A few changes.....

There's a change or two....  I have moved to two new sites.

My main blog can now be found at ralphturnerwriter.com

And anything to do with the revival in Leicester can be found at revivalinleicester.com

This blog is an occasional site for posts on Church History and will continue as before. 

I do hope we will continue to journey together.

Francis Asbury, Circuit Rider

Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed a wonderful revival at Asbury College in Kentucky, USA. The college is named after Francis Asbury. What’s his story?

It has been a long day and there is much on John Wesley’s mind. The Methodist Revival has continued for many years now and as the 1760s come around, there is an increased need to support the new believers. As Wesley dismounts, he can’t help but notice the friendly welcome here in Wednesbury.

‘Who is the boy?’, Wesley asks of the young man assisting with the horse and luggage.

‘That’s young Francis Asbury’ is the reply.

The friendship between the statesman and the apprentice is formed. Over the next years, Francis Asbury serves Wesley and the burgeoning Methodist movement as a Circuit Rider, helping churches throughout his different circuits in the Midlands and later, the south of England.

Despite leaving school as soon as he could, Asbury learned well and read widely, as directed by Wesley. It was in this study that Asbury began to hear the voice of the Spirit in relation to his later calling. The stories from America he read of in books, and heard of in his interactions with John Wesley and George Whitefield bore fruit.

Asbury records in his diary that he had felt ‘for a year and a half, strong intimations in my mind that I should visit America, which I laid before the Lord, being unwilling to do my own will or to run before I was sent.’

The Methodist gathering in Bristol in 1771 proved the turning point.

John Wesley spoke of the growth of their movement, all that God was doing, the many souls saved. He then spoke of a new circuit. This one was somewhat bigger than those Asbury had served in thus far. America.

John Wesley spoke of his visits to America, Continuing, he said, ‘Our brethren in America call aloud for help. Who are willing to go over and help them?’

Within a moment, Asbury had responded.

Later that year, in October 1771, Asbury made landfall near Philadelphia. His greatest Circuit Ride of all was to begin.

Having to deal with the War of Independence was tricky. Asbury refused to support either side, despite considerable pressure from both factions. In doing so, he maintained an integrity to the work and the gospel. One of only two known Englishmen to continue to serve the church through the American War of Independence, he grew in influence and impact.

Ultimately John Wesley appointed the young man he had met so many years before as his Superintendent for the whole of America. Asbury served well, traveling on horseback or in a carriage an estimated 300,000 miles during his time in America, delivering some 16,500 sermons. It was not always easy. He never returned home to England. Over his 45 years in America, he suffered from colds, coughs, fevers, severe headaches, ulcers, and eventually chronic rheumatism. Yet he continued to preach. He suffered hardship, threats and accusations from others and physical attacks from the indigenous Indian population on the western borders of this new nation. Yet he continued to preach.

Wary of acclaim, his passion was for the gospel to be preached. His journal when he first reached America records:

‘I will set down a few things that lie on my mind. Whither am I going? To the New World. What to do? To gain honour? No, if I know my own heart. To get money? No. I am going to live to God and to bring others to do so.’

He fulfilled his calling. The church that had been around 600 souls at the time of his arrival was over 200,000 by his death at the age of 70.

The college named after him is in revival right now. He would perhaps be embarrassed that his name was associated with the college, wanting only Jesus to be named. But there would be no doubt to his genuine excitement as to the revival itself, praying that the result would be that many more ‘live for God and bring others to do so.’

Further Reading:

Francis Asbury Journal Online

Francis Asbury: Circuit Rider, Janet & Geoff Benge

All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Julian of Norwich was a 14th century mystic. She faced death at the early age of 30 (supposed to be the Black Death) and survived. Having been given her last rites and not being able to move more than her eyelids, she had resigned herself to God's grace. 

Having recovered, the effect of the near-death experience was so profound that she dedicated the rest of her life to God, becoming something of a recluse, living in a room adjoining the church of St Justin in Norwich. This is widely supposed to be where she took her adopted name. 

She is known to have counselled some but spent much of her life in prayer and reading. Today she is remembered for a remarkable book that has found its way down the centuries. In fact Revelations of Divine Love is the earliest surviving book in English written by a woman.

It is from that book that we have the quotation for this blog: All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

There is such contentment there, such assurance. Julian knows her God, the very One that gave her life from death. The One who gave her a number of visions on her near-deathbed, mainly to do with the cross.

And then we have a lovely piece from her book (I only found this the other day thanks to the Lectio365 studies):

Lord let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine, but quiet homes of prayer and praise where thou mayest find fit company. Where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away. And wide, sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down, and fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.

Thankfully we don’t have to live all of our lives in a closed off room to understand what is said here. It’s for all of us. We can all keep wide, sweet spaces for God. We can all create a quiet place of prayer, rather than be a busy inn with no room.

And as we do, we too will appreciate that with Christ, All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Meet George Whitefield (so to speak)

 A short lecture on the life of George Whitefield, in the company of Luke Vardy. 

'I can lie down on the seashores of the Ganges and die' - Alexander Duff

Holding onto the bannister, Scottish missionary Alexander Duff (1806-1878) slowly climbed the steps to the pulpit. Stopping on the way, it was hard to keep his balance.

As he looked out over his Scottish congregation that morning, he was aware of his own mortality. His life’s work had been in preaching the gospel to the Hindu’s of India. He’d established a large school in Kolkata and developed a successful approach to education that attracted locals and led many to faith in Christ.

Illness had meant that his work had been interrupted, but he had returned to India until it was clear he no longer had the strength.

