Diggers

Whenever the Diggers are mentioned, it is normally in the phrase ‘Diggers and Levellers’, as the movements were so closely allied.

The Diggers in fact began as the True Levellers in 1649. Both are not strictly religious groups, in that their motivation was political, but their focus on the Bible gives them a place here.

We’ll save the Levellers for ‘L’ in this series, but the groups were united in their belief in ‘levelling’ the social order to a more egalitarian footing.

The Diggers were founded by the Rev William Everard, a radical preacher who encouraged local people to cultivate public land at St George’s Hill in Surrey in order to meet their needs, and his friend Gerrard Winstanley, a formerly wealthy merchant tailor from Lancashire now forced to herd livestock, having lost his trade in the English Civil War. Everard stole away from the movement when trouble later started.

Winstanley quickly became known for his writings on the harmony of men and nature and the birthright of the common people to dig their own land.

His philosophy was essentially a true communist one, asserting the role of small self-sustaining communities without the need for a ruling class.

This was underpinned by the Bible, in particular Acts 4.32: “32: And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”

The Diggers were vigorously persecuted by Cromwell’s New Model Army, but continued to dig the land and air their cause, particularly in Surrey, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire.

Even at their peak they only comprised a few hundred people, and fizzled out by 1651 – but their legacy has influenced British political dissidence ever since. The Republic of Heaven, a key concept in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, is a phrase from one of Winstanley’s writings.

Elim Pentecostal Church

The Elim Pentecostal Church was founded by George Jeffreys (1889-1962), a Welsh evangelist with a Congregationalist background who had been converted during the Welsh revival of 1904. He founded the church at Monaghan, Northern Ireland, in 1915.

The name (officially, since 1934, the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance) came from Exodus 15.27 – “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters” – and was intended to convey a sense of spiritual refreshment. Jeffreys became famous for his inspirational mission tours around the UK, something like a Billy Graham of his day.

Jeffreys later spilt away from the main group and founded the Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship in 1939, another Pentecostal church with affinities to the British Israelites.

He was succeeded at Elim by George Kingston, who founded many congregations in Essex in particular. The Elim movement continues today with more than 500 UK congregation, united by beliefs in the divine inspiration of the Bible, the second coming, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and bodily resurrection.

English Lutherans

Strictly speaking there has never been an ‘English Lutheran’ movement in Britain (though the name was used in America from the 19th century), but various British-born followers of Martin Luther had an important influence on the Reformation in this country.

Most notable was Robert Barnes (1495-1540), who openly sermonised in Cambridge on the gospel, and accused the Church of heresy. He was influential on other reformers such as Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer who like him were later executed.

Episcopalianism

Episcopalianism is broadly an alternative term for the Anglican Communion, theologically distinct from both Catholicism and Protestantism.

The Episcopal Church in the US was the first Anglican church outside Britain, founded just after American independence and obliged to be separate because of the Church of England’s requirement upon clergy to swear allegiance to the Crown.

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a member of the Anglican Communion and recognises the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are many other Episcopal churches worldwide.

Christadelphians

Dr John Thomas (1805-1871), pictured, was the son of a dissenting minister of the same name, and he grew up in London and Lancashire.

In 1832 he emigrated to America – but the voyage was so rough and the storms so fierce that he had no certainty of arriving alive.

Unsure of what death would mean, he vowed to dedicate his life to religious study if he should survive. He studied the Bible and began to preach, sometimes controversially.

In the 1840s he spread his mission to establish Biblical truth and restore early Christian belief back home in England.

The movement he inspired – the Christadelphians, or Brothers of Christ – only took holder later on, and has never had a central authority. What unites members is the statement beginning: “the book currently known as the Bible, consisting of the Scriptures of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles, is the only source of knowledge concerning God and His purposes at present extant or available in the earth”.

In the First World War, they were known for being conscientious objectors. The movement continues to this day with 50,000 members worldwide, often meeting in small local congregations called ecclesias.

Christian Evidence Society

This is an ecumenical group founded in 1870 focusing on the use of “contemporary methods of communication” including the internet to explain the principles of Christian faith. It began with public addresses at Speakers’ Corner and Tower Hill, then moved through the age of pamphlets to the modern media of today.

Church Army

The Church Army’s modern mission is ‘making Jesus famous’ – a suitable notion for the age of reality television. Its president is Desmond Tutu.

This evangelistic organisation was founded in 1882 by the Rev Wilson Carlisle, known as ‘The Chief’. Something of a child prodigy, he was talented at music and languages, and both ambitious and successful in business.

During a mental breakdown during the economic depression of the 1870s, he was inspired by religious writings and ultimately took holy orders. He founded the Church Army as a home mission arm of the Church of England, with a particular focus on ministering to the slums of Westminster, and using local, working people to spread the word.

Congregationalists

Congregationalism is a broad movement dating back to the Brownists of the 16th century.

The guiding principle is that each church congregation should be entitled to organise its own affairs autonomously and without reference to any central authority.

Sometimes congregationalist groups are known as separatists or independents. The United Reformed Church is an combined organisation which came from a merger between the Presbyterian Church and various congregationalist alliances; around 300 other church groups work together under the wing of the Congregational Federation.

Cooneyites

In 1895 Scotsman William Irvine (b1863) became a lay evangelist for the Faith Mission, and was sent to work in Ireland. Gradually he adopted a belief in calling people away from their churches to lead a simple life based on the teachings of Jesus, focused on poverty, homelessness and preaching.

One of his early converts was the zealous Irishman Edward Cooney, and members often became known as Cooneyites. Other names include the tramp preachers, the ‘go-preachers’ (from Matthew 10:7, “As ye go, preach”), the Testimony of Jesus, The Church Without a Name, or the Two-by-Two movement from their early habit of travelling out in pairs by bicycle (many other names have been identified).

It is also known as the Church of The Way, and often criticised for its severe strictures on members, with ostracism for anyone who dissents from the group philosophy.

Both Cooney and Irvine were ultimately excommunicated from their own organisation, the latter partly for some odd views relating to preaching to other planets.

The group is strong in Australia, where Cooney travelled, and the UK 2001 census identifies at least 200 members here.