Evangelize and obey God despite hardships, Franklin Graham challenges delegates at European Congress on Evangelism

Evangelist Franklin Graham opened the European Congress on Evangelism Monday (May 27) with a passionate call for Christians to preach “the whole gospel” without compromise, warning that a secularized and confused world will not be reached by a watered-down message. “These are our orders,” he told 1,000 evangelical leaders from 56 countries. “Let’s preach it with power.”

The opening session for the four-day event saw heartfelt worship led by German vocalist Sarah Kaiser, musical artist Charity Gayle and pianist Huntley Brown. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, also made a guest appearance to encourage attendees at the congress in their faith.

Reinhardt Schink, a leading board member of the Evangelische Allianz Deutschland (German Evangelical Alliance, EAD), gave a special welcome to delegates who watched a visual media presentation of the history of the gospel in Europe. He recalled how a message of hate emanated from Berlin with the rise of the Nazi party in 1935, "as we Germans exalted ourselves over other people and also over the Living God."

"But with this Congress," added Schink, "a message of life and peace will now be sent out from Berlin to Europe. This message must be heard because it is the one life-changing word of God. It's good news to all mankind. It's just Jesus."

Franklin Graham in the opening session recalled the real-life story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who obeyed orders during the Second World War to remain stationed in the Philippine jungle. He stayed there for 30 years after the Second World War ended, believing that he obeyed his superiors by doing so. 

Graham shifted the concept of this soldier’s loyalty to the requirements of devotion and obedience by evangelicals in response to the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ, to preach the good news throughout the world. 

“These are our orders. These are our orders for every believer. And they haven't changed,” Graham said and he added that the purpose of the Congress is to focus on proclamation evangelism. 

“In 2025, how do we evangelize a world that is becoming more and more secular and more anti Christ?” he asked rhetorically. 

Graham recounted the simple facts of the gospel: that God Jesus died for our sins, came back to life on the third day and commanded his disciples to go into all the world telling the good news that salvation is offered to anyone who accepts him, to be freed for heaven away from the reality of hell.  

“Let's preach it. Let's preach it with conviction,” said Graham. “Preach it with power. Preach it believing.

“He's not dead. He's alive. It's true and it's the gospel. God's power, the instrument he uses for salvation. We have to preach the whole gospel!

“You can't leave some of that [out] because if we don't talk about sin, why do we need a savior? If we don't talk about blood, how can we have forgiveness without the shedding of blood? Paul says in Romans 10, how then will they call on him and hope if they have never heard? 

“Friends, we've got to preach the gospel. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. 

“Declare it. Proclaim it. Shout it. Amen! Don't be afraid. There's Holy Spirit-filled power when we preach the cross, when we preach the blood. When we preach the repentance. When we preach the death, the burial, the resurrection, there's Holy Spirit filled power.” 

Graham encouraged delegates to remain true to their calling although the future likely holds an increase in persecution in an increasingly secularised society—even if that means prison for holding true to the gospel. 

He recalled once sitting with his father, the late evangelist Billy Graham, on the porch of his home in Montreat, North Carolina. The two men looked out across the valley and beheld a thunder storm with some lightning and rain showers about five miles away in the distance. 

Suddenly Billy Graham turned to his son and commented, “The world I was born into, I don’t recognise anymore.” 

“I have thought about that,” Franklin Graham told the Berlin Congress, adding that he did not recognise the world he was born into either. “Everything has changed. Things are changing so quickly. It's hard to keep up with the change. But one thing that doesn't change, that's the human heart.

“The human heart doesn't change. The prophet Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful of all things. The human heart has to be changed, and the only one who can change the human heart is God.”

Graham recalled his father Billy Graham opening the Berlin Congress on Evangelism in 1966 with the words, “Has the world ever known such an hour as this? Have the people of the world ever searched so frantically for answers to their staggering problems? We know that in history, God has often chosen the worst of time to do His greatest work.”

Some 60 years later, Franklin Graham said his father’s words still hold true despite the problems. He referenced Paul saying “I’m not ashamed of the gospel” and conjectured that the apostle had faced opposition to feel a need to state his loyalty to the cause of Christ. 

“Why would Paul say that I'm not ashamed of the gospel unless it had become a problem in his name?” said Graham. “There must have been some that were backing away or compromising on the truth of God's Word and the proclamation of the gospel. We see today 2,000 years later, the gospel is being compromised. Many are backing away from the authority of the truth of God's word.”

Graham warned against the strategies of Satan, often in the guise of subtle doubts planted in the mind, which typically question the veracity of God’s word on issues such as biblical marriage and understanding of sexuality and gender. He added that so much confusion and lies “we see swirling about today” are sexually related and they go against God’s created order and the truth of His Holy Word.  

“God designed marriage between one man and one woman,” said Graham. “It's easy to convince ourselves in this modern society that we should not be offensive.

“We don't want to have controversy. But if we preach the gospel and give an invitation for people to turn from their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, this is going to be offensive to people.”

Graham also opined that some churches were opposed to the basic message of salvation in the gospel and the evangelical claim that Jesus is the only way, truth and life. 

“They think it's too exclusive and a turn-off to people that they're trying to administer to or to reach. That the world through him might be saved. To save us from what? To save us from the penalty of sin. If we don't repent and turn from our sins and by faith, believe in the name of Jesus Christ, we are condemned. Jesus Christ came to take our sins. He took our sins to the cross.

“He died and shed his own blood on the cross. He was buried in a tomb. And on the third day, God raised him to life. This is the gospel. And his Holy Spirit built power in this message.”

Graham confessed he did not understand everything about how the power of the cross worked but “it’s not for us to figure out.” He recalled “many times” preaching the gospel and seeing one person in tears and another nearby “just staring at you, scowling.” 

“God is piercing the heart of that person, but he's not piercing the heart of that. I don't know how this works but we just know that it works. The gospel has power.”

Graham encouraged delegates to not give up their evangelistic calling despite hardships. He stated the need to put Christ above all relationships and remembered how his own father Billy was away from home for six months one time, on an evangelistic endeavour. 

Franklin, a boy back then, did not recognise his father when he returned home and that broke his parents’ hearts. “There’s a price,” he commented from this personal experience about the challenges of self-sacrificing before the needs of the gospel. 

“There are many Christians who I'm afraid have given up. They say, what difference does it make? It's been two thousand years. Where's the promise of his coming? I'll tell you what difference it makes. It makes a difference between heaven and hell for possibly millions of people.”

The apostle Paul was unashamed of the gospel and similarly Graham said we need to take the same attitude and approach, and not compromise in the face of secularism.  

“Let's proclaim the gospel with power. Europe needs it. Europe needs to be evangelized. Who's going to do it, if you don't do that? Every generation has to be evangelized. It's not something that you do every sixty years or in twenty years. It's something that needs to be every day, every month and every year.”