Why Did Francis Schaeffer leave the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions?

1955 was a notable year for Francis Schaeffer and for the Bible Presbyterian Church. It was the year in which Schaeffer left the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM) to become an independent missionary and it was the last year Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) held together before a major split. Schaeffer’s departure from the IBPFM exemplifies one of a series of points of disagreement in the denomination which led to the split. And, like virtually all of those points, it featured the same man at center of the unrest, the Rev. Carl McIntire.

Francis Schaeffer graduated from Faith Seminary in 1938 and pastored Bible Presbyterian churches in Grove City, PA (Covenant Presbyterian Church), Chester, PA (Bible Presbyterian Church of Chester, PA) and St. Louis, MO (Bible Presbyterian Church in St. Louis) before moving to Europe in 1948 to work for Children For Christ with the IBPFM. Seven years later he would be out. In Letters of Francis Schaeffer, the editor Lane T. Dennis noted, “On June 4, 1955 the Schaeffers decided to resign as missionaries supported by the Independent Board for Foreign Presbyterian Missions.” (p. 53) Within a few weeks their decision was official. According to Keith Coleman, the current Executive Director of the Independent Board, the records of the agency show that the Schaeffers submitted their resignations on June 23 1955, to be in effect on June 30 1955.

What happened? How did Francis Schaeffer, the first graduate of Faith Seminary and a Bible Presbyterian minister, decide to leave the mission agency associated with that movement? What led to this decision? And while it was technically a resignation, was it forced?

Alexander told Cignoni not to go to ICCC Meeting.

While various tensions arose between Francis Schaeffer and Carl McIntire, the most critical issue began when H. E. (Hugh Edward) Alexander (1884-1957) of Action Biblique (then an affiliated body of the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC) had concerns about ICCC President Carl McIntire and therefore told a member of the Action Biblique, Rev. Mario Cignoni of Barcelona Spain, not to attend the upcoming ICCC meeting in Philadelphia.

McIntire told Cignoni to Leave Action Biblique and Join the ICCC

McIntire then told Cignoni to leave Action Biblique and join the ICCC individually. He wrote,

“May I suggest you consider the following: 1. If Mr. Alexander is going to direct that you not come to the ICCC congress when the door is open, that you return to your original independent status. 2. We will secure the necessary support for you in this country; that is, we will secure some church to help you. How much money are you getting from Alexander. How much do you need? If you come by plane, you will have five full weeks and can have contacts with some of the churches here. We will arrange for this. 3. Have your local church immediately affiliate as a local constituent body. This will put you in a position of being affiliated in a way as a church group with the ICCC. This is as it should be. You are acting in your own capacity as a church in your own country.” – Carl McIntire to Mario Cignoni, Apr 13, 1954, PCA Historical Center.

Action Biblique withdrew from the ICCC.

Next we find that Action Biblique withdrew from the ICCC on July 29th 1954. Their leader Alexander wrote to Executive Committee of the ICCC saying,

“the trend has been developing in the ICCC in the past two years, the contents of some of the articles appearing in the ‘Christian Beacon’ – and particularly those concerning God’s honored servant, Dr. Billy Graham – and more recently the actions and statements that led to the sudden resignation from the A.B. of our fully accredited worker in Barcelona and his departure for the U.S.A. in circumstances that are neither loyal to us nor straight before God make it abundantly clear that it is no longer possible to be considered even on paper an Associated Body of the ICCC. For a long time back there has been no ‘association’ neither here in Europe nor in the Middle East. Our advice and feeling backed by years of experience have been systematically ignored by Dr. McIntire. The paragraph in the ‘Christian Beacon’ of July 15th referring to Mr. Cignoni are quite contrary to facts. But they show how little our past ‘association’ has meant to the ICCC. One certainly does not expect a Christian newspaper which stands for Church purity to follow the example of the daily Press in inaccuracy, exaggeration and even untruthfulness.” – H. E. Alexander to the ICCC, Jul 29, 1954, PCA Historical Center.

