The Evangelical
Alliance/ World Evangelical Fellowship / World Evangelical Alliance [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.
The World Evangelical Fellowship was renamed World Evangelical Alliance
in 2001.
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 also 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
- 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.
-
Ibid., p. 16.
- 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
-
“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).
