Crumbs from the Table

Chad of Mercia (634-672) was a Christian monastic who lived in the 600s, at the time when the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were being Christianised.  Chad was one of four brothers born, it is supposed, into the nobility of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria (northeast England). However, curiously, his name is of Celtic origin, which may mean he was not of Anglo-Saxon stock. Sometime before Aidan's death in 651, Chad studied under that prominent Christian monastic at the Lindisfarne monastery. Chad may have completed his education at Mayo in Ireland.  Sometime before 664, Chad was back on the island of Britain, helping his brother Cedd found a monastery at Lastingham (Yorkshire). When his brother Cedd died, Chad took over as abbot. Caught up in the church politics of the time, Chad was briefly appointed bishop of York (approx. 666-669) in place of his contemporary, Wilfrid, only later to step down in his favour.   Later, in 669, King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a bishop, an...

Christianity in Britain may date back to before the year 200 ; it is claimed that St. Peter upon Cornhill  church in London was founded in the year 179. Certainly, Christianity had reached Britain by the year 208. The church father Tertullian mentions this fact as an example of the geographical spread of Christianity in his time, "In all parts of Spain, among the various nations of Gaul, in districts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans but subdued to Christ, in all these the kingdom and name of Christ are venerated." Another church father, Origen, writing about 239, likewise refers to Christianity among the Britons, "The power of the Saviour is felt even among those who are divided from our world, in Britain," although he is also careful to qualify that "very many have not yet heard the word of the Gospel." The first known martyr for the Christian faith in Britain was Alban , who was killed at Verulam (now St Alban's) sometime between the year 250 an...

Part of my childhood, going back to 1979, are Place Dumon (Stockel, Brussels) and the number 39 tram. Between 1979 and 1983, our family lived on a street in Woluwe-St-Pierre off avenue Grandchamp called avenue de Wavrans. I recently discovered that the the street didn't have any houses built on it until between 1953 and 1961. Within walking distance of our home was the stop for the 39 tram (photo).  A little further from our home was Place Dumon with its market and shops such as "Club". Even after moving to Wezembeek in 1983, we used to come back to Place Dumon for haircuts, and from 1988, the 39 tram line was extended from Place Dumon along the disused railway line to Ban-Eik.  It turns out that Place Dumon , previously Campagne Dumon , was purchased by the municipality in 1924, and served as the turning circle for the number 39 tram line, inaugurated in 1925, and originally joining Stockel (Place Dumon) and St Catherine in the city centre. Place Dumon has hosted a marke...

Bury is a market and former mill town in the historic county of Lancashire. It now comes under "Greater Manchester" and is situated to the north west of the metropolis, about 30 minutes drive by car from the city centre.  Bury's origins go back to before 1066. The name, originally Bury, Buri, or Byri, is a Saxon name meaning “a stronghold.”  Bury Castle manor house was built in 1469 by Sir Thomas Pilkington; its ruins near the parish church are a minor tourist feature.   Up until the 1700s, the town was served by a single parish church. The first non-conformist Christian place of worship was established in the town in 1719: what was the Presbyterian church on Silver Street (now a Unitarian Chapel). A second Church of England place of worship, St. John's church, was established in 1770. (The town is now served by about 30 Christian churches, 8 mosques, and a synagogue.)  The industrial revolution took hold in Bury from 1773 with calico printing works set up by th...

In 1830, at the time of Belgian independence, the city of Brussels was confined to the historic "pentagon", circumscribed by the old city ramparts which were dismantled between 1812 and 1840, and replaced by wide Parisian-style boulevards. (See also History of Brussels - part 1 )  In 1853, the city expanded beyond the "pentagon" to include Schaerbeek, Etterbeek (part), and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode - what became the Leopold Quarter, and the Quarter of the Squares. In 1864, the city expanded southwards to encompass what became Avenue Louise and Bois de la Cambre. In 1907, the "Jardin du Roi" and "Abbaye de la Cambre" were added (see map below).  An example of this expansion was rue Belliard, which stretches from Avenue des Arts (inner ring) to the Cinquantenaire park. The first section of this road was opened in 1855 (up to Rue van Maerlant ), followed by a second section, completed in 1869 (up to what is now the Cinquantenaire park, previously a mil...

