Wheaton '83 Conference - Collection 598

21 boxes (20 DC, 1 card file), Audio Tapes, Oversize materials, Photographs (8.3225 cubic feet)

Brief Description. Correspondence, papers, case studies, minutes, participant evaluations, and other documents relating to the planning, holding and follow-up of the conference. The meeting was sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship and other organizations. It consisted of three simultaneous consultations which dealt with the local church, evangelism across frontiers, and Christian response to human need.

Conference name		Wheaton ‘83 - An International Evangelical Conference on the Nature and Mission of the Church
Conference venue		Billy Graham Center Building (500 E. College) Wheaton College campus, Wheaton, Illinois, United States of America
Conference dates		June 20-July 1, 1983
Conference theme		I Will Build My Church: The Nature and Mission of the Church
Conference background		The meeting was convened by the World Evangelical Fellowship (after being originally proposed by Bruce Nicholls, executive secretary of the WEF Theological Commission), in cooperation with about forty other Christian groups, including the Billy Graham Center, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, World Vision International, and Partnership in Mission. The conference was, in fact, three different consultations going on simultaneously. These consultations were: • The Mission of the Church in its Local Setting - dealt with the needs of local congregations • The Church in New Frontiers for Missions - dealt with whether Christians should present the gospel across cultures in the modern world • The Church in Response to Human Need - dealt with the ways that both evangelism and social concern are part of the biblical mission of the Church Participants were selected by the executive committee and conference staff to reflect the diversity in the Evangelical Protestantism worldwide.
Conference purpose		“The purposes are outlined in the following goals: 1. To gain a Biblical understanding of the nature and mission of the church. 2. To bring integration between various aspects of the church. 3. To renew our obedience and commitment to the church’s ministry and mission.”
Attendance figures		Approximately 320 participants, about half of which came from Africa, Asia and Latin America. They represented fifty-nine countries. There were also another fifty staff members and reporters.
Conference Leaders
	Chairman	William Shoemaker, Billy Graham Center
	Vice-Chairman	David Howard, World Evangelical Fellowship
	Coordinator	Bruce Nicholls, Executive Secretary, Theological Commission, World Evangelical Fellowship
	Chairman, Consultation I	Pablo Perez, Casa Linda Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas
	Chairman, Consultation II	Patrick Sookhdeo, In Contact Ministries
	Chairman, Consultation III	Arthur Beals, World Concern
	Coordinator, Consultation III	Tom Sine, World Concern
	Other conference staff	John Thompson, special assistant; Kathy Boyadgis, special assistant
Executive Committee		Tokunboh Adeyemo, Ulrich Bertz, David Howard, Gladys Jasper, Gottfried Osei-Mensah, Pablo Perez, John Richards, Vinay Samuel, William Shoemaker, Ronald Sider, Patrick Sookhdeo, Teo van der Weele, Thomas Wang, Theodore Williams, Robert Youngblood
Program Committee		Bruce Nichols, Pablo Perez, Vinay Samuel, William Shoemaker, Patrick Sookhdeo
Financial support		Conference was run on a relatively modest level. Some contributions in labor and funds came WEF and the Billy Graham Center (both organizations also contributed staff). There also were fund raising efforts to have churches and Christian organizations act as sponsors. Participants also paid registration fees, $500 for individuals from Western countries, $50 for people from non-Western countries. The conference did have a deficit that various people and organizations helped to cover afterwards.
Post-conference resources		A letter summarizing the issues discussed, called Letter to the Churches, was prepared. It included statements from each of the three consultations. Papers from the conference were also circulated. Other projects and a newsletter were carried on by a Seattle office and Christian organizations in different parts of the world which served as regional center. The Seattle office terminated in December 1984.
Other significant information
	During the first two days of the conference members of each of the three consultations debated the discussion papers. The third day they each began discussion of case studies prepared for each of the three to describe the real life approaches various Christian organizations were taking to needs and opportunities. The fourth day was given to workshops and discussion groups based on the experiences of the previous three days. Then the members of all three groups spent a day together sharing and learning what the other consultations had been doing. Then the members of the three consultations were mixed together to do a common case study. Finally the consultations moved on to the question of how to integrate what they learned at the conference with their individual ministries.

