The following report was filed by Paul Weston, a Cambridge student, Oxford resident, and vice-chairman of British Inter-Varsity’s national student leadership committee.
Billy Graham came with a message. “We have been told that man is merely the product of blind forces, and we should devote ourselves to pleasure and materialism,” he wrote in a Christian student magazine in Cambridge some months before his arrival. “But I am convinced that we are seeing a reaction today in which many people—particularly young people … are groping for a spiritual dimension to life.… My desire is to see people come to know Christ.… He alone can give ultimate purpose and meaning to life.”
This was the message: an uncompromising declaration of Christ and his cross as the only way of salvation. The kernel of a gospel proclaimed in this manner has always attracted controversy, seldom indifference. These ancient British university towns (Oxford University was organized in 1163, Cambridge in 1209) proved no exception.
Sponsors in the two cities had organized missions with differing styles and audiences but which were centered on the same message. At Oxford Graham was the speaker at a four-day mission to both the university and the city; his Cambridge visit formed the triennial mission of the oldest Inter-Varsity movement chapter, the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU, pronounced “kick you”), organized by students and geared specifically for the university as a period of intensive outreach lasting eight days.
Graham’s visit to Oxford, which began on January 29, was organized by a combined committee from some of the downtown churches and the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (OICCU, pronounced “oyk you”), and was originally conceived by the rector of Saint Aldate’s, Canon Michael Green, who had invited Graham some years previously. The resulting mission was the fulfillment of Graham’s long-standing promise that he would visit Oxford as soon as he could. More recently, other city churches and two parishes located within five miles of the city center to which the evangelistic services were relayed became involved in the planning.
The arrival of Graham himself was marred by a personal injury. A fall in the shower of his London hotel resulted in the fracture of three ribs. If anything, this added to the atmosphere of eager anticipation, both friendly and otherwise, that awaited him—an atmosphere due in no small measure to the press build-up, which played a significant part in the way both students and city people initially reacted to him.
To most, the man rather than the message had become the focus of attention. This was largely due to the fact that, although he is well known to newspaper librarians and older journalists, Graham is almost completely unknown, except by spurious reputation, to most journalists in this country, as well as to the vast majority of the population under the age of 35, too young to remember his last visit. In Oxford, few bookshops regularly stock his books. Even Blackwell’s, the world-famous bookseller, was caught unprepared and was obliged to set up an impromptu display of the second volume of John Pollock’s authorized biography of Graham, along with one or two books by the evangelist himself.
The picture of Graham that emerged in the local and national press was generally uncomplimentary. Highly subjective for the most part, and often quite distorted, the press generally concentrated on the controversial aspects of his ministry and ignored for the most part any exposition of his message. One journalist, from the London Daily Mirror, “staked out” Graham’s hotel, managed to persuade him to grant an interview, and proceeded to draw him out for a full hour, only to publish a highly critical centerfold the following morning. The local Oxford Mail published a feature claiming that Graham’s illness had been exaggerated in order to whip up sympathy. Amid all this, however, Graham himself remained gracious and courteous, even giving an impromptu press conference to three journalists who managed to get backstage after one of the evangelistic services.
The physical discomfort caused by his fall was considerable in the first days and led to cancellation of more than 20 requests for interviews, including invitations to appear on Michael Parkinson’s television talk show and the BBC news program “Nationwide.” Graham was in obvious pain, and he commented later in the week that once during his first talk he was on the point of fainting and had to grip the lectern to avoid slumping.
Also discouraging at this stage were apparent snubs by the Oxford mayor, who refused to hold an official reception, and by the bishop of Oxford, Patrick Rodger, who gave the initial impression that he would not attend the meetings.
The addresses themselves were given to audiences of between two and three thousand, all but 900 of whom watched over closed-circuit television—facilities that accounted for over three-quarters of the total mission expenditure of around $45,000. Graham spoke in the town hall; the rest of his audience were in two downtown churches, the debating chambers of the Oxford Union, and two churches outside the city.
An opposition student group that dubbed itself the “anarchrists” invaded the hall one night and tried to shout down the evangelist while others cut the television cables.
The format at the Oxford meetings was simple: each meeting centered on a basic theme that was underscored by music, readings, and drama preceding the talk itself. There was no congregational singing, no massed choir. Gaining strength as the week progressed, Graham spoke forcefully on the centrality of the person and the cross of Christ and the effects of sin in the lives of individuals.
At the close of each meeting he made a call to commitment. But at the request of local organizers, there was no “altar-call”—simply a request that persons making this commitment remain behind to receive literature and help from one of the 200 counselors (mostly members of city churches, who had been trained in the preceding months). Actual professions picked up slowly. But by the week’s close, some 200 people representing both “town and gown” had been channeled into follow-up groups, organized by the local churches and led by local church members.
