Eurofest '75
Eurofest '75 was an International Youth Conference and Evangelistic Campaign organised by the Billy Graham Organisation in Brussels, Belgium. It followed on from Spree '73 held in London. The General Secretary for both was Harvey Thomas.[1]
Graham preached from Phillipians teaching on the connections between joy and prayer - two of the book's major themes. He insisted: "Young people should learn to pray."
The festival took place from 24 July - 2 August 1975, in the Centenary Palace Exhibition Halls whilst the public Campaigns were in the near-by Heysel Stadium, Brussels.
Personnel
Many well-known evangelical figures first came to prominence at the festival, such as Luis Palau, Bishop Festo Kivengere, Annie Vallotton the French-Swiss Good News Bible illustrator and Manfred Siebald the German singer-songwriter. Vallatton gave a talk each morning before the Bible expositions, that she illustrated on an overhead projector, fitted with an acetate scroll.
Committees
Executive Committee
Chairman: Werner Bürklin (Federal Germany)
Vice-Chairman: Brian Kingsmore (Ireland)
Secretary: Elon Svanell (Sweden)
Richard Bewes (U.K)
Ingulf Diesen (Norway)
Juan Gili (Spain)
Gien Karssen (Netherlands)
Elio Milazzo (Italy)
Richard Møller Petersen (Denmark)
Herbert Müller (Federal Germany)
Jean-Jacques Weiler (France)
Programme Committee
Chairman: Richard Bewes (U.K.)
Vice-Chairman/Training: Arnold van Heusden (Netherlands)
Vice-Chairman/Music: Svante Widen (Sweden)
Maisie Adamson (Ireland)
Ruth Büchli (Switzerland)
Hermogenes Fernandez (Spain)
Herbert Müller (Federal Germany)
Yves Perrier (France)
Paul Vandenbroeck (Belgium)
Prayer Committee
Chairlady: Eliana Vuffray (Switzerland)
Moises Gomes (Portugal)
Sheila Stone (U.K.)
Veli-Pekka Toiviainen (Finland)
Dora Winston (Belgium)
Administration
General Director: John Corts
General Secretary: Harvey Thomas
Full-time co-odinators
German-speaking Europe: Hans-Jürgen Beulshausen
Iberia: Hermogenes Fernandez
Denmark and Norway: Peter Hofman-Bang
Finland and Sweden: Peo Lannerö
Greece and Italy: Salvatore Loria
Ireland: Cassells Morrell
Netherlands: Bouke Ottow
Great Britain: Tony Stone
French-speaking Europe: Jean-Jacques Weiler
The Co-ordinators were also supported by more than 3,000 district and local voluntary representatives.
Developers
The morning programmes and materials were developed by:-
| George Brucks (Netherlands) | "Developing a Lifestyle" |
| Tom Houston (U.K.) | "Building the Relationship with God" |
| Anton Schulte (Federal Germany) | "Going Home" |
| Ralph Shallis (France) | "Understanding the Fellowship" |
| Gilbert Kirby (U.K.) | "Knowing Salvation" |
| Alfred Kuen (France) | "Evangelism" |
| Don Stephens (Switzerland) | "Spiritual Warfare" |
Expositors
Anglican Bishop Festo Kivengere (Uganda) and evangelist Luis Palau (Argentinia & USA) led the Bible expositions. The handbook labelled Palau "Mexico" as he recently had been a Missionary there.
Seminar teams
Apostolos Bliates (Greece); George Brucks (Netherlands); Alain Burnand (Switzerland); Alain Choiquier (France); Gert Doornenbal (Netherlands); Knut Magne Ellingsen (Norway); Bill Freel (U.K.); Juan Gili (Spain); Charles Guillot (France); Martin Homann (Federal Germany); Tom Houston (U.K.); Brian Kingsmore (N. Ireland); Alfred Kuen (France); Kalevi Lehtinen (Finland); Johannes Lukasse (Belgium); Elio Milazzo (Italy); Yves Perrier (France); Bernhard Rebsch (Federal Germany); Dagfinn Saether (Norway); Anton Schulte (Federal Germany); Hugh Silvester (U.K.); Emmanouel Smpraos (Greece); Theo Sorg (Federal Germany); Don Stephens (Switzerland); Billy Strachan (U.K.); Don Summers (U.K.); Paul Vandenbroeck (Belgium); Virgilio Vangioni (Spain); Jim Wilson (Switzerland).
