Walter Stanley Mooneyham

Walter Stanley Mooneyham (born January 14, 1926 in Houston , USA ; † June 3 , 1991 in Los Angeles , USA) was an editor of the magazine United Evangelical Action (1959–1964), Vice President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (1967–1969 ) and President of the Christian evangelical aid and missionary organization World Vision (1969–1982).

Mooneyham took part in World War II as a soldier in the United States Navy . He was ordained a Baptist pastor in 1947 and graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1950 with a degree in journalism. After serving as a pastor in Sulfur , Oklahoma, he served with the National Association of Free Will Baptists from 1953 to 1959 . He then worked for the National Association of Evangelicals for which he edited their flagship magazine United Evangelical Action .

From 1964 he worked as a special assistant for the evangelical revival preacher Billy Graham and in this function organized, for example, the World Congress of Evangelism in Berlin in 1966; a previous event of the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization . He was vice president of international relations for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association from 1967 to 1969 .

In 1969 Mooneyham became president of the evangelical aid and missionary organization World Vision in Monrovia, California, which under his leadership has grown from a small, financially troubled aid organization to an international organization that uses professional management and public relations methods an annual budget of several hundred million dollars. Under Mooneyham, who was primarily an evangelist, organized World Vision continues as under his predecessor Bob Pierce "evangelistic crusades" (German about: Mission Crusades ) and the World Vision Department Mission Advanced Research and Communication Center (MARC) , under which the evangelistic concept for unreached people (German about unreached peoples originated), developed under him and his successors to an organizational backbone of the Lausanne movement for world Evangelical neutralization . In Mooneyham's time there was also a change in the focus of work from World Vision to development aid in addition to pure disaster aid , whereby the concept of development aid , in which evangelization is an integral part, was represented from the beginning (on the importance of evangelization in World Visions programs, see e.g. B. also the quote from Ted Engstrom , Mooneyham's successor as WVI President: "We analyze every project, every program we undertake, to make sure that within that program evangelism is a significant component. We cannot feed individuals and then let them go to hell . " ). This change in the focus of work was linked to a controversial discussion within the evangelical world of the time about the meaning of social action for evangelicals, and the framework of the new focus was later formulated more precisely in the concept of Transformational Development . Transformational Development is a development aid concept formulated in a biblical framework with evangelization as an integral component, which today forms a work focus of all national members of today's World Vision Partnership as set out in the Mission Statement .

When regulatory measures were discussed in the US Congress after several scandals in which religious aid organizations were involved and which threatened to undermine the credibility of charities, Mooneyham was instrumental in founding the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability , with the aim of public credibility restore and forestall regulatory action.

In September 1982 Mooneyham resigned as President of World Vision International; Ken Waters, then employed by World Vision International, reports severe criticism of Mooneyham on the International Board of World Vision International , criticizing his dictatorial leadership style , American-centric communication style and his power as a leader from both WVI and World Vision US. After retiring from World Vision, he became a pastor in Palm Desert , California.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see e.g. B. "Basic Objectives of World Vision", "Objectives of World Vision International" and "Declaration of Internationalization" (section "A Set of Objectives by Which to be Governed"), JR Hamilton: "An Historical Study of Bob Pierce and World Vision's Development of the Evangelical Social Action Film "Dissertation, University of Southern California, 1980, Appendices B and D
2. ↑ Randall Herbert Balmer: Mooneyham, W (older) Stanley (1926-1991) . In: Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism . Baylor University Press, Waco 2004, ISBN 1-932792-04-X , pp. 469 (English).
3. ↑ Randall Herbert Balmer: Mooneyham, W (older) Stanley (1926-1991). In: Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. Baylor University Press 2004, p. 390.
4. ^ Lausanne Movement : About the Lausanne Movement at www.lausanne.org (accessed May 25, 2011).
5. ^ Billy Graham Center Archives: World Congress on Evangelism. ( Memento of June 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) 1966 (accessed May 25, 2011).
6. ↑ Gary F. Vanderpol: The Least of These: American Evangelical Para Church Missions to the Poor, 1947-2005. Boston University School of Theology, 2010, (dissertation) pp. 109/110.
7. ^ SW Haas: MARC to Make Transition, Retain Its Mission. (PDF; 120 kB) MARC Newsletter 03-4, World Vision Publications, Nov. 2003.
8. ^ Greame Irvine: "Best Things in the Worst Times: An Insiders View of World Vision" BookPartners, Inc. (1996) ISBN 1-885221-37-1 , p. 63
9. ↑ Ted Engstrom in Graham Hancock: Lords of poverty: the power, prestige, and corruption of the international aid business. Atlantic Monthly Express (1989), ISBN 0-87113-469-1 , p. 9
10. ↑ World Vision International : World Vision Mission Statement. In: Greame Irvine: "Best Things in the Worst Times: An Insiders View of World Vision," BookPartners, Inc. (1996) ISBN 1-885221-37-1 , Appendix C.
11. ^ R. Chandler: Pressure on Charities. In: Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1978, p. 2.
12. ↑ Ken Waters: How World Vision Rose From Obscurity To Prominence: Television Fundraising 1972-1982 In: American Journalism, 15/1998, No. 4, pp. 69-93.