Following a week’s break, the action moved to Cambridge. Reaction was more intense there, mostly because the mission, being run by students for students, became the focal point within a highly concentrated and effusive university society. The invitation to Graham had been made two and one-half years previously by CICCU, and successive Christian Union committees had carried the preparations forward.
The evangelistic addresses were delivered in the University Church of Great Saint Mary’s, site of the evangelist’s last Cambridge mission in 1955, with television relays to Holy Trinity Church.
The decision to use Great Saint Mary’s had been made late in the preparations. Permission was granted by its newly installed vicar, Michael Mayne, who agreed in spite of misgivings, voiced in his parish newsletter, about the dangers of “too assertive a form of Christianity.”
More active opposition was organized by students themselves. One group, calling itself SAMI (Students Against Mass Indoctrination), opposed the mission on the grounds that Graham was seeking to convert people to an ideology through crowd manipulation, appeals to deep emotional fears, and other “heavy psychological methods.” It portrayed CICCU itself as “an organization dedicated to the propagation of an ideology distinct from mainstream Christianity,” and it branded the “fundamentalist view of morality” that Graham preached “outdated.”
Here, as at Oxford, the news media build-up, chiefly through the student newspaper and broadsheets circulated around the colleges, painted a disproportioned picture of Graham. Reporters focused upon his political associations and the alleged contradictions between those concerns and the message he preached. They also complained of psychological and emotional pressure at his meetings. (The Oxford news media said the meetings there lacked emotional pressure—a factor that itself led to “disappointment” and insinuations that the evangelist had changed his tactics.)
Graham seemed unconcerned by these attacks and made no reference to them at his meetings. At a press conference the day before the Cambridge mission started, Graham had promised an overall mission theme, “Reckon with God,” in which he would address some of the major student problems, such as loneliness, meaning, and alienation. He would also be speaking, he said, on thanatology, the study of death, which he called “the big new thing at universities in the United States.”
Following an evening dedication service, in which some 900 Christian students joined in prayer for the week, the series of eight addresses began the next day with packed audiences, maintained throughout the week. As at Oxford, the talks were direct and uncompromising, supported by testimonies from students who had given their lives to Christ while at the university, and also by music and words from the resident mission singer, Garth Hewitt, and guest Cliff Richard.
Each evening SAMI representatives silently picketed the meeting places and handed out leaflets criticizing Graham. They also organized a more ambitious banner demonstration on Sunday but for some reason marched off to the wrong church. The evangelist and his party slipped unnoticed into Great Saint Mary’s.
Reactions covered the spectrum from wholehearted acceptance to blunt rejection. Those able to spend time with Graham seemed increasingly impressed, both by the man’s humility and disarming charm, and by his patience and good humor amid all the pressures. But others, who had made up their minds about Graham before he arrived, generally became entrenched in their opposition and stayed away. Some academics and students disparaged him, but many made Christian commitments.
In the build-up to the Oxford and Cambridge missions, attention was drawn to the man rather than the message. Inevitably, something of this emphasis spilled over into the mission weeks themselves. Yet Graham, passionate in his belief that what he declares is the truth, pointed away from himself to his message. Herein lay both the offense of the gospel and the key to the response Graham evoked.
Mexico
Moon Walking Fine, but He Prefers Son Talking
Astronaut James Irwin, who walked on the moon in 1971 during the Apollo 15 flight, gave his extraterrestrial testimony in Mexico City last month.
During 17 different presentations, more than 10,000 people, including school children in uniform, university students, politicians, professionals, and citizens from all economic levels heard Irwin narrate a film of his moon landing and openly declare his faith in Jesus Christ. Irwin also exhibited a replica of the beautiful white “Genesis rock” he discovered on the moon and signed thousands of autographs.
Highlight of the visit was a 45-minute interview with Mexican President José Lopez Portillo. Juan Isais, director of Prisma magazine, which sponsored the astronaut’s visit, and Baptist layman Ricardo Huerta accompanied Irwin for the interview.
A dozen daily papers reported the presidential interview, many on the front page. All mentioned Irwin’s emphasis on the spiritual change that resulted from his moon trip. “In Mexico City, mention of evangelicals in the press is rare,” said Isais, “so this was very exciting.”
World Scene
Another Roman Catholic theologian is being asked to “clarify” his theological views. Brazilian liberation theologian, Franciscan Leonardo Boff, 42, author of Jesus Christ, Liberator. Some observers believe the Vatican move is a prelude to Pope John Paul’s visit to Brazil, scheduled for July.
The chairman and two members of Underground Evangelism’s British advisory board have resigned, according to the January issue of Crusade magazine. The chairman, Frederick Tatford, 78, resigned at the end of his term of office. He indicated disagreement with senior American UE officials, including president Joe Bass, for taking out lawsuits against fellow Christians, and with the complete American control of its British affiliate.