Nor did he have strength that Sunday morning. Fainting whilst part way through his preach, he was encouraged to lie down. But he got up and preached again. His passion was the salvation of India. 

Aware that a new generation was needed, he called on those present to respond to the missionary call.

‘Whilst Queen Victoria requires volunteers for India, hundreds of young men respond; however whilst King Jesus calls, no one goes. Is it true that Scotland has no more sons to offer for India?’

Looking to the roof of the church, Duff was reflective of his years in India. Surviving two shipwrecks on his first journey at the age of 24, he battled malaria and other illnesses to establish the new school.

Only 33 pupils from that first tranche made clear commitments to Christ. But these students were highly influential and many more found faith in Christ over the years that followed.

But the work was not finished. Who will go? Duff looked out over the congregation.

No one responded.

‘Very well, if Scotland has no more young men to send to India, then, old and decrepit although I am, I’m able to move back, and in spite of the reality that I cannot preach, I can lie down on the seashores of the Ganges and die, as a way to allow the peoples of India keep in mind that there may be as a minimum one man in Scotland who cares sufficient for their souls to provide his life for them.’

Silence.

Then from the back of the building, a shout:

‘I will go!’

Then another.

‘And I!’

Before the tearful eyes of the old missionary, young men and women began to stand.

The work would continue. Just as Alexander Duff had himself been a ‘next generation’ missionary to India following the pioneering work of William Carey and others, so there would be more to follow. God’s work would not be lost. India would hear the good news of the gospel.

Further reading:

The Life of Alexander Duff - George Smith

William Leslie's Legacy

 A man and woman walking down the gangplank of the SS Vaderland. Their footsteps are slow and deliberate. It’s November 1929 and already the dark evening is encroaching. It’s cold. They look cold. In fact they look defeated.

The couple are Dr William Leslie and his wife Clara. They are returning from many years as missionaries in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They have faced charging buffaloes, armies of ants, fierce hurricanes; one of them on the eve of their first child being born. They have been beaten and thrown out of towns they worked in. They have witnessed many atrocities against the local population by the Belgian overlords.

They have cleared jungles to build mission stations. They have faced leopard attacks and dealt with cannibals.

But as this Canadian couple arrive back in North America after so many years, the last 17 of them in the Congo, they feel defeated. They feel they had failed. Failed to make an impact. Failed to establish anything that was long-lasting. Failed to see many come to a faith in Christ.

It hadn’t started like that. William Leslie had responded to his faith in God by training as a doctor, having already been working as a pharmacist. His initial work in both the Congo and Angola included meeting a young nurse who helped him recover from an illness. He and Clara married in 1896.

Their hardest work involved clearing jungle in order to build a new mission station along the Kwilu River at Vanga . And it’s from here that they worked out into the seemingly impenetrable jungle areas reaching distant tribes, some of whom were still cannibals.

After 17 years at Vanga, there was a disagreement with some of the tribal leaders. Although reconciliation was achieved, William and Clara knew it was time to return to the States.

They felt the disappointment.

In 2010, missionary Eric Ramsey travelled to Vanga. The two and a half hour flight from Kinshasa to Vanga was then followed by a canoe trip over the river and a 10 mile hike through the jungle.

Ramsey was keen to make contact with the Yansi people. As far as he was aware, there had been some contact with Christians in the past, but he was not expecting what he found.

‘When we got in there, we found a network of reproducing churches throughout the jungle’, Ramsey reports. ‘Each village had its own gospel choir, although they wouldn’t call it that,’ he notes. ‘They wrote their own songs and would have sing-offs from village to village.’

Ramsey found a church in each of the eight villages he and his team visited, scattered across 34 miles. They even found a 1000-seat stone “cathedral” in one of the villages. They learned that this church had become so crowded in the 1980s – with many walking miles to attend — that a church planting movement had begun in the surrounding villages.

It took a bit of detective work to find out how this had happened. The tribal people remembered a missionary. They remembered a name but Ramsey wasn’t sure it was a first or second name.

The name was Leslie.

Back in the States, Ramsey did his homework. William Leslie and his wife Clara had been missionaries with the American Baptist Missionary Union. They would travel at least once a year to these outlying villages. Clara would play her portable organ- although it’s not clear this was always taken with them. William would preach the gospel, teach the tribal children how to read and write, and he even set up a rudimentary educational system.

Those tribes responded. And the Holy Spirit did the rest.

As two tired, disheartened missionaries walked down the gangplank and into the depths of a November evening in New York in 1929, they had no idea as to what God had done.

What a legacy.

We never know the impact we have had as Christians. One day we will find out.

Further Reading:

God reports, May 2014
Our Ancestry Site - Dr William H. Leslie

Good Effect

Over the last few months, I
have had the privilege of interviewing three great men of God in preparation
for books to be published. I have found the experience thrilling. The way that
God has used these guys is awesome. Men of faith, ready and willing to be used
by Him; having a good effect on the world around them.





But their story is our story
too. Every one of us has a story to tell. Every one of us can have a good
effect. It may not make a book, but it makes a life – in other words, each one
of us has the ability to change the lives around us for good.





Martha
Graham says ‘There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a
quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is
only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it,
it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.’





The Bible says ‘God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of
spiritual gifts.’ (1 Peter 4: 10, NLT).





The Psalmist says we were knitted together by God, secretly and intricately
woven. (Psalm 139).





I don’t know who you are, as you read this, but God does. You are
unique. And you have a unique contribution to give. I may never read of it; I
may never see it. But God does. And your family and friends do. Don’t underestimate to good effect
that only you can have on the world around you. (Matthew 5: 16, Titus 2: 7).