John Wesley died on this day in 1791. He shocked the church of his day by preaching on street corners. He was so radical and outspoken that the churches of the day closed their doors to Wesley. Despite this, or maybe because of this, it is estimated he travelled 250 000 miles on horseback to preach the gospel. He said ‘I look upon the whole world as my parish’.
For a new enlightenment, a new expression of church, should we be worried about what the established church is saying. Should we be playing safe or should we be pushing the boundaries?
I want to be where people want to listen. More than that, I want to be where people desperately need to listen. Where people can hear the reality of the gospel and respond to it appropriatly, without feeling the need to take on anyone elses ideology.
I heard a scarey thing yesterday in London. Nicky Gumbel and Bono are ‘chatting’. I do not know of that is true – it’s a rumour. But I can’t help but think it would be terrible if Bono felt he had to change and became all HTB-like in his attitude. Something tells me it won’t happen – can you see him leading worship in a fixed smile with a pastel shirt? Or Gumbel in a rock band?
The church needs to remain beautiful and creative. Individuals need to come together in integrity, keeping their individuality. People need to hear and be given the freedom to explore and express in their own ways. No mono pre-packaged culture here please.
A lot of those people are out on the street corners – where are the Wesleyan heroes of 21st century Britain?
The Shiny Headed Prophet 
NNNNooooooo, tha last thing we need is an Alphaersied Bono!! On the wesley front if u get chance read up on George whitefield, he was the tru pionneer opening up the way for the wesley bros, The wesleys have got the majority of the credit and poor ol’ george has been overlooked!
Sorry if I come across as a nice twee evangelical by this, but the thought of Bono and Nicky Gumbell meeting up is exciting!??Think about it? Two men that God has given huge passion and vision to, with huge influence…one who’s probably the most respected Christian in the western world, for being real, and the other the leader of one of the most potent evangelistic tools of the past 50 years!?? I’ll eagerly anticipate anything that comes out of that discussion!!
Malc,I go along with half of what you say, but I do think you are over-selling Alpha a lot. I can’t see how it is a potent evangelistic tool. It has ‘success’ in certain areas and many query whether this ‘success’ is large scale church transference or fringe people. Certainly, in my mind, it takes far too much for granted to be an evanglsitic tool in the post modern UK.I can’t share your enthisiasm while I am and seeing the ‘alpha’ brand church of a one size its all strategy even to the extent of dubbing Nicky Gumbel videos in non-western languages.I must go long with Rob and Dave – an alph-ised or HTB-ised Bono is too horrible to think of.