From the time that Jesus gave the Great Commission to his disciples until today, the message hasn’t changed – “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” The Rev. Billy Graham took that mandate seriously, and his son Franklin still does as well. So on May 27-30, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will host the largest gathering on Christian evangelism in 25 years in Berlin, Germany.
The last time they met was in Holland, where evangelists and ministers from across the world gathered for Amsterdam 2000. They came from India, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, the United States, Singapore, and more.
It was a moment seen as a “passing of the torch” by the Rev. Billy Graham – who couldn’t make the conference due to health problems – to the next generation of Christian evangelists.
Fast forward to 2025, and the BGEA is heading to Berlin, marking a historic return to the city where the Rev. Billy Graham held the first World Congress on Evangelism in 1966.
During his remarks, the late Billy Graham had said, “The city of Berlin has influenced the world in every field. What a place from which to shout to the world – Christ is the Savior!” said the Rev. Billy Graham.
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However, this time the focus is solely on Europe’s Christian leaders to help them spread the light of the gospel on what’s become an increasingly dark continent.
In less than two weeks, more than a thousand pastors and ministry leaders from 55 nations and territories will gather for the European Conference on Evangelism.
BGEA President and CEO Franklin Graham says the theme for this year is from Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
“Paul just said, I’m not ashamed of it. This is what I believe. This is what I stand for and this is the gospel that we preach. And as a result of that, when you preach the gospel, God uses the gospel to pierce people’s hearts. How does it work, Wendy? I have no clue how it works. All I know is this is what God uses to save people,” Graham told CBN News.
“And so, we have to preach the whole gospel. We don’t need to be ashamed of it. We got to teach His death, burial, resurrection, and God will bless it,” he said.
Graham says as many as 1,000 churches in Germany closed their doors last year, and that’s why it’s so important to be in Berlin and encourage the church to keep going.
“We want to ignite a fire in Europe to where there’s an excitement for evangelism and the churches are willing to be bold and not ashamed of the gospel,” Graham said.
“We’ve got Ukrainian churches coming, we have churches coming from Russia, they’re coming. And these countries are at war. Yes, they are. But the gospel is more powerful than any of that stuff. And we want people to realize it, to know there is hope,” he said.
During our interview with Franklin Graham 25 years ago in Amsterdam, he told us, “God’s called us to reach this world and it’s going to take all of us. And I tell ya, there’s not enough of us,” he said.
When asked if he still feels that way 25 years later, he said, “Absolutely, the harvest is ready, but the laborers are few. And so, I mean, that’s just a biblical principle and that’s why we’ve got to do more. We just don’t say, well, we might as well give up because there’s not enough of us to do it, so let’s just give up. No, that means we just got to work harder…”
“I’m 73 years old and I’m not going to back down. I’m not going to stand still. I’m going to keep going as long as I have the strength and health to do it and hope my sons come after me and my grandchildren and the rest of them after me and after my children, if that be God’s will. But I believe the Lord Jesus Christ is getting close to His return. You look at the signs and what we are seeing in the world today, I believe there’s going to be a return of the Lord Jesus, I believe. I hope soon,” Graham said.
