I recently picked up and read the book titled “Father of Faith Missions – The Life and Times of Anthony Norris Groves” by Robert Bernard Dann.

Like many Christians who take their faith seriously, I take heart from reading the biographies of missionaries, especially when not taking a rose-tinted view of their life which would otherwise be disheartening inasmuch when it portrays how I should be but never attaining those exalted heights. I am also a keen student of history, notably church history and ‘my own lot’ – the Plymouth Brethren.

The spur to my writing came as a result of being asked to take a teaching session at my church and wanting to follow in the footsteps of the chap that had recently done a series on church history but ended up at the Age of Enlightenment. I recognised the task of continuing on those lines up to present day would be a monumental one so I cottoned onto the idea of confining my efforts on the missionary movement during that time. Here I was spoiled for choice. One name that sprung to mind was C.T.Studd, who I recently wrote about (see here). Another was William Carey, who has with good reasons been dubbed as the father of modern missions and (pertinently) a member of the same Particular Baptist group of churches my own church can trace its ancestry back to.

In the end, I decided to focus my attention on Anthony Norris Groves (ANG) because his own story and experiences overlapped with my own, including his associations with the Plymouth Brethren and the country that is my second home – India, and he was mightily influential concerning missionary endeavour and yet he is not someone people (including knowledgeable Christians who like to find out about missionaries in the past) know much (if anything) about. I began, as I generally do these days, by finding out about ANG from the assorted written material I have in my home and then onto the Internet. It happened that I had in my possession a book titled: “Anthony Norris Groves. Saint and Pioneer – A Combined Study of a Man of God and of the Principles and Practices of the Brethren” by G.H. Lang.

While Lang’s work was commendable and contained good stuff, a lot of it went over my head, and was too taken up with Brethrenism (which was not something I reckoned would interest many in my audience) and lacked the biographical detail I was looking for. But it served as a start along with my Internet findings including videos about the man found on YouTube. This augmented my knowledge and filled in vital gaps but it was still not enough. But then I remembered the book I began my article with and decided to acquire my own copy. I recall meeting the author some twenty years ago at a Brethren history conference, where we both presented papers. His was on ANG and I recall being impressed by his enthusiasm and attention to detail in his research efforts.

With the prospect of my teaching session on ANG in mind, I read the book (or at least a good part of it) and was not disappointed for several reasons. The main one was that it was eminently readable and yet was extraordinarily detailed and presented in a way that would meet the approval of those more academically inclined with its extensive footnotes and in-depth trawling through the primary and secondary sources that were available. While there may be less on ANG than other great missionaries (a lot of the primary sources were letters ANG wrote and received) it was evident that the author had sought to leave no stone unturned in his efforts to provide a fair and balanced account. Moreover, he did not fall into the trap of idolising his hero and made it quite clear there were good reasons why ANG, when looking back on his life, considered himself to be a failure (even though the opposite was true).

My presentation on the “The Life and Times of A.N.Groves” was made under ten headings:

• His early life
• “Christian Devotedness”
• His call to mission
• His time in Baghdad
• His time in India
• His beliefs
• His place in Brethren history
• His legacy
• Father of faith missions
• A great cloud of witnesses

Before that, I tried to provide a context including defining terms like “faith mission”: “Faith mission is a term used most frequently among evangelical Christians to refer to a missionary organization with an approach to evangelism that encourages its missionaries to “trust in God to provide the necessary resources”. These missionaries are said to “live by faith”. Many faith missions were non or inter-denominational in nature as opposed to those linked to a particular denomination”. There were two books that provided a backdrop to my preparation (see picture above). Then there was the fact that ANG’s missionary endeavours were a continuation of much that went on beforehand, starting from the book of Acts, which tells us about the early years of the Christian church when it began to carry out the Great Commission, which as ANG recognised continues to be binding: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” Acts 1:8. There are many examples from the years between then and when ANG operated. I was particularly taken by the lives and work of: William Carey, Count Zinzendorf and Jan Hus, who laid the foundations ANG built on.

