonsensical poem by an unbelieving author, rebuked the laughing crowd, saying,
I get so tired of Bible believing Christians who laugh at these people—who laugh at them when they look at their tortured paintings. Do you laugh at a man at the door of hell? When evangelicals learn to stop their laughing and take such men and their struggles seriously then [evangelicals] can again begin to speak to our generation (Hankins, 77).
Here again we find a man not only interested in developing an apologetic to demonstrate the reasonableness of Christianity, but also—and just as importantly—a love that could weep over those with whom he would engage with intellectual argument and rigor.
