World Conference Leaves Future of Evangelicalism Unclear

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, August 10 (AP)--By most accounts, evangelical Protestantism is one of the great, growing religious movements internationally, as it is in the United States.

There was ample evidence of that at "Amsterdam 2000," Billy Graham's grand assemblage of 10,700 evangelical activists from 209 nations and territories that convened here through last Sunday.

Underscoring the significance of the event, the Rev. David Barrett, editor of the forthcoming World Christian Encyclopedia, estimates the movement now numbers some 210 million.

The conference sharply defined the message, methods, and mission of the evangelicals - but it failed to clarify key aspects of their future.

One important unknown is who the top future leaders will be.

It was the last world meeting that will be led by Graham, who at 81 was recovering from surgery and unable to attend. Graham is preparing to turn his organization over to his son, Franklin.

Franklin, 48, says operations will continue unchanged. But he acknowledges he's no second Billy, and his conference address was devoid of any broad or stirring evangelical vision.

Evangelicalism "became a distinct global reality in the second half of the 20th century," said the "Amsterdam Declaration," a 10-page statement based on conference speeches and strategy discussions. And the gathering was a nostalgic final bow on the world stage for those who jump-started evangelicalism after World War II.

One workshop leader, a Baptist from Ghana, complained that the average age of main conference speakers was 65. "Who is taking over, and why are they not given the opportunity to do things?" he wondered.

The Rev. John Akers, the program chairman and a top aide to Graham for 23 years, said Graham wanted seasoned speakers to pass "the wisdom of one generation on to the next."

Graham's U.S. staff picked all the participants and speakers, and thus determined who got exposure from evangelicalism's deepening talent pool in the non-Western nations.

Akers, a former church history professor, thinks evangelicalism may be moving away from an era of famous leaders. But he said, "If there is a new Billy Graham in the next generation, he is likely to come from one of the other continents."

A related issue is whether evangelicalism can develop women leaders.

Bill Bright, 78, the retiring founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, shared the platform with wife Vonette, but the only other female plenary speaker was Billy's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, an evangelist who doesn't feel it's right for women to seek clergy ordination or bear church authority. However, she accepts that other women believe differently.

Another fuzzy area is evangelicals' relations with fellow Christians, about which Amsterdam said next to nothing, as opposed to other world religions, about which it said much.

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