Evangelicals in West Germany are gaining influence and recognition. One measure, from survey results released by the Bible Society in Stuttgart, is a dramatic increase in Bible study groups within the Protestant churches. Between 1974 and 1978, groups increased by 46 percent, from 5,800 to 8,500, and participants increased by 56 percent, from 72,000 to 123,000. For the first time, members of the Confessing Fellowships—theologians who are committed to the authority of Scripture and the validity of the historic creeds—have been recognized and will be included in committees and departments of the Protestant Church in Germany and the United Lutheran Church in Germany.
Apocalypse now? The Isle of Patmos, where the exiled apostle John wrote the Book of the Revelation, has been selected as the site for a dialogue between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theologians. Talks by the joint theological commission will get under way next month on the tiny Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Cochairmen of the new commission, set up after Pope John Paul’s visit to Patriarch Dimitrios in Istanbul last November, are Cardinal Jan Willebrands of the Netherlands for the Roman Catholics, and Archbishop Stylianos of Australia for the Eastern Orthodox churches.
The first confessional Protestant church distinctive to Israel was established last month in Rehovot. Correspondent Baruch Maoz describes the polity and doctrine of the congregation, which is almost exclusively Israeli and Jewish, as independent and baptistic but based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Yad Le’Achim, a government-subsidized organization with an antimissionary thrust, has warned the Rehovot mayor that “blood will be spilt” if the congregation is allowed to use its rented premises for worship and fellowship.
World Vision is negotiating with Cambodia’s Heng Samrin government about reopening its hospital in Pnom Penh, which had been completed in 1975 just weeks before the Khmer Rouge overran the capital. World Vision has asked to renovate and reequip the building as a 150-bed general care facility; it was designated originally as a pediatric hospital.
Increased pressure on dissidents in Taiwan is underscoring differences in the churches. The Presbyterian Church, Taiwan’s largest Protestant body and mostly composed of native Taiwanese, has vigorously protested a crackdown on critics of the Republic of China government after antiregime riots in January. Eight of its leaders subsequently have been arrested. But the seven Lutheran bodies in Taiwan, meeting in Taipei last month, sent a message to President Chiang Ching-Kuo expressing “unhesitating enthusiasm” for his regime. The Lutherans are mostly composed of Chinese who fled the mainland after the Communist takeover.
A printing press operated by unregistered Baptists in the Soviet Union has been seized and four persons were arrested. The January seizure of a secret printing press of the “Khristianin” (Christian) Press in the Ukrainian village of Stary Kadaki was reported last month by the wife of Viktor Kapitanchuk, a member of the Christian Committee for the Defense of Believers’ Rights, who himself has been summoned by the authorities for questioning. The seizure is the third such setback for the active “Khristianin” press. A press in Lugukains, Latvia, was found and shut down by police in 1974; a second was discovered in Ivangorod, near Leningrad, in 1977.
Personalia
Daystar Communications, the cross-cultural research and communications training center in Nairobi, Kenya, began as the vision of American missionary to Rhodesia Donald K. Smith. But desiring that the school should be run by nationals, an African board was established under chairman James Mageria, a Kenyan businessman. The board’s search for an African executive director ended last fall with the appointment of Stephen E. Talitwala, a professor at Nairobi University and Daystar board member.
Timothy Lin, pastor of the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles, has been named president of the China Evangelical Seminary in Taipei, Taiwan. He succeeds James H. Taylor III, new general director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship.
Saying ecumenism is going nowhere, Roman Catholic nun Ann Patrick Ware has resigned from the staff of the National Council of Churches. After participating for 12 years in the theological and ecumenical work of the NCC Faith and Order Commission, she has found it increasingly difficult to be an “enthusiastic exponent” of official Catholic positions; in her resignation letter, she cited church stands against women’s ordination and its censure of liberal theologian Hans Küng.
Deaths
GERALD H. KENNEDY, 72, retired United Methodist bishop whose fame as a preacher earned him Time magazine’s cover in 1964; he advocated social causes as well as evangelism—chairing the committee behind Billy Graham’s Los Angeles crusade in 1963—and was the author of 26 books; February 17 in Laguna Hills, California, after a series of strokes over the last several years.
VLADIMIR SHELKOV, 84, well-known leader and writer in the Soviet “True and Free” Seventh-day Adventist Church (illegal body that separated from the “officially recognized” Adventist church in 1924), who spent many years underground or in labor camps; his most recent arrest and sentencing in 1979 to five years at hard labor for “discrediting the Soviet political and social system,” evoked strong protests from Soviet dissidents and the West; January 27 in an eastern Siberia labor camp.
