Evangelism: Graham Calls Scots to Ministry

Returning to Scotland some 36 years after his last campaign there, evangelist Billy Graham called on church leaders and young people alike to recapture the spiritual heritage of their country, home of John Knox, presbyterianism, and the King James Bible. More than 250,000 people attended the series of ten stadium meetings, held in three major cities during late May and early June. An average of 1,860 per night (just over 7 percent of the audience) came forward at Graham’s invitations. Unlike his usual calls to commitment to Jesus Christ, Graham’s invitations in Scotland included challenges for Christians to commit themselves publicly to full-time ministry.

“What we need in Scotland is young men and women to offer themselves as ministers, missionaries, and evangelists, people who have a gift from God,” Graham said.

The evangelist’s message came in response to comments by Church of Scotland leaders, who have seen the national church lose a third of its members over the past three decades.

“Many of today’s church leaders in Scotland trace their spiritual roots back to Mr. Graham’s historic meetings in Glasgow in 1955,” said David McNee, chairman of Mission Scotland 1991. “Perhaps this mission will provide an infrastructure of new leadership in the future.”

Indeed, young people did respond in large numbers to Graham’s messages. An average of over 60 percent of those responding each night were under 25 years of age, organizers said. They added that almost half the commitments were first-time decisions, many by individuals with no church background.

Graham began his crusade with an address to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, a privilege offered only once since 1955—to the Queen of England—when Graham previously addressed the body. Video and satellite links carried crusade messages to remote locations in Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; to oil rigs in the North Sea; and to units of Britain’s “Desert Rats” based in Germany following service in the Persian Gulf War.

Throughout Europe, other evangelists took advantage of new opportunities to preach in formerly communist lands:

• Despite cold, rainy weather, more than 125,000 people attended 11 stadium meetings conducted in Romania by Luis Palau. In all, 39,400 indicated commitments to Jesus Christ. The 31-percent response rate was the highest the evangelist has seen in his team’s 25 years of campaign ministry.

At the close of the final meeting, held June 4 in the Black Sea city of Constanţa, nearly 80 percent of the crowd of 10,500 indicated they had invited Christ into their lives. Responses throughout the campaign, arranged by the Evangelical Alliance of Romania, exhausted supplies of materials. Organizers were forced to ask other cities for any extra literature available to meet the demand.

Palau, who visited Romania about a year ago, was also interviewed on national television and met with top public officials. Local leaders said the campaign “earned respect for evangelicals in Romania” and that no matter what happens in the country’s political future, the Word of God had been “deeply planted in the hearts of the people.”

• A month-long crusade in Kiev by evangelist John Guest has resulted in several dozen new churches being formed in the Ukrainian city of 3 million. “As an American evangelist, it is relatively easy to draw crowds and ‘converts,’ ” Guest said. “But the real work is follow-up. Teaching for a month gives me the freedom to really disciple these new believers.” Guest spoke at various locations around the city from May 4 through June 4, teaching through the Gospel of John.

Leaders of the new home churches are being trained by Biblical Education by Extension, an arm of Eastern European Seminary. Plans call for more than 100 new churches to be established near campuses, housing developments, and suburban areas.

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