Homemaking - Edith Schaeffer

1914–2013

She was a missionary kid from China, attending college near Philadelphia, when she met a fascinating student from Westminster Seminary. Edith Seville married Francis Schaeffer, and together they made history.

The Schaeffers went into missions themselves, sent to Switzerland after World War II. In 1955, they had a new vision for ministry, and they had to break with their conservative missions agency to make it happen. In the Swiss Alps, the couple set up a shelter for travelers, where Francis could carry on intellectual discussions that turned evangelistic and Edith could show God’s love through hospitality. They called it L’Abri (French for “the shelter”).

This bold experiment bore fruit early. By their second year, they were averaging thirty-one visitors per week. By the late 1960s, they would occasionally house one hundred individuals—mostly young people. The Schaeffers caught the wave of the counterculture, the wondering wanderers backpacking through Europe in search of enlightenment. Many met Christ at this mountain retreat.

Those who couldn’t travel to the Alps could still read Francis Schaeffer’s books, first Escape from Reason (gathered from his talks) and then The God Who Is There, both published in 1968. Several other books would follow, up to his death in 1984. Francis offered a Christian critique of culture and society, vividly showing the need for hope—a hope that could be realized only in Jesus. In a time when many Christians were distancing themselves from the world, Francis promoted engagement with it, academically, socially, and politically. He was certainly one of the greatest influences on the evangelical movement in the last half of the twentieth century.

Edith wrote more than twenty books herself, including The Hidden Art of Homemaking (1971) and What Is a Family? (1975). Her subject was often Christian hospitality, which makes sense, since that was her specialty at L’Abri. In her writings and by her example, she elevated the value of marriage and motherhood as a creative calling. She had made a home not only for her husband and children, but also for thousands of needy travelers. One historian noted that Francis Schaeffer would never have gained prominence without L’Abri, and without Edith “there would have been no L’Abri.”

Accept your calling—in a career, in ministry, in your home, or all of the above—and use your God-given creativity to make it a work of art.

Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Romans 12:13