Uniting for a Cause: Reestablishing the Local Society
When seeking to right the wrongs in society, many Christians feel helpless in their attempt to effect change. The task seems insurmountable, the problems overwhelming. Yet time and again, people make a difference. Some familiar examples include William Wilberforce and C. S. Lewis. The former dismantled an entire social structure, the English slave trade; and the latter has captured the imaginations of a countless many.
Yet the question arises, what is it that made these men so influential? Many answers have been proffered through the years to this challenging question. However, I believe part of the answer lies in the company they kept. These men did not accomplish their feats independent of local fellowship. Rather they labored among fellow believers. Similarly, we too may pursue our callings with similar vitality and effectiveness by doing so among believers.
The Clapham Sect
Famously, Wilberforce (1759-1833) penned these words on October 28, 1787: “God almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners” [1]. Forty-five years later, and just three days before his death, the slave trade was finally suppressed [2]. What is it that gave Wilberforce the commitment to fight for so long, and in the face of apparent defeat? Put simply, it was the company he kept.
Despite Wilberforce’s impact, many do not realize that he belonged to a group known today as the Clapham Sect. This group consisted primarily of like-minded Anglicans who resided in and around Clapham, then a small village in south London. They dined together, worked together, and even worshipped together. For nearly forty years (c. 1790-1830) its members effected change not only by political means, but also by social and religious means. It founded societies, established Sunday schools, trained missionaries, wrote hymns, helped the poor, lobbied for prison reform, and published many books—on everything from ministry and theology to politics and geology [3].
At least three attributes characterized this group. First, and above all else, they were “devoted to the church, fervent in prayer and drew a good deal of inspiration from studying the Bible” [4]. Second, this commitment to Jesus Christ and the work of His Church propelled them to pursue their personal callings with greater commitment. Nigel Scotland writes, “[T]hey believed themselves to be answerable to God for their actions and for the use of their time” [5].
Third, its members believed in the power of numbers. Albeit from a broad range of vocational backgrounds [6], its members believed that a group can accomplish more than the solitude believer. “[W]e must pay due respect to the power of camaraderie in the cause of righteousness,” writes John Piper of Wilberforce [7]. Though independent of the local church technically, this group was committed to its broader mission. They saw these efforts as an expression of their commitment to Christ, the church, and their callings. It is this mindset that made their efforts so successful in their day and so influential since.
The Inklings
The same may be said of the Inklings. Like Wilberforce, Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) also belonged to a group. “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire,” writes Lewis in 1941 [8]. At its most basic, this group began meeting because of friendship. Bruce Edwards agrees: “Th[e] discovery of friendship, and its expression through sharing their writings, was the root and heart of the Inklings” [9]. In this spirit of Christian friendship, the Inklings met for sixteen years (c. 1933-1949). Other well-known members included J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973), Owen Barfield (1898-1997), and Charles Williams (1886-1945). Humorously, it was Tolkien who commented that the group’s name “was a jest because it suggested ‘people with vague or half-formed intimations and ideas plus those who dabble in ink’” [10].
This literary society began meeting in the fall of 1933 on Thursday nights, and eventually, Tuesday mornings [11]. Upon meeting, they read their stories aloud to one another and then offered critiques regarding the merit or lack thereof of the work. “[T]heir mission, if one was ever formerly agreed upon, was to write the kind of stories that had in them what they ‘really liked’” [12]. And indeed they were successful!
What followed from these meetings has fascinated readers ever since. Works such as Mere Christianity (1952), The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56), and The Abolition of Man (1943), by Lewis; and The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954-55), and The Silmarillion (1977), by Tolkien, are evidence of this. Through their writings, the Inklings have captured the minds of children and adults alike. In the words of Duriez and Porter, they “have captured an audience of numerous millions around the globe” [13]. Like the Clapham Group, these men recognized that God works through groups of believers, and often in a powerful way [14].
The Power of Localized Societies
Once upon a time, believers pursued Kingdom-work in the context of localized societies [15]. And undeniably they made their mark. I do not cite groups such as the Clapham Sect and the Inklings for the truth of their beliefs and causes necessarily, but to illustrate the power of a group that unites in thought and purpose. Their examples teach us that people can accomplish what the person cannot, and the group what the individual cannot. Sometimes a group of individuals can even make possible what is otherwise impossible.