[Note: In the Scope & Content section, the notation “folder 2-5" means “Box 2, Folder 5"]

Geographic coverage: United States, with some material from other parts of the world

Type of documents: Correspondence, memos, budgets, lists, audio tapes of meetings.

Correspondents: Kathy Boyadgis, Edward Dayton, John Thompson, William Shoemaker, Tom Sine

Subjects: Documents are concerned largely with the putting together of the program of the conference, the methodology, the physical arrangements.

Notes: These files are by and large those of John Thompson, Shoemaker’s chief assistant. They cover events from the early planning stages up to the actual beginning of the conference. Included are the minutes of several meetings of the executive committee. Much of the material in this and other sections is concerned with adequate case studies for the purposes of the three consultations and the fitness of the case study method to work of the conference.

Exceptional items: Tapes T1 through T19 contain tapes of various executive committee meetings, consultations and staff meetings on different aspects of the conference and its three tracks. They provide an informal and human picture of the concerns of the conference planners and the personalities involved and fill in many information gaps from the written record.

Folder 3-6 contains the booklet sent out to the organizations that were being asked to sponsor the conference. It described the purpose and goals of the three consultations

Folder 3-7 contains minutes and other documents from the November 1981 planning session, convened by WEF at the Billy Graham Center, that set the basic goals and methods of the conference. Folder 6-3 contains a basic reference book on the conference, apparently used by staff. It includes lists of staff and committee members, minutes of planning meetings, news releases, etc. Folder 6-6 contains regular updates on the plans for the consultation on the Christian Response to Human Need. Box 7 consists of a card file with the names and addresses of individuals, churches and organizations that were sponsors or potential sponsors of the conference financially or otherwise, as well as members of the executive committee and others involved in the planning of the meeting.

Correspondents: Arthur Beals, Kathy Boyadgis, Wayne Bragg, Edward Dayton, Bruce Nicholls, Tom Sine. Peter Stam, John Thompson

Subjects: Life and ministry summaries for a global cross section of Evangelical leaders

Notes: These files include the staff files on the selection of participants for the conference and the assigning of them to one of the three different tracks. There is a great deal of biographical data, especially from questionnaires filled out by the participants themselves, as well statistic on staff efforts to get a balanced representation geographically.

Arrangement: Correspondence of members of the steering committee and staff is in a group, arranged alphabetically by individual’s names, followed by a group of files relating to the case studies, arranged alphabetically by title

Geographic coverage: World wide, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Papaya New Guinea, Sudan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Type of documents: Reports, correspondence papers, clippings, address lists, questionnaires, annual reports,

Correspondents: Neville P. Anderson, Art Beals, Kathy Boyadgis, Wayne Bragg, Dave Chambers, Wade Coggins, Edward Dayton, Patricia Harrison, Siman Ibrahim, Israel Katoke, Andrew Kirk, Ron Mathews, Bruce Nichols, Rene Padilla, Gustavo Parajon, Dean Rogers, Vinay Samuel, Michael Schluter, William Shoemaker, Ronald Sider, Tom Sine, Patrick Sookhdeo, John Thompson, Jun Vencer

Subjects: Planning and purpose of the conference, fund-raising, the relation between Christian witness and the Church’s responsibility for justice and mercy in the contemporary world, documents on the experience of various Christian churches and organizations on meeting spiritual and social needs in different countries and regions, impact of militarism upon development

Notes: Consultation III was perhaps the most active of the three and had the most detailed plans for continuation after the consultation. These files reflect the work of the consultation’s office in the state of Washington and its coordination with the Wheaton office of the congress.

