The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will assemble over a thousand European church leaders in Berlin next year for a significant evangelistic conference.

This event is part of a legacy of mission-focused gatherings in Europe, including the inaugural World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966, the 1974 Lausanne conference, and three strategic evangelism congresses in Amsterdam in 1983, 1986, and 2000.

President of the UK-based ministry Churches in Communities International, Dr Hugh Osgood, said: “The church in Europe needs to rise with renewed confidence. The European Congress on Evangelism will be a source of inspiration, strength, and confidence in the Gospel that will empower us to do just that. Let’s seize this opportunity to come together and advance God’s kingdom.”

While the list of speakers for the congress is yet to be confirmed, the central theme will revolve around Romans 1:16, which encourages believers to proclaim the Gospel without hesitation.

Participation is strictly by invitation and limited to individuals with European citizenship who are actively engaged in ministry in Europe.

Dr Per Ewert, Director of the Swedish Christian think tank, The Clapham Institute, highlighted, “In the 21st century, Europe is witnessing two concurrent trends: the ongoing influence of secular individualism and growing resistance to this philosophy and its consequences for society and individuals. It is crucial to proclaim the Good News about Jesus Christ in a culture in need of moral and spiritual foundations, peace, and agape love.”

Evangelist Billy Graham took Christ literally when He said in Mark 16:15, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”

Mr Graham preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories—through various meetings, including Mission World and Global Mission. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film, and webcasts.

Beginning with the 1949 Los Angeles Crusade, which vaulted Mr. Graham into the public eye, he led hundreds of thousands of individuals to make personal decisions to live for Christ, the main thrust of his decades-long ministry.

Born November 7, 1918, four days before the Armistice ended World War I, Mr. Graham was reared on a dairy farm in Charlotte, N.C. Growing up during the Depression, he learned the value of hard work on the family farm, but he also found time to spend many hours in the hayloft reading books on a wide variety of subjects.

In the fall of 1934, at age 15, Mr Graham made a personal commitment to Christ through the ministry of Mordecai Ham, a travelling evangelist, who visited Charlotte for a series of revival meetings.

Ordained in 1939 by Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Fla. (a church in the Southern Baptist Convention), Mr. Graham received a solid foundation in the Scriptures at Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida). In 1943 he graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois and married fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, daughter of a missionary surgeon, who spent the first 17 years of her life in China.

After graduating from college, Mr. Graham pastored The Village Church of Western Springs (now Western Springs Baptist Church) in Western Springs, Ill., before joining Youth for Christ, an organization founded for ministry to youth and servicemen during World War II. He preached throughout the United States and in Europe in the immediate post-war era, emerging as a rising young evangelist.

The Los Angeles Crusade in 1949 launched Mr. Graham into international prominence. Scheduled for three weeks, the meetings were extended to more than eight weeks, with overflow crowds filling a tent erected downtown each night.

Many of his subsequent early Crusades were similarly extended, including one in London that lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City Crusade in Madison Square Garden in 1957 that ran nightly for 16 weeks.

Today, Mr. Graham’s ministry is known around the globe. He preached in remote African villages and the heart of New York City, and those to whom he ministered have ranged from heads of state to the simple living bushmen of Australia and the wandering tribes of Africa and the Middle East. Beginning in 1977, Mr. Graham was allowed to conduct preaching missions in virtually every country of the former Eastern Bloc, including the former Soviet Union.

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