Dear Reader,
The Apostle Paul is known far and wide for his effective ministry to the Gentiles – sharing the gospel where Christ was not yet named (Romans 15:20-21). In the Bible, we read of his thanking God for those who were supporting him in “partnership in the gospel” (Philippians 1:3-5).
In the spring of 1948, Bob Finley, now a busy college evangelist, was invited to pastor a church in Kansas. For months, the church sought him out, while Finley sought the Lord. That summer was the European InterVarsity Christian Fellowship conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a Youth for Christ World Congress gathering in Beatenberg, Switzerland. When Finley finally turned down the church’s invitation, several of its leading members made it possible for him to go to Europe for the conferences.
Boarding the Queen Mary on July 30th, 1948, Finley, then 26 years old, arrived in France six days later. In a letter sent back to the USA which begins “Dear Friends at Home,” he shared what happened next:
We landed at Cherbourg on Wednesday morning, August 4, and took [a] train to Paris. There I spoke to a church full of Russians with Peter Dynaka as interpreter. Many of those present were Christian refugees who have only recently fled from persecution and likely death or imprisonment in Russia itself. Some of the stories they told broke my heart. We Christians in America do not know what it means to suffer for Christ’s sake: to go without food for days on end; and to have all our earthly possessions taken from us because we belong to Christ. I pray it will not take a war of devastation to bring us to our knees.
From Paris I went to Lausanne, Switzerland to attend the European Conference of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Over 400 students from 30 nations were present. Our speakers were mostly Europeans. Three Americans spoke one time each: they were Stacey Woods, H.J. Ockenga, and one you know. The other speakers were Swiss, French, and German, with one Britisher, Dr. Lloyd-Jones, successor to Campbell Morgan in Westminster Chapel, London. The unity of spirit among the students was a miracle of the grace of God. To see English, French, Dutch, Italians, Germans, and Russians loving each other as brothers in Christ – so soon after the recent war – would melt the heart of the most pessimistic person on earth…
While in Lausanne at a time not long after the end of World War II and a little more than a year into the Cold War, Finley sought every opportunity to minister to those in his midst. What a joy it must have been for those “friends at home” to receive his first and subsequent letters detailing what their “partnership in the gospel” helped make possible.
Next week, we’ll share about his ministry with the “13 fellows in my cabin – mostly Germans” at the Lausanne meetings. Finley’s experiences both in Europe and then Asia would become a pivotal turning point in his life’s service to the Lord and he would not return to the US until nine months later.
Thanks for your partnership in the gospel,
Sincerely,
https://robertvfinley.com/
Charlottesville, Virginia.