Not just before ANG’s time were there influences and endeavours that inspired him but also after his time when he became the inspiration. There were many who were profoundly influenced by ANG, directly and indirectly. The collage of photos above is of Bakht Singh, Watchman Nee, George Verwer, Hudson Taylor, George Muller and C.T.Studd – and there were many others, some household names in the awakened Christian community, such as Amy Carmichael and Jim Elliot. Among the lessons we can take away from the life and times of Anthony Norris Groves, we can find from what he wrote in 1825 before he set out on his first overseas mission in 1829. He ministered in Baghdad and then in India prior to returning home to die in 1853. The main theme of the influential, inspirational booklet that he wrote: “Christian Devotedness”, included an impassioned call to readers to lay up treasure in heaven and to be sold out as followers of Christ. He followed in the footsteps of those Old Testament heroes of faith discussed in Hebrews 11, concerning which faith ANG was a latter-day exemplar:

I am grateful to brother Dann for bringing to the wider audience many aspects of ANG’s life and these are some of my highlights:

1. He demonstrated the value of meticulous historical research on a subject that matters as much now as it ever did. If this hadn’t been undertaken, we wouldn’t know about the man and his mission, and that would have been our loss.
2. In doing so he reminds us through the example of ANG that authentic Christianity is not a matter of mix and match but rather all as opposed to nothing (just as the Bible teaches and ANG had picked up) when it comes to Christian devotedness.
3. He painted a picture of a man that, if we were to come across him in a crowded room, we might not recognise him for he did not possess natural charisma or “the gift of the gab” and had a lot of self-doubt. What struck me about the man was the self-effacing kindness and empathy ANG that was clearly evident with the many dealings he had with people he met.
4. This portrayal of ANG’s life will have helped those (including me) that feel guilty that in terms of being a good Christian we might have blown it except that ANG’s God was the God of “n” chances, and however imperfect we might feel, He can still use us if we are willing, including the principle that every church member can/should be missionaries and believer-priests.
5. While steering away from the Lang approach that over-emphasised the Plymouth Brethren (PB) factor, Dann helped to clear up misunderstandings including among PBs, on how and why the PBs came about and flourished in the early days, e.g. the tension placed on the relative importance of light and life and some of the still important principles of early PBism.  
6. In recent years I have managed to fall out with Christians, not just those of a liberal and Catholic bent but also Evangelical and found it is not just me, for such are the crazy days we live in where truth is at a premium and deception is rife, and where the cultural climate is a lot different that the Enlightenment / Romantic one than that ANG was familiar with. What I especially loved about ANG was his love, encouragement and practical help given to real Christians from an assortment of quite different churches.

While writing this article, I sought to find out how to contact the author of this book so I could thank and encourage him, but without success, but I did find a number of reviews, one of which (see here) especially resonated with some of my own thoughts and with which I feel provides a fitting end:

“Subtitled, “The Life and Times of Anthony Norris Groves” (1795-1853), Father of Faith Missions is an extensively researched biography of a man of great faith and great zeal for missionary work. It is also a record of Groves’ influence on missionary initiatives.

In chapter 1 the author states, “Groves went to Baghdad for a very simple reason: he believed God had sent him. He was not appointed by a mission board…He did not have a team of experienced colleagues to advise in matters of language and culture. He did not have anyone to offer support in time of sickness or political unrest. He did not even have a Bible in the language spoken by the people around him. But he did have the promises of God (which he believed) and a heart taught to love everyone he met (whatever their background), and he had a vision to take these promises and that love personally to millions who knew nothing of it”. Throughout the book the author illustrates how these promises were fulfilled and how that love was displayed in the life of Groves, whether in England, Baghdad, or India.

Groves was not without severe trials but his experiences strengthened his faith and moulded his character. He states, “Had I seen years ago, as the Lord has given me now to see, I think I should by His grace, have suffered in many cases much more patiently than I did. I might have pursued courses I did not and avoided some which I chose, and I should not have given advice in all cases as I have done…”

Groves was modest and unobtrusive; he did not consider himself a gifted evangelist. His greatest practical contribution to the work of God was the advice and encouragement he gave to other evangelists and the influence he made on the personal lives of believers. His methods were those of the New Testament. Groves believed the role of a missionary was to live the gospel before the people till God gave the increase. This is an enjoyable, encouraging and challenging biography – well worth reading.