Taking the roof off

For L'Abri, the brainchild of 20th-century giant Francis Schaeffer, turning 50 is an opportunity to celebrate and revive what is golden in its unique approach to evangelism | Gene Edward Veith

Half a century ago, an American pastor named Francis Schaeffer opened his home in Switzerland to anyone who was struggling with the basic questions of life. It was the beginning of L'Abri, a word meaning "shelter." Over the years, student backpackers, troubled atheists, and thoughtful Christians found their way to this chalet in the Alps. Here they met biblical truth, explained not only with a sophistication that was then rare in evangelicalism—but lived out.

Many who trekked the Alpine hillsides to L'Abri became Christians and learned how to engage their cultures and to apply their faith to all of life. Two generations on, the influence of Francis and Edith Schaeffer and the ministry of L'Abri is evident among evangelical Christians everywhere in their approach not only to evangelism and the church but also to the sciences, arts, business, and politics.