English L’Abri celebrates 50 years
James Paul
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
Thanksgiving for the ‘reality’ and ‘richness’ of life in community were two themes that emerged from speeches given by past workers at a special celebratory event last month to mark 50 years of God’s faithful provision for English L’Abri in Greatham, Hampshire.
L’Abri Fellowship is a community-based apologetics ministry started by Edith and Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland. Every year the English branch welcomes hundreds of guests from all over the world to the Manor House to find a shelter (L’Abri is French for ‘the shelter’) within which they can wrestle through their questions about the truth and relevance of Christian faith; something that many of those speaking acknowledged is needed now more than ever in today’s complex and fragmented world, which presents so many challenges to Christian belief.
Joe Martin 1934 – 2019
Vaughan Roberts
Date posted: 1 Feb 2020
Joe essentially pioneered what
is now a
thriving ministry
to Oxford’s graduate
students.
He grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, in
the deep south of America. While studying
history at Harvard, he met Christians who
challenged his
recently-avowed
atheism.
Those
early days
in
the
Inter Varsity
Fellowship left him with a deep appreciation
of and commitment to student ministry.