Exceptional items: Among the organizations and churches for which there are reports or case studies are Christoffel Blindemission, Christian nationals Evangelism Commission, Christian Hope Indian Eskimo Fellowship (CHIEF), Committee for Justice and Liberty, Grace Ministries, Haiti Agriculture Mission, Harvest, International Missionary Advance, International Needs-India, John Deere and Company, Lutheran Evangelical Relief, Mennonite Central Committee, National Association of Evangelicals of Ghana, Operation L.O.R.D., Prison Fellowship, Reformed Evangelical Synod, Rural Development Consultancy for Christian Churches in Africa (RURCON), Tear Fund, Unitas of Jamaica, United Church (Papua New Guinea), We Care Community Services, World Evangelical Fellowship, World Relief, World Vision,

Geographic coverage: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Kenya, Korea, Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia

Type of documents: handouts, lists, news releases, participant evaluation forms, participant notebooks, prayer calender, programs, publications, questionnaires, registration forms, reports,

Subjects: The organization and daily activities of the Wheaton ‘83 and its final reports

Notes: These files are concerned with the actual running of the conference and the immediate aftermath. They describe the physical arrangements, the registration process, the evaluation of the meeting by the participants, the final news release, and the final or draft reports of the three consultations that made up the conference.

Exceptional items: The participants notebook in folder 15-3 contains the best material for the understanding of the purpose and method of the conference. The views of individual participants can be found in the evaluation forms in folders 15-4 through 15-8. The reports of the three consultations are in folders 14-20 through 14-22. The main document of the conference, “Letter to the Churches,’ can be found in folder 14-25. Folder 15-1 contains reports, brochures, newsletters and other publications from Evangelical organizations around the world. They provide a good snapshot of Evangelical evangelism and social ministry in 1983,

Arrangement: Files are arranged by type of material, then alphabetically by author’s name

Geographic coverage: Argentina, Brazil, China, England, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia (Java), Kenya, Korea, Nicaragua, Nepal, Niger, Philippines, United States

Type of documents: Copies of papers given at the conference, including in some cases early drafts of the papers

Subjects: history of the Evangelical meetings that preceded Wheaton ‘83, Christian social responsibility; development, social transformation and the gospel; contemporary evangelism; the situation of particular churches in different parts of the world; persecution of Christians; the place of the local congregation in the work of the church; methods of presenting the Gospel across physical, cultural, and other barriers; the impact of technology on Christian witness;

Notes: This series contains the paper copies of presentations made at the conference, including a historical study of the precedences to Wheaton ‘83, a workbook for developing an evangelism strategy for a particular group of people, Bible studies on the church in different situations described in the New Testament, and the case studies and papers presented at the three consultations. With the papers for Consultation I, evaluations or responses to a particular paper are in the same folder as the paper.

Geographic coverage: Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Kenya, Netherlands, Philippines, United Kingdom, United States among other countries

Type of documents: Budgets, correspondence, evaluations of the conference, financial statements, minutes of meetings, newsletters, questionnaire, transcripts,

Correspondents: Kathy Boyadgis, Brenda Buchweitz, Ed Dayton, Siman Ibrahim, Israel Katoke, M. R. Matthews, Bob Moffitt, Rene Padilla, Vinay Samuel, Tom Sine Chris Sugden, John Thompson, William Shoemaker

Subjects: Evaluation of the conference and distribution of its publications, Evangelical Protestantism’s efforts for community development and humanitarian relief

Notes: The files in this series deal with the work of the steering committee that continued on after the conference to distribute its publications and otherwise continue its work. Besides many evaluations of the congress, the files contain information on fund-raising for the committee, plans to develop a curriculum on the teaching of social ethics and social development, and reports on related activities in various parts of the world.

Exceptional items: Folders 18-26 and 21-14 contains plans for curriculums in social ethics and social development. Folder 19-5 contains many pages of transcripts of interviews with people like Edward Dayton, Arthur Glasser, Bruce Nichols, Vinay Samuel, Bill Shoemaker, Tom Sine, Patrick Sookhdeo, Theodore Srinivasagam, and other participants in which they talk about their experiences at the conference and their expectations. (See also folder 20-5). Folder 20-2 contains minutes of the steering committee of the Followon work, describing some of the projects that grew out of the conference. The progress reports of the steering committee are in folder 21-6.

The materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center by Wheaton and Seattle offices of the Wheaton ‘83 Conference in 1983-1985. The bulk of the files dealing solely with housekeeping and arrangements were not kept because of their low research value. The archivist retained core files dealing with program, participants, organization, evaluation and the aftermath of the meeting.

The following items are located in the AUDIO TAPE file. All tapes were cassettes and all were copied on both sides

The following items are in the OVERSIZE FILE. Request by collection number and folder location (in parentheses).

PARTICIPANTS PRINTOUT (OS6) Multipage handout providing information on the participants at the Wheaton ‘83 conference, arranging the same list three different ways - by name, country, and organization. Ca. 1983.

The following items are located in the PHOTO FILE; request by folder title (in bold) at the beginning of each entry below.

WHEATON ‘83 CONFERENCE. 3 photos and 13 pages of proof sheets, all b&w. Scenes from the conference, including pictures of sessions, worship, meals, informal shots of attendees,

close-up of speakers, group shots of all or most of the participants. Most of the proof sheets have approximately 35 images. The Archives does not have the negatives for these proof sheets. The photos were apparently taken by Robert Fine of Wheaton, Illinois. June-July 1983.

18	11		Case Histories
17	19		Consultation I Papers
17	12		Diagnostic Questionnaire
17	33		Missions and Churches Today: Volume One
17	34		Missions and Churches Today: Volume Two
18	3		The Role of Development in New Frontier Ministries
18	4		Training for New Frontiers: Case histories
17	5		Voluntarily Submitted Case Studies and Case Histories
18	9		Whom Shall I Baptize?
16	14	Adeyemo, Tokunboh	The Church and its Social Responsibility
17	1	Anderson, Earl	Church Cared for by Itinerant Pastors: Evangelism in Turkana
17	2	Armstrong, Ben	Non-institutional Churches: Electronic Church
17	3	Azevedo, I. de	Churches in Middle Class Suburbia: First Baptist, Sao Paulo
17	26	Benson, G.P.	The Renewal of the Church - The New Community of Witness and Service
17	27	Bosch, David	Evangelism and Social Transformation
18	10	Bragg, Wayne G.	Beyond Development
17	4	Bush, Luis	The Identity of the Local Church
17	6	Chang-In, Kim	Church in Middle Class Suburbia: Secrets of Growth at Chung Hyean Church
17	7	Chao, Jonathan	The Witness of the Suffering Church
17	14	Chik Han, Kyung	Structuring of the Local Church Evangelism
17	28	Cho, David J.	Appropriate Structures for Reaching New Frontiers
16	10	Chow, Wilson	The Church in the New Testament
17	8	Churruarin, Juan	Non-institutional Churches: Omar Cabrera Church
17	9	Cray, Graham	Churches Experiencing Renewal: St. Michael’s Church, England
17	10	Daidanso ma Djongwe, Rene	Issues Related to Christian Discipleship
17	11	Dalellew, Tesfatsion	Churches under Pressure: Mekane Yesus Church, Ethiopia
17	29	Dayton, Edward D.	Reaching Unreached People Groups
18	12	Dayton, Edward D.	Social Transformation: The Mission of God
17	13	Evans, Robert A.	Operation Reach-Out
17	30	Gitari, Rev. David M.	The Unity and Diversity of the World-wide Church
17	31	Gray, Francis A.	Radio in Church Planting Evangelism
16	15	Gutierrez, Rev. Rolando	The Nature of the Church
16	8	Howard, David M.	From Wheaton 66 to Wheaton 83: An Historical Overview
17	15	Hminga, C. L.	Churches Cared for by Itinerant Pastors: Mizoram Baptist Church
17	16	Jason, Noel	Relationship Between the Church and Para Church Agencies
18	13	Jeune, Chavannes	Justice, Freedom, and Social Transformation
17	32	Kattapuram, V.M.	Training for new frontiers
17	17	Kitanga, Arthur	Churches in Urban Situations: Redeemed Gospel Church
16	16	Kuzmic, Peter	The Church and the Kingdom of God
18	14	Mangalwad, Vishal	Christian Compassion and Social Transformation
17	18	McGee, Eugene	Churches in Urban Situations: First Alliance Church, New York
18	15	Moffitt, Bob	The Local Church and Development
17	35	Nazir, Ali, Michael	The Lostness of Man and Salvation in Christ
18	16	Paredes, Tito	Culture and Socio-Cultural Change
17	20	Perez, Pablo	Relationship between the Local Church and Para-Church Agencies
17	36	Pierson, Paul E.	The Heartbeat of God in Mission: Lessons from History
17	21	Runia, Klass	Evangelicals and the Doctrine of the Church in the Context of European Church History
17	37	Samuel, Vinay and Sugden, Chris	Evangelism and Development
18	1	Samuel, Vinay and Sugden, Chris	God’s Intention for the World: Tensions Between Eschatology and History
18	17	Scott, Waldron	Mercy and Social Transformation
18	18	Sinclair, Maurice	Development and Eschatology
18	19	Sine, Tom	End Times, Eschatology, and Nuclear Fatalism
16	11	Steuerhagel, Valdir	The Church in Rome
18	2	Sookhdeo, Patrick	The Way Ahead - Implementation of Wheaton ‘83
17	22	Sutjiono, S.	Churches Experiencing Renewal: Javanese Church
18	20	Tienou, Tite	Evangelism and Social Transformation
18	21	Voorhies, Sam	Change Among the Pokot
18	22	Wall, Robert	Biblical Foundations for Social Justice and Human Liberation
17	23	Walvoord, John F.	Mission and the Church’s Nature
17	24	Wang, Thomas	Churches Under Pressure: House Churches in China
16	17	Webster, Warren	The Church and its Task of World Evangelization
18	5	Weele, Teo J.V.D.	Resources for new frontier missions
18	6	Wettach, Theodor	Church and Mission in the Age of Multinational Corporations
16	12	Williams, Theo	The Church at Antioch
16	13	Williams, Theo	The Church in Jerusalem
18	7	Wilson, Samuel	Strategy Task Force Paper: The Church in Frontier Mission
18	8	Winter, Ralph D.	Unreached Peoples: Paper One and Two
17	25	Yeo, Alfred	Outreach of the Local Church

