Skip to main content

Anglo-Saxon mission in the late 600s and 700s

The Anglo-Saxons had been Christianised in the 500s and 600s by Irish missionaries from the north, and from Roman (and Frankish) missionaries from the south. Thus, these formerly pagan settlers from what is now Germany and the Netherlands came to profess Christ, and embraced the gospel. 

This led, in the late 600s and into the 700s, to a missionary movement from what we would call England back to the ancestral homeland of the newly converted Anglo-Saxons. In other words, having themselves turned to worship the true and living God, the Anglo-Saxons had a desire to bring that same gospel to their ancestors still living on the continent of Europe. 

Two names stand out among the many Anglo-Saxon missionaries. 

The first is Willibrord. He hailed from Northumbria, and arrived in Frisia (Netherlands) in 690. He laboured among the Frisian people for many decades, and saw fruit from his labours, but also died a martyr's death, demonstrating the ongoing hostility to the gospel on the part of at least some of those he came to serve. 

A second name is Winfrith (better known by his latter name, Boniface), a native of Crediton in Devon. Winfrith-Boniface began by working alongside Willibrord in Frisia, however he went on to venture further inland to Hesse and Thuringia. His most famous exploit was in 724 to boldly cut down the Oak at Geismar, dedicated to the pagan god, Donar. This bold act represented his evangelistic assault on paganism and the victory of Christ the Lord. 

The period of Anglo-Saxon mission lasted from the late 600s until about 750, and followed on from an earlier period of Hiberno-Scottish mission which lasted for about a century from 563, the date of Columba's departure for Iona. (The term "Scottish" (Latin Scoti) in older texts refers to the Irish people; the united Kingdom of Scotland was a later development.) 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bury, Greater Manchester - Timeline of churches

979?      First Church on the site of the present Parish Church (the picture below is an artist's impression of Bury parish church in 1485). This was the only church in the town of Bury until 1719 (see below).  1585      Parish church (re)built in the gothic style . 1650     During the Commonwealth, Henry Pendlebury was ordained for  Holcombe Chapelry.  1662     Having been ejected from the Church of England,  Henry Pendlebury of Holcombe   (1626-1695) held services at a Chapel on Bass Lane by Richard Kay, and others ejected from the C of E (replaced in 1712 by Dundee Chapel, Holcombe) 1669      The vicar of Bury parish reported to the Bishop of Chester that he heard several conventicles were "constantly kept at private houses of Independents, Presbyterians, Dippers and other such like jointly, of the bset rank of the yeomanry and other inferiors." 1689      ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The origin and spread of the early Baptist churches in the North West of England and elsewhere

The origins of Baptist churches go back to the 1600s.  The very first Baptist church began in 1609 and was for English speaking Christians based in the Netherlands, relocating to London in 1611 (Thomas Helwys). These churches were known as "General Baptists" and followed the theology of Arminius and the Anabaptists.  A second genesis of Baptist churches was in London in about 1638 (John Spilsbury). These churches followed the Reformed Theology of John Calvin and the Synod of Dordt. In 1644, the First London Baptist Confession was signed by seven Baptist churches in the capital.  Baptist churches later spread from London outwards.  During the time of the English Civil War (1642-1651), there were Baptist Christians in the New Model Army of Oliver Cromwell. In 1648 the New Model Army campaigned in Lancashire during the Second Civil War.  1. John Wigan & the "Coldhouse cause"   During the time of the English Civil War (1642-1651), John Wigan (d. 1665),...
Post a Comment
Read more

Die Erweckung (revival of evangelical Christianity in Germany in the 1800s)

Die Erweckung (literally, "the Revival") is a name for the revival of evangelical Christianity in Germany in the 1800s. It has overlap with the Réveil in Switzerland, France and the Netherlands, and also with the second Evangelical Revival in Britain and the Second Great Awakening in America. The Pietist movement, which began during the Baroque era around 1675 under the leadership of Philip Spener, had waned by the 1730s. By this time, Halle university, originally founded by Pietists and a flagship of the movement, became a centre for rationalism under academics such as Christian Wolff (1679–1754).  In the interim, Pietism was kept alive in part by a network of small groups (the Diaspora) which followed the spirituality of the Moravian Christians, a movement similar to Pietism but with its own church structures under the leadership of Von Zinzendorf. There was also the Basle-based Christentumsgesellschaft founded by Urlsperger in 1780, a society founded to counter the ratio...
Post a Comment
Read more