Notably, in the same letter Alexander praises Schaeffer speaking of the latter’s “personal loyalty to Dr. McIntire himself” and having had “repeatedly asked me not to withdraw for the time being.”

Schaeffer Complained to the Synod of the BPC.

Francis Schaeffer then (May 25, 1955) wrote a complaint to the Synod of the BPC about the ICCC, saying firstly, “A complaint in this matter was also brought to the Executive Committee of the ICCC by those inured by this specific action. No satisfaction has been received by those injured or by myself concerning this specific action.” The complaint was that the ICCC “interfered in the internal affairs” of Action Biblique when McIntire wrote to Cignoni “on official ICCC stationery” advising Cignoni to leave Action Biblique which was then still a member of the ICCC and promising him financial support. This, as Schaeffer noted, led to Cignoni speaking of “how miserable he was and torn.” Schaeffer in this letter shows agreement with Action Biblique (against McIntire) in opposing public attacks of Billy Graham. Schaffer also noted, “At the Executive Committee meeting there followed a lengthy discussion from time to time through several sessions of the Executive Committee concerning my loyalty to the leadership of the ICCC. But no discussion of any length was held as to whether the Cignoni-Action Biblique matter had been handled wisely or properly.” – Francis Schaeffer to the Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church, May 25, 1955, PCA Historical Center.

The ICCC Removed Schaeffer from the Board and Schaeffer resigned from the IBPFM

The response of McIntire and the board of the ICCC was to remove Schaeffer from the board. They sent a letter of August 4, 1955, saying he violated his promise to bring matters of grievance first to the committee when he made public complaint. Then removing him from the board, they said “you have placed yourself outside the bounds of continued co-operation with us.” – The International Council of Christian Churches to Francis Schaeffer, August 4, 1955, PCA Historical Center.

The letter of the board also said, “When you raised the question in the Committee over the Cignoni-Alexander matter and explanation was made, the Executive Committee was satisfied. You did not indicate dissatisfaction or did you again raise the question or give us any indication that you would press the matter further. Later, you accepted renomination, leaving us with the distinct impression that you would co-operate with us all.”

But Schaeffer saw things differently, writing,

“From the time I raised my objections to the ICCC Executive Committee in Philadelphia, the Cignoni matter was never discussed at any length by the Executive Committee in my presence.” And, “I was never informed that my complaint had been discussed nor that any action had been taken when I was not present.” “… the ICCC has answered this charge of interfering in the internal affairs of Action Biblique by dropping me (without prior warning) from the Executive Committee of the ICCC…”  – Francis Schaeffer to “Brother in Christ” (J. Oliver Buswell?), August 23, 1955)

Schaeffer had been working with McIntire on the board of the ICCC, but also as a missionary in the IBPFM, where McIntire was also on the board.

In response to McIntire and the ICCC removing Schaeffer from their board, Schaeffer resigned from the IBPFM.

Schaeffer Planned to Leave the BPC, but stayed with the Columbus Synod after the denomination split.

Schaeffer even considered leaving the BPC entirely, which might have happened but for the split of the denomination in 1956 which saw him go separate ways with McIntire. (Schaeffer going with the Columbus Synod and McIntire with the Collingswood Synod) Schaeffer wrote to J. Oliver Buswell, “I have come to the final conclusion that for myself it would be pleasing to the Lord that when Synod closes, I personally will not be connected with nor represented by any organization which in any way can appear in a list of those connected with or represented by the ACCC or the ICCC.” – Feb 22, 1956 Francis Schaeffer to J. Oliver Buswell, PCA Historical Center.

I have traced out just one of the lines of dispute between Schaeffer and McIntire. Other letters evidence additional tensions brewing as well, but I’ve chosen to follow the most critical path. This whole episode changes my perspective on Francis Schaeffer at least. Somehow I had come under the impression that he left the IBPFM, going out in faith as an independent missionary. But the situation was more complicated than that, and the decision was to a degree forced. Schaeffer could no longer work with McIntire; not in the ICCC, and so not in the IBPFM either.