Tapes T1 to T5 are of an executive committee meeting. Present were William Shoemaker, David Howard, Bruce Nichols, Patrick Sookhdeo, Janet Bruce, John Thompson, Edward Dayton, Ivan Fahs, Tome Sine, Warren Webster, Samuel Wilson. See folder 2-2 in Shoemaker files.
T1	90	Side 1: Shoemaker, Bruce Nicholls, John Thompson on conference arrangements, side 2: discussion	11/08/82
T2	90	Side 1: Bill Shoemaker, Bruce Nicholls, John Thompson: Integration, circulation of papers, schedule, Bible study	11/08/82
T3	90	Side 1: Patrick Sookhdeo, Bruce Nicholls, David Howard, John Thompson: Publications; Side 2: Patrick Sookhdeo, Bruce Nicholls, Bill Shoemaker, David Howard, J. Fraser: Structure	11/09/82
T4	90	Ivan Fahs on the evaluation of the conference	11/10/82
T5	90	Side 1: Selection of Participants; Side 2: The Letter to the Churches	11/10/82
T6	90	Consultation on public relations and fund raising, led by William Shoemaker	11/17/82
Tapes T7 through T18 are of a meeting called an executive action sessions. It was held at the Billy Graham Center with as many member of the executive committee as could be assembled, to make decisions about program, and general policies of conference. Present were Bill Shoemaker, Edward Dayton, Tom Sine, Wilma Dekker, Sam Wilson, and John Thompson. See folder 1-10 in Shoemaker files
T7	60	AM meeting	3/11/82
T8	60	AM meeting	3/11/82
T9	60	AM meeting	3/11/82
T10	60	AM meeting	3/11/82
T11	90	PM meeting	3/11/82
T12	90	PM meeting	3/11/82
T13	90	PM meeting	3/11/82
T14	90	PM meeting	3/11/82
T15	90	--	3/12/82
T16	90	--	3/12/82
T17	90	--	3/12/82
T18	90	--	3/12/82
T19	90	--	3/12/82
T20	90	Meeting on conference flow and publications: Side 1: John Thompson discussing the plans and problems of the conference with at least two other people who are unidentified, but probably people who are helping to prepare the conference handbook and other publications such as Carol Plueddemann and Jane Nam (who only says a few words). Side 2: Continuation of the discussion on side 1, including a discussion of the personalities involved in planning the conference. About halfway through this side, this discussion ends and the tape records another meeting, which is recorded in midstream. This discussion is mainly about participants, observers, press and includes comparison with the 1980 Lausanne Consultation on World Evangelization. Participants seem to include David Howard, John Thompson, Bruce Nichols (?), although there are others	5/24/83
T21	100	Morning session of the conference, discussing the draft statement of Consultation I on the nature and mission of the church . Read by Edward Clowney, discussion led by Rob Van Essen.	6/29/83

