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L'Abri is an evangelical Christian organisation which was founded on June 5, 1955 by
Francis Schaeffer Francis August Schaeffer (January 30, 1912 – May 15, 1984) was an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He co-founded the L'Abri community in Switzerland with his wife Edith Schaeffer, , a prolific author ...
and his wife Edith in Huémoz-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. They opened their
alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...
home as a ministry to curious travelers and as a forum to discuss philosophical and religious beliefs. Today, L'Abri houses in various parts of the world continue to offer people a place to stay when they travel.


Development of L'Abri

In 1947 Francis and Edith moved to Switzerland to work as missionaries for the
Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM) is a small Presbyterian mission organization, which early in its history became an approved agency of the Bible Presbyterian Church. Founded in 1933 by J. Gresham Machen, the IBPFM pla ...
(IBPFM) in Europe.Burson and Walls, p. 40. Following a spiritual crisis in 1951, and disagreements with theologians such as Carl McIntire, Schaeffer and his wife left IBPFM in 1955, to pursue their dream of working with young people. They moved to Huémoz where they would establish L'Abri. Word of mouth soon led to an increasing stream of visitors, with one period in the summer of 1956 averaging 31 visitors per week. International distribution of tapes of Schaeffer's lectures also helped to raise awareness of Schaeffer's work. L'Abri would come to own and operate several buildings in Huémoz.Hankins, p. 58. It came to include four kinds of people: short-term guests; students, who divided their time between study and communal work; workers, who participated in discussions and the work of hospitality; and members, who were part of the decision-making process. Following Schaeffer's death in 1984,Burson and Walls, p. 14. L'Abri would continue to grow. In the present day, L'Abri has operations in a number of different countries. As of 2011, L'Abri has residential "Study Centres" in the United States ( Minnesota and Massachusetts), Canada, South Korea,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, and
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. It also has non-residential "Resource Centres", run by friends of the organisation, in Brazil and Germany.


Mode of operation

Visitors to L'Abri centres are referred to as students, and personal study remains central to L'Abri's work, but there are no fixed "classes" or courses. Rather students (who may spend any time from one day to a whole "term," usually 2–3 months, at L'Abri) meet regularly with a member of staff to discuss the issues they wish to study, and are recommended resources from L'Abri's library of books and of recorded lectures and talks by L'Abri staff and others. A student's day is divided into "study time" and "work time." During "work time," a student will help with the necessary activities of the community – cooking meals, cleaning, maintenance etc. This division is based on Schaeffer's constant emphasis that Christianity, and the work of L'Abri, were not only intellectual but had to incorporate all of life, and that a demonstration of "Christian Community" was as central to L'Abri's work as the intellectual demonstration that he believed could be made of the reasonableness and truthfulness of Christian belief. The importance of Schaeffer's belief in the relevance of Christianity to all of life can be seen in many aspects of L'Abri. Even so, some articles have suggested there is less of an emphasis on serving philosophical skeptics and more of an emphasis on serving disaffected evangelicals. In a recent article on the group, Molly Worthen suggests that students today come with very different questions, and that they tend to look at the politicized evangelical faith that Schaeffer helped create with suspicion. The L'Abri day revolves around communal meals, often used as an opportunity for formal open discussion, and students are encouraged to pursue interests in art, music and literature. Apart from
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
and
Edith Schaeffer Edith Rachel Merritt Schaeffer (née Seville) (November 3, 1914 – March 30, 2013) was a Christian author and co-founder of L'Abri, a Christian organization which hosts guests. She was the wife of Francis Schaeffer, and the mother of Frank Schae ...
and their children, several notable Evangelical authors have been influenced by working with L'Abri. Such former staff include
Os Guinness Ian Oswald Guinness (born September 30, 1941) is an English author and social critic now based in Fairfax County, Virginia; he has lived in the United States since 1984. Early life and education Born on 30 September 1941 in Hsiang Cheng, China, ...
, Hans Rookmaaker,Burson and Walls, p. 47. Greg Laughery, and
Wade Bradshaw Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, California, a former settlement * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated communi ...
, The L'Abri study center in
Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...
also organizes bi-annual "L'Abri Conferences" in the USA and Canada at which L'Abri staff from across the world and other speakers supportive of the vision of L'Abri speak and lead seminars on a wide range of topics. In 2005, a conference was held in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the organization, and over 1,000 attendees were present to hear speakers such as Os Guinness, Harold O. J. Brown, and Chuck Colson.Hankins, p. x.


Notes


General references

* Bradshaw, Wade, ''By demonstration: God – Fifty years and a week at L'Abri'', Piquant Editions, (2005). * Burson, Scott R. and Walls, Jerry L.,
C.S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer: Lessons for a new century from the most influential apologists of our time
', InterVarsity Press, (1998). * Hankins, Barry,
Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America
', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, (2008). * Parkhurst, Louis Gifford, ''Francis and Edith Schaeffer'', Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers (1996). * Schaeffer, Edith, ''L'Abri'', Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House (1969); revised and expanded, Westchester, IL: Crossway Books (1992). * Schaeffer, Edith, ''The Tapestry'', Waco, TX: Word Books (1981). * Schaeffer, Frank, ''Crazy for God'', Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus (2007). *
Veith, Gene Edward Gene Edward Veith (born October 15, 1951) is an author, scholar, and Professor of Literature emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1979. Additionally, he holds honorary doctorates from ...

"Taking the roof off"
''World Magazine'', March 26, 2005 * Worthen, Molly. "Not Your Father's L'Abri". ''Christianity Today'', 28 March 2008
Available online.


External links


The Official L'Abri Home PageWebsite of the Swiss branchWebsite of the Dutch branchPacific Northwest L'Abri Conference 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:L'abri Evangelical parachurch organizations Nondenominational Christian societies and communities Christian organizations established in 1955 1955 establishments in Switzerland