Wilberforce, Lewis, and others like them [16] are evidence to this. Piper agrees: “Together [the Clapham Sect] accomplished more than any could have done on his own” [17]. Colin Duriez states: “If it hadn’t been for the encouragement of Lewis, Tolkien would never have finished The Lord of the Rings. And similarly, without the impact of Tolkien on Lewis’ life, he would have never written The Chronicles of Narnia” [18]. Indeed, there is genuine power within the collective group.
Yet long gone are the days when believers unite as these men did to pursue Kingdom-work together, seemingly. The question remains as to why, if there is such power in it. The culprits are many: Some are simply unfamiliar with it, others live lives that are too cluttered, and still others doubt themselves.
(a) Ignorance in an Individualistic Age
Quite simply, some have never consciously considered the utility of uniting in this fashion to accomplish Kingdom-work. After all, we live in a post-Enlightenment, individualistic age, and our immediate predecessors have not set such an example, it would seem. Despite this, Christians and Americans in particular have historically formed and joined such forces—independent of the church, but often connected with its broader mission. Alexis de Tocqueville, writing in the 1830s, made an astute observation: “No country in the world has made better use of association than the United States, and nowhere has that powerful instrument been applied to a wider range of purposes” [19].
(b) Clutter in a Materialistic Age
Others clutter their lives with activities and unnecessary obligations to the practical exclusion of all else, thus rendering the possibility of a local group useless. Entertainment is one of many culprits that contributes to the considerable clutter in our lives. Gaming devices, music, sports, and television are just a few examples.
According to the A.C. Nelson Company, the average American watches more than four hours of television each day—or more than twenty-eight hours per week, more than five days per month, more than two months per year, and more than twelve years for the person who lives seventy-five years [20]. Entertainment has a place in life. However, modern society has fed on its fruits to the point of leisurely obesity. Instead, the Christian should shed the weights of individualism and laziness, and form allegiances to pursue Kingdom-work collectively (cf. Mt. 6:19-21; Jas. 5:1-3).
(c) Doubt in a Self-Conscious Age
Finally others doubt themselves and their abilities. These may remark that persons such Wilberforce and Lewis, and their respective companions, were exceptional people: “Surely we can’t expect all believers or groups of believers to make this sort of impact.” However, such rhetoric indicates a misunderstanding of history, Christ, and the Church.
First, those who comprise such groups often only gain such recognition through the course of history. Second, even assuming the objection, we mustn’t concern ourselves with the exceptionality (or not) of individuals. It is God who uses our efforts as He sees fit. This effectively takes the burden off of us (cf. Mt. 25:14-30; Lk. 19:11-27; 1 Cor. 3:5-9).
Third, the Church does not exist for its own recognition or glory, but for God’s. There is but one foundation (cf. 1 Cor. 3:11), yet there are a variety of gifts, services, and activities by which to accomplish this (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-6). And one of these activities is the localized group of believers who interact on a normative basis to accomplish Kingdom-work together.
Conclusion
The Great Commission is the Christian’s most basic mission. And it is a work that is often accomplished with greater momentum and tenacity among the collective body. Wilberforce and Lewis are testaments to the awesome power of such alliances. These men did not pursue their callings in their own might, nor effect change singlehandedly. No, they did so among fellow believers. Despite the apparent erosion of the localized society, modern believers need not view it an unsalvageable piece of antiquity. It held great power in their days, and it can hold great power in ours, as well.
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[1] Eric Metaxas, Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery (New York, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2007), 85.
[2] Just three days before Wilberforce’s death, the House of Lords passed a bill that abolished slavery throughout most of the British Empire; the date was July 26, 1833. Finally, on August 28, 1833, the House passed the Slavery Abolition Act.
[3] Though the examples are many, I will mention just two: (1) In 1799 they helped form the Society for Missions to Africa and the East (known today as the Church Missionary Society); and (2) in 1804, they were involved in setting up the British and Foreign Bible Society (known today as the Bible Society), a society designed to help make Bibles available to those who couldn’t afford them.
[4] Nigel Scotland, Evangelical Anglicans in a Revolutionary Age (1789-1901) (Waynesboro, Georgia: Paternoster Press, 2004), 28.
[5] Scotland, 45.