| Artist | Annie Vallotton | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Children's programme | Ursel Nawak | Federal Germany |
| Counsellors co-ordinators | Ingulf Diesen | Norway |
| Gien Karssen | Netherlands | |
| Euroshop manager | Jean Wilson | U.K. |
| Lonely hearts patrol | Vijay Menon | U.K. |
| Masters of ceremonies | Werner Burklin | Federal Germany |
| Arnold van Heusden | Netherlands | |
| David Pope | U.K. | |
| Bernd Schlottoff | Federal Germany | |
| Prayer co-ordinator | Eliane Vuffray | Switzerland |
| Production manager | Harvey Thomas | U.K. |
| Witnessing co-ordinator | Claude Lefebvre | Belgium |
Music
The Finish group Treklangen sang the theme song: "I don't know what you came to do, but I came to praise the Lord" by Dallas Holm. They recorded on the Pilot label in English and Swedish as well as their own language.
One of the special guests was Cliff Richard.[3] He was secured for the conference too late to be mentioned in the hand book. Choralerna, who had featured at Spree '73, performed their gospel oratorio Living Water.[4] The Dutch gospel band 'The Lighters'[5] also gave several performances.
The organisers wanted to cater to all tastes, so they invited a selection of groups and singers from all over Europe. [6]
| Les Ambassadeurs | France |
| The Advocates | U.K. |
| Lois Buckley | U.K. |
| Choralerna | Sweden |
| Croix de Camargue | Switzerland |
| Garth Hewitt | U.K. |
| Pelle Karlsson | Sweden |
| The Lighters | Netherlands |
| Manfred Siebald | Federal Germany |
| Evie Tornquist | Norway |
| Treklangen | Finland |
| Trio Emmanuel | France |
| Voces de Nueva Vida | Spain |
| Emanuel Wieser | Austria |
The resident staff musician was Peter Bye (U.K.) who, with his band and vocal group, led the morning music spots and accompanied the other sessions.
The handbook included the words for 28 songs including one in each of the other six Eurofest languages.
6. GUD JEG VIL VÆRE KRISTEN (Norwegian)
16. MIJN VADER, DANK U WEL (Dutch)
17. OH, JOVENES VENID (Spanish)
20. QUAND LES MONTAGNES (French)
22. SIGNOR T'ADORIAMO (Italian)
26. VERGISS NICHT ZU DANKEN (German)
Languages
Delegates registered in one of seven official languages. On sign-in they were given a handbook in that language and a colour coded wristband for access to the site. The languages were: English - pink; French - blue; German - yellow; Italian - green; Dutch - white; Spanish - orange and Norwegian - violet.
There were seminars in each of the seven Eurofest languages, as well as in Finnish and Greek. Most seminars had a "Teach Team" of two people that shared the teaching.
The meetings were held in the main hall that was divided into eight language areas with wide walkways in between. They were simultaneously translated from English into the other six official languages delivered by overhead speakers in the language areas. English speakers were told to sit anywhere so that their area could be used for on-the-ground simultaneous translation into the additional seminar languages of Finnish and Greek as well as Swedish and other languages.
Minigroups
All participants were assigned a "minigroup" of 8 - 10 people with a leader to work through each day's Worksheet based on the seminar and pray together. "Minigroup" was the organisers' term for cell group. Some worksheet questions required further subdivision (in half or in partners) to achieve the best group dynamic for the task.
