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THE MISSION SCENE IN BRITAIN

The articles In HORIZONS in May andJune 1985 about the work in Britain helpedfill in some details about the past quarter-century, but several recent changes in thepicture make an updated report necessary.In addition, some facts were apparentlymiscommunicated and some HORIZONSquestionnaires were left to collect dust onBritish desks, so a few corrections andadditions are in order to clarify the missionscene in Britain at the end of 1985.The Early Team Ministries

In 1970, a decade after Dean and BettyWegwart arrived in England, RogerEdrington and Darrell Brandon, students atLincoln Christian College, were invited towork for the summer at the Church of Christin Coventry. These two men returned thenext two summers as well, each time taking asmall team with them.

It was in 1973 that the first full-time teamministry ~ named in HORIZONS' June article (p. 6) ~ took up residence in Coventry.Coventry was the focus of American help inEngland for most of the 1970's, both for theevidence of a growing church, and for theopposition of the Churches of Christnational leaders who saw the team ministryas a threat to their hopes for unification withthe United Reformed Church. (Up to thistime, unification was presented as the onlyalternative to extinction in Britain; a growingchurch, no matter how small it started, butpaid to the theory that there was no otherhope.) A changing situation has sadlystopped the Coventry church's pace ofgrowth since the team ministry's departurein 1979.Springdale College

in 1977, Dr. Robert Wetzel, dean ofMilligan College on sabbatical inCambridge, came in contact with a group ofChristian businessmen called the ChristianRenewai Trust (CRT), a small organizationdedicated to keeping the restoration pleaalive in Britain. A major part of the strategywas to establish a new ministerial trainingcollege to replace the defunct OverdaieCollege. After this contact with the CRT, theBritish-American Feliowship Committeewas born in America. The CRT and BAFCcooperated to raise funds for the trainingcentre.

Dr. Wetzel moved near the site of the oldcollege in Birmingham in June 1980, to openthe doors of the Christian Centre for Studyand Growth, an embryonic institutionloosely connected with the long-establishedand well-respected Belly Oak Federation ofColleges. Harold and Rosalyn Merritt, whohad been ministering at the Bursiem, Stoke-on-Trent, church, joined the faculty from thestart. The first classes met in Dr. and Mrs.Wetzel's living room, and the office was a

8 spare bedroom. It soon grew into rented

by Jim Dahlman

office and library space at the Federation'scommon buildings.

In 1981, two years ahead of schedule, theCentre was granted full college status andbecame the tenth Selly Oak college:Springdale College. Jenny Case arrived atSpringdale in 1982 as the college'ssecretary. In August 1985, the Collegebought a fine mock-