[6] Henry Venn (1725-1797) a clergyman; Granville Sharp (1735-1813) an administrator, musician, and scholar; Hannah More (1745-1813) a poet, playwright, and philanthropist; Charles Grant (1746-1823) an Member of Parliament (MP); Lord Teignmouth (1751-1834) the Governor-General of India (1793-97); Edward James Eliot (1758-97) an MP; James Stephen (1758-1832) a lawyer and Master of Chancery; Thomas Gisborne (1758-1846) clergyman, priest, and poet; Charles Simeon (1759-1832) a clergyman; William Wilberforce (1759-1833) an MP; Henry Thornton (1760-1815) a banker, economist, and MP; Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838) a campaigner, colonial governor, and an estate manager; William Dealtry (1775-1847) a clergyman and mathematician; and Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845) was a brewer and an MP. Yet, whatever their vocational background, they all worked as abolitionists and were great supporters of missions.
[7] John Piper, Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006) 55.
[8] Bruce Edwards, ed., C. S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy (Volume 1: An Examined Life) (Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Perspectives, 2007), 262; citing C. S. Lewis, Letters of C. S. Lewis, ed. W. H. Lewis. Rev. ed., Walter Hooper (San Diego, California: Harcourt, 1993), 363.
[9] Edwards, C. S. Lewis: Life Works, and Legacy (Volume 3: Apologist, Philosopher, and Theologian), 280.
[10] Harper Lee Poe, The Inklings of Oxford: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Friends (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009), 56; citing J. R. R. Tolkien, The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981), 387-88.
[11] Many texts state that the Inklings met from 1939 until 1949, as indicated above. This is only half-true. Although the Thursday night meetings ended in 1949, the group continued to meet into the mid-1950s, at least, except that the Tuesday morning meetings were changed to Mondays.
Walter Hooper, the trustee and literary advisor of the Lewis estate, was the keynote speaker at a conference entitled “C. S. Lewis: The Man and His Work” at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in October of 2007. In an address entitled “C. S. Lewis: Reflections About the Man,” Hooper, an eyewitness to some of these meetings, stated the following:
“I never witnessed anything like the conversation on these occasions. Lewis by no means did all the talking, or even much of it. He picked up something I said and threw it around like a ball around the room. The subject was commented on by others, and pretty soon I was saying things that certainly did not represent my usual, muddled way of thinking. We all know people who make us feel insecure, and around whom we sound like fools. Lewis was the opposite. He brought you up; he encouraged you. You were your best in his company” (17:30).
View this address: http://www.sebts.edu/faithandculture/events/cs-lewis-conference.aspx
[12] Edwards, V1, 262.
[13] Colin Duriez and David Porter, The Inklings Handbook (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2001), 3.
At the same conference referred to in endnote 11, Hooper gave another address entitled “Walter Hooper’s Work as Editor of C. S. Lewis’s Work,” in which he stated: “When I gave Professor Tolkien a copy of Lewis’ God in the Dock, he said, ‘You know, Jack Lewis is the only friend I have who’s published more after his death than before.’ ‘The same,’ I said, ‘will happen to you.’ ‘Oh no it won’t,’ he said, ‘Christopher [Tolkien’s son] will find that I left very little. In any event, he won’t know what to do with it.’ I can’t imagine anyone being proved so wrong. Christopher Tolkien has done his father immensely proud. Indeed, what Tolkien said about Lewis’ writings has proved far truer of his own works, for J. R. R. Tolkien has published far more since he died than before” (42:35).
[14] It should be noted here that not all of the Inklings were Christians, though the vast majority of them were. Even so, the Christians of the group still saw their activity in the group connected with the church’s broader mission.
[15] By localized society, I do not mean those institutional, often national and even international, business-like groups of Christians. By localized society, I mean those close-knit communities of believers who share their lives with each other, similar to a book club or Bible study group.
[16] Many other groups could have been surveyed to make the same point: There is something special that happens when groups of believers, as opposed to individuals, work together to accomplish Kingdom-work. I will mention one more, known today as the Haystack Prayer Meeting. In August 1806, five Congregationalist students from Williams College met in a field to discuss and pray for missions, particularly missions in Asia. A storm arose, and they took shelter, yet they continued to discuss and pray for missions. Many scholars today believe that their efforts have fueled the modern mission movement in Protestantism.
[17] Piper, 56.
[18] C. S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia, video documentary, directed by M. David Melvin (Walt Disney Co. DVD, 2006), Scene 5, 36:30.
[19] Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (New York, New York: The Library of America, 2004), 215.
[20] http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html. Accessed on 15 March 2011.
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