Daily Timetable
| Thursday
24 July |
Friday
25 July |
Saturday
26 July |
Sunday
27 July |
Monday
28 July |
Tuesday
29 July |
Wednesday
30 July |
Thursday
31 July |
Friday
1 August |
Saturday
2 August | |
| Daily Theme | Knowing
Salvation |
Building the Relationship with God | _____ | Understanding the Fellowship | Developing a Lifestyle | Spiritual
Warfare |
Evangelism | Going Home | Facing the
Future | |
| 07.00 -
09.00 |
Quiet Time, Breakfast and Music | |||||||||
| 09.00 -
10.30 |
Bible
Exposition (Luis Palau) |
Bible
Exposition (Festo Kivengere) |
_____ | Bible
Exposition (Festo Kivengere) |
Bible
Exposition (Luis Palau) |
Bible
Exposition (Festo Kivengere) |
Bible
Exposition (Luis Palau) |
Bible
Exposition (Festo Kivengere) |
Bible
Exposition (1) (Luis Palau) Bible Exposition (2) (Festo Kivengere) Minigroups Prayer | |
| * | 10.30
Worship Service |
|||||||||
| 11.00 –
13.00 |
Seminar | Seminar | Seminar | Seminar | Seminar | Seminar | Seminar | |||
| * | ||||||||||
| 14.00 –
18.00 |
Optional + | Optional | _____ | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Clear Up | |
| 16.00
Campaign |
16.00
Campaign |
16.00
Campaign | ||||||||
| * | Close | |||||||||
| 20.00 –
22.00 |
Welcome Rally (Participants only) | Campaign | International Gospel Music Festival | Together in Music | Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | |
| * | ||||||||||
| 22.30 -
23.30 |
_____ | Late Night Special | _____ | _____ | Late Night Special | Late Night Special | Late Night Special | Late Night Special | Late Night Special | |
+Optional programme
Options offered for the 14.00 - 18.00 slot included:
- Joining a witnessing team traveling into the city centre
- Joining prayer groups for the witnessing teams
- Special interest seminars (detailed below)
Special interest seminars
| Personnel | Title | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Apostolos Bliates (Greece) | "Leading a Youth Group" | first Saturday 14.00 |
| Pieter Boomsma (Netherlands) | "The Young Christian in the Local Church" | Wednesday 16.00 |
| Stuart Briscoe (U.S.A.) | "Sex and Marriage" | Monday 16.00 |
| Karl Erik Freed (Sweden) | "Helping New Christians" | first Friday 14.15 |
| Gilbert Kirby (U.K.) | "The Occult" | Monday 14.15 |
| Bill Latham[9] (U.K.) | "The Christian Viewpoint on Social Problems" | Tuesday 14.30 |
| Hans Rookmaaker (Netherlands) | "Reaching Thinking People" | Wednesday 14.15 |
| Hugh Silvester (U.K.) | "Giving a Talk" | second Friday 16.00 |
| John Stott (U.K.) | "The Calling and Qualifications of a Minister" | Thursday 16.00 |
| Svante Widen (Sweden) | "The Christian and Music" | first Friday 16.00 |
| A panel including bishop Festo Kivengere and Luis Palau | Question and answer plenary session | second Friday 14.15 |
Stott's seminar on leadership was originally intended for "pastors or those interested in full-time service"[10]. Graham believed that Stott deserved a wider audience, so he up-graded it to a plenary session that he chaired so that "everyone could be present".[11]
References
- "Harvey Thomas's CV, showing when he worked for Eurofest '75 and Spree '73". www.hthomas.net. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- Delegates' handbook, page 14
- Audio of Richard recounting his faith story (testimony) in the Heysel Stadium, retrieved 15 October 2019
- Living Water Choralerna The Musical, retrieved 15 October 2019
- Video of the Lighters′ performing on the Exhibition hall steps, retrieved 15 October 2019
- Delegates' handbook, page 7
- Delegates' handbook, page 8
- Delegates' handbook, pages 7 and 9
- Cliff Richard′s manager
- Delegates' handbook, page 9
- "Richard Bewes obituary for Stott". www.dropcatch.com. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
External links
- Richard Bewes obituary for John Stott, where he tells how Graham changed the programme at Eurofest ′75 to give Stott a larger platform: http://www.richardbewes.com/2014/12/the-blue-riband-evangelical-john-rw.html
- A film in monochrome showing many aspects of the festival (Hungarian commentry): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbqV9WwW3Bs&t=311s