BOX LIST
Subseries A. William Shoemaker’s files
1	14	Banquet / JT	1982-1983
2	12	Kentucky / UCE	1982-1983
Subseries B. Conference Preparation Files
3	8	Administration Notebook Part I / Consultation I Notebook	1981-1983
4	5	Consultation II Notebook / Grand Rapids, MI: Planning Meeting	1981-1983
5	8	Minutes / Preliminary Work for Consultation	1978-1983
6	6	Program: Policy / Updates	1981-1983
7	1	Sponsors Box	1983
Subseries C. Participant files
8	6	Enquiries for Participants / Participant Distribution	1982-1983
9	7	Participant Information / Participants: U-Z	1983
10	7	Progress Report / Unable to Attend	1981-1983
Subseries: D. Consultation III Files
11	27	Across / Compassion International	1979-1983
12	26	Corr - The Jute Works / Lutheran World Service; 1949-1980	1979-1983
13	20	Matthews, Colonel Ron / Schluter, Dr. Michael	1975-1983
14	15	Sider, Dr. Ronald J. / World Relief	1981-1983
Subseries: E. Conference files
14	10	Archives / Letter to the Churches	1983
15	8	Materials Given out at Wheaton ‘83 / Participants Evaluation Track III	1983
16	6	Prayer Calendar / Small Group Assignments	1983
Subseries F. Papers and Publications
16	11	List of Papers / Plenary: Webster, Warren: The Church and its Task of World Evangelization	1983
17	37	Consultation I: Anderson, Earl: Church Cared for by Itinerant Pastors: Evangelism in Turkana / Consultation II: Samuel, Vinay and Chris Sugden: Evangelism and Development	1983
18	22	Samuel, Vinay and Chris Sugden / Wall, Robert: Biblical Foundations for Social Justice and Human Liberation	1983
Subseries G. Follow-on Files
18	4	Budget Report; Sept. 1984 / Curriculum: Local Church Education	1982-1984
19	8	Dayton, Ed / Follow on Fund Raising	1982-1984
20	10	Follow on General Correspondence / List of International Conferences; 1984	1982-1984
21	14	Log / Williamson’s Report	1982-1984

Billy Graham Center
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Wheaton '83 Conference - Collection 598

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent.]

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Last Revised: 11/9/04
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Billy Graham Center Archives

Wheaton '83 Conference - Collection 598

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent.]

Table of Contents

Send us a message

Return to BGC Archives Home Page Last Revised: 11/9/04 Expiration: indefinite

Billy Graham Center
Archives

Return to BGC Archives Home Page
Last Revised: 11/9/04
Expiration: indefinite