Shaftesbury: the hidden connection

Just been reading John Pollock's excellent biography of Shaftesbury, the great 19th century social reformer. Most people know that Shaftesbury was motivated to help the poor of victorian Britain primarily by his Christian faith, but Pollock offers an intriguing insight into where that faith might have come from.

The young Shaftesbury was raised (and discipled in faith) by the family housekeeper, Maria Milles. Maria's own deep spirituality most likely emerged under the teaching of George Stonhouse, a retired Moravian minister who was an early supporter of John Wesley.

So there is a good chance that Shaftesbury's Christian faith was shaped by the English Moravians. I'm amazed, but not entirely surprised. It really does seem that almost every major move of God from the late 1700s onwards owes at least a part of its influence to these remarkable pioneers...

Organic Church with a dash of Zinzendorf

A nice endorsement from Neil Cole, author of 'Organic Church' at a recent 24-7 leaders event. Neil said that he was recommending The Lord of the Ring to all of the leaders in his network, because the Moravians have a lot to teach the church today about planting communities of faith.

Apparently Neil then said 'does anyone know this Phil Anderson guy?', and didn't understand why all my friends who were there fell about laughing...