The earliest settlement of what is now Brussels goes back to the year 580 and the island (Saint-Géry island) between two branches of the river Senne which ran through Brussels, on which Gaugericus (Géry), Christian bishop of Cambrai, built a chapel (Saint-Géry Chapel), which remained the oldest place of worship in the city until the building was demolished in the 1790s. (See also  History of Brussels - part 2 ) Brussels is mentioned in the historical record again in 695.  In the year 979, Lambert the Duke of Louvain, fortified the settlement on Saint-Géry Island - this is the traditional date of the founding of Brussels. What is now the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula dates back to a parish church in 1047. In the 1100s, the Dukes of Brabant transformed the fortress on Saint-Géry Island into a inhabitable castle. The city was enclosed by the first city walls ( première enceinte - see shaded region on map to the right) in the 1200s. Brussels had developed into a subs...

It is a fact that in most societies of the global north, such as the United Kingdom and France, church attendance has dropped significantly since the 1800s and in places now represents a tiny minority of something like 1-2%.  The term "secularisation" refers to the process by which religious faith is increasingly marginalised from society, and limited to the private lives of a small number of individual believers. A major contemporary expert on secularisation is Professor Hugh McLeod  of the University of Birmingham, who is himself a Quaker.   Hugh McLeod's work offers lots of statistical data and insights into the phenomenon of secularisation.  The process of secularisation goes back at least as far as the 1600s, and a major contributing factor was co-existence and belligerence between rival forms of Christianity during that century. There appears to be a certain typical chronological sequence for secularisation in "Christian" countries, beginning with the co-e...

I am due to make a trip to Poland soon, and I have been reading up about Polish history.  The original homeland of the Slavic peoples is considered to be the region of Pripyat' in Belarus.  The Polish people descended from the West Slavic tribes, known collectively as the Lechtitic tribes,   who settled in the Vistula and Oder river basins between the 300s and 700s AD. These included the Polans, Vistulans, Pomeranians, Goplans, Lendians, Mazovians, and Silesians, with the Polans playing a central role in unifying them.  The history of Poland begins with the conversion of Duke Mieszko to the Christian faith in 966. The main Christian influence was Great Moravia, the homeland of Mieszka's bride, Dobrawa, a devout Christian - her country having been Christianised by Cyril and Methodius about a century earlier. The map below shows the geographical extent of Poland under the rule of Mieszko. His capital city was at Gniezno. The light blue is the extent of Mieszko's Duchy ...

Mosely Street Independent Chapel was a place of worship in Manchester which stood diagonally opposite Pimlico library on Mosely Street on the present site of the Sainsbury's supermarket.  (It should not be confused with Mosely Street Unitarian church which closed in 1835, having stood on the future site of the Manchester and Salford Bank which is now occupied by the "Betfred" betting shop.) Mosely Street Independent Chapel was a breakaway in 1788 from Cannon Street Congregational Church which had only started in 1762 (with Caleb Warhurst as minister).   Ministers of Mosely Street Independent Chapel Joseph Smith  Samuel Bradley  Dr Robert Halley The building stood from 1788, was enlarged in 1817, and then vacated in 1848 when the church moved to Cavendish Road. Here is a picture of the building: Manchester City Council holds the historic records of this church . In 1847/8, a new chapel was completed on Cavendish Road near the University of Manchester with seating...

 New York Street Baptist Chapel was a place of worship in the centre of Manchester which stood from 1808 to 1869.  The church was a breakaway from the Baptist church pastored by William Gadsby shortly after his arrival in 1805. For a time, the church met at Cold House chapel in the Shudehill area of Manchester (a longstanding place of non-Anglican worship), before moving into the premises on New York Street in 1808. The well-known pastor John Fawcett (1739-1817) of Wainsgate Chapel in Hebden Bridge preached at the opening service.  The location of the church was on New York Street which at the time of writing is on the other side of the City Tower from Piccadilly Gardens. The chapel stood in the block between Pine Street and Faulkner Street on the site of what is now the carpark.  The chapel is clearly marked on various historic maps of Manchester, such as this one (Pigot 1813):  According to Baptist church historian Whitley (Baptists of the North West, 1913), ...

Moss Lane Baptist Chapel was a place of worship in the Moss Side area of Manchester. It was constructed in 1872. Marriage records for the church 1900-1971 are held here . The origins of Moss Lane Baptist Chapel go back to a Baptist chapel which stood on New York Street in Manchester City Centre from 1808-1869. This was a breakaway from Rochdale Road Strict Baptist Chapel, and it stood between Faulkner Street and Pine Street, approximately where the Arnii cafe now stands.  The old chapel was sold in 1869, and the funds used to build the new church building in Moss Side with seating for 850 which was completed in 1872. At the time, this was reported in  several publications including the Manchester Guardian . It stood on Moss Lane East on the south side between what was then Stockton street and Sewerby Street. Its precise location appears on many maps, including the following:  It is not to be confused with the former Welsh Calvinist Methodist Chapel (now Polish Roman Cat...

Today, I visited Ludlow in Shropshire and the Parish Church of Saint Laurence that dates back to the 1100s. I thought it would be good to share the story of this Christian who lived in the 200s, who gave his life for the Lord.  Laurence (also spelt Lawrence) was a Christian believer who lived from 225 until 258. He died a "martyr" - this means that he died for his Christian faith and way of life.   Laurence was originally from the Roman province of Hispania (Spain), where he was born in 225 in the town of either Heusca or Valencia. It was in Spain that he met the future bishop Sixtus II of Rome (also known as "Pope"), at Zaragoza, and together they travelled to Rome.  By the mid-200s, the Christian community at Rome was already 200 years old. Arguably, it was in the 40s of the Christian era that it began - just 10-15 years after Christ rose from the dead. Shortly after it began, this church would have been impacted by the decree by the Emperor Claudius, expelling al...

Today, at our church coffee morning, I gave a brief presentation about two cousins from the late 1600s, and early 1700s born in a small town called Heptonstall, and who were instrumental in the spread of Baptist Christianity in our "neck of the woods": William Mitchell (b.1663) and David Crossley (b. 1669).  The first ever Baptist churches on English soil were started in 1611 and 1638 respectively, and spread out from London with offshoots in places such as Coventry, Kent and Wales.  The earliest Baptist churches in the North West (historic Lancashire and Cheshire) began around 1650: one in Manchester and one in Warrington.  However, William Mitchell and David Crossley started out as itinerant preachers from about 1685, and were not initially Baptists by conviction. Before becoming Baptist, they bravely preached and set up "preaching stations" throughout the area bordering Yorkshire and Lancashire in places such as Barnoldswick, Bacup and Rawdon. Eventually these be...

Today Friday 13 March 2026, myself and a number of other Christians locally are devoting to prayer for our Muslim neighbours. I hope to attend "iftar" tonight - the daily breaking of the fast, a community meal at the mosque.  As far as I know, there are currently five mosques operating in Bury, Lancs, where I live. These are: 1. Khizra mosque , Walmersley Road (begun in the 1960s) 2. Jamia Khizra  mosque near Asda  3. Qadria Jillania mosque on Church Street (near what used to be St Paul's church) 4. Noor ul Islam mosque on Yarwood Street  5. The Shia Community (Al Mahdi Foundation) on Hornby Street - the Shia Muslims are a different branch of Islam to the majority "Sunni" Muslims.  The main weekly service of prayer at the Mosque is Friday lunchtime, and in Bury this is attended by hundreds of men and boys - at the biggest mosque there might be as many as a thousand in attendance. Women have a parallel meeting in another room. I have observed this in-pers...

It is simply a fact. Believers in the God of the Bible - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - represent a religious minority in our country and in our world. Revivals - quiet or otherwise - at home and abroad do not alter that fact. There are no countries in the world which could be called Christian in the sense in which that may have been the case in the Middle Ages.  And yet I also believe that God's law is for everyone. By that I mean that as well as being for believers, God's law is also relevant and applicable to all people. In some cases that is obvious: there is clearly no one who is allowed to steal or murder or commit perjury. But it is also true that there is no one who is free to covet (desire) what is not theirs. Nor is there anyone who, morally, is free to refuse to recognise the One true God and give him the worship he alone deserves.  Now, I need to be clear what I mean and what I *don't* mean by the above paragraph. I *don't* mean that I believe in the idea of ...

The first half of the 1700s in England was a tumultuous time.  In the wake of the religious toleration proclaimed in 1689, many once strong churches drifted from their doctrinal moorings and began to question the deity of Christ, aspects of his atoning work, and the veracity of his Word. This was true, for example, of the General Baptists, and of the Presbyterian Church. This happened against a wider backdrop of national disdain towards the Christian faith, especially under the rule of George I. Many were addicted to gin. Of the higher classes in England the French Enlightenment man, Montesquieu, observed, "Whenever anyone refers to religion, everybody starts laughing." It was into this dark decline that the light of the gospel shone through the ministry of a cohort of fine men in the Church of England, including Howell Harris (in Wales), George Whitefield, the Wesley brothers, Ingham, and others. The Evangelical Revival began around 1735, and continued until about 1750.  The...

The following post is a response to an article by John Stevens published in "Foundations" in 2015, and currently featured on the Affinity website. This is not intended as a personal attack on John Stevens, who is National Director of the FIEC, and a lovely Christian man and brother. The purpose of the blog post below is to stand for the historic Reformation teaching on the Lord's Supper in response to what I consider to be a novel view which is not supported by the Bible.  The Lord's Supper, the monthly or weekly celebration of the bread and the cup, has always been at the heart of the Christian faith and church life. Instituted by Christ himself, the Lord's Supper has been practised by Christians across the world and by all traditions (with very few exceptions) for over twenty centuries.   Today, for the first time, I came across a theological/Biblical articulation of what I will call the "communal meal" view of the Lord's Supper. My source for this...

Anselm of Canterbury, also known as Anselm of Bec, was born in the Val D'Aosta in northern Italy in 1033. After the death of his mother, his relationship with his father was strained, and he spent many years wandering around what is now France until he settled at the abbey of Bec in Normandy, where he became a Benedictine monk at the age of 27 (1060). The monastery had only been in existence for 25 years and its original abbot, Herluin, was still there. Anselm was taught by Lanfranc (1005-1089). When Lanfranc moved on, Anselm became the main teacher at the abbey, and later, in 1078, abbot.  Anselm was involved in controversies with Gaunilo (over arguments used by Anselm in his work Proslogion), and with Roscelin (over Trinitarian heresy) The Bec monastery was in Normandy, which at the time had strong connections with England, which had been conquered by the Normans in 1066. Anselm was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. Anselm stood up for the rights of the church against t...

The short answer is: yes we do. (Although I should clarify that it is by the Holy Spirit, and inwardly through faith.)  I am writing as an Evangelical Protestant Christian, a Grace Baptist pastor, and a church historian. I can assure you that we, that is to say, Protestants/Evangelicals believe (and have always believed) it to be the case that when we take communion we partake of Christ's body and blood .  This post is mainly written for my fellow Evangelical brothers and sisters who struggle with this truth, and perhaps suspect that it is a throwback to a medieval Roman Catholic, or High Church Anglican past. It isn't. At the time of the Reformation in the 1500s, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Menno Simmons, and later John Calvin challenged many teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.  On the subject of communion, the Roman Catholic dogma of transubstantiation teaches (wrongly) that, during the communion service, the bread and cup at communion are changed i...

If you are old enough (or, young enough) to get the reference, the title of this blog post is a line from a 1970 song . The next line is, "They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot." This is a post about things that we have as Evangelical Christians, but perhaps have failed to cherish and value. These are reasons to stay Evangelical - even if other Christian traditions might at times seem appealing, tempting even. Evangelical Christianity is the faith I have received, the form of Christianity I was born into spiritually, and which has been my home since 1991. At least in this post, my concern is not to question the legitimacy of other Christian traditions, such as Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, or the faith of those brought up in those traditions, so much as to value my own tradition, and to encourage my fellow evangelicals to "stick with it" and "dig deeper" rather than going elsewhere. This blog is dedicated to a couple of dear friends who i...