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The Primitivist Ecclesiology of Anthony Norris Groves: A Radical Influence on the Nineteenth-Century Protestant Church in Britain

by Robert Bernard Dann

245 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-2131; ISBN 1-4251-0374-X; US$25.06, C$28.81, EUR19.53, £12.95

The widely accepted idea that the methods of the "early church" provide a model for emulation in every age owes much to the "romantic" influence of Anthony Norris Groves.

About the Book

The Primitivist Ecclesiology of Anthony Norris Groves

The decade in which Anthony Norris Groves developed distinctive views about church and mission coincided, between 1825-35, with a turning-point in the religious history of the British Isles. The eighteenth-century belief in order, design and gradual development was yielding to the free, dynamic, iconoclastic spirit of the nineteenth century. This book suggests that Groves was a significant participant in the rise and spread of these new spiritual forces.

Seceding from the Anglican communion in 1828, Anthony Norris Groves adopted a consciously non-denominational identity. With little interest in buildings, services, finances, organisation, training or ceremony, he developed a radically primitivist ecclesiology, taking the principles and practice of the early churches in the New Testament as a model to be followed by every generation in every cultural context.

These ideas came at a time when the "romantic" and the "primitive" were newly fashionable. The publication of Groves's tract Christian Devotedness in 1825, followed by his suggestion that Christians of diverse denominations might partake of the Lord's Supper without the presence of an ordained minister, and then his own resolve in 1829 to launch a mission to the Muslim world "by faith" without the support of a recognised church or missionary society, challenged and enthused his circle of personal friends. Some of these were soon to become leadi ng figures in the Brethren movement, sometimes known as Plymouth Brethren.

Moving to India, Groves continued to write controversial tracts and to correspond with friends and former colleagues such as John Parnell, Henry Craik, Robert Chapman, John and Robert Howard, and especially his brother-in-law George Müller.

The eventual schism within the Brethren movement reflects an early divergence of view between Groves and J N Darby. Whereas Darby condemned the church on earth as apostate, Groves constantly sought to recover its primitive ideals. Where Darby looked to a pre-tribulation secret rapture of the saints, Groves anticipated the return of Christ in visible glory, after the great tribulation, to redeem his own. Whilst Darby considered the present "church age" to be a mere interlude in God's ongoing purposes for the Jews, Groves saw it as a fulfilment of God's eternal purpose for all nations.

Groves's primitivist ecclesiology became characteristic of the open Brethren, and through Brethren influence in "faith missions" and university Christian unions entered the mainstream of British evangelical life. For a century and a half, "the early church" was offered as a model for the emulation of evangelical congregations. The history of this period cannot ignore the key role played by Anthony Norris Groves in formulating and popularising these elements of evangelical primitivism.

A companion volume to this book is: The Primitivist Missiology of Anthony Norris Groves: a radical influence on nineteenth-century Protestant mission.

About the Author

Dr. Robert B. Dann received his BA and PhD degrees from the University of Liverpool. He has thirty years' experience of primitivist church initiatives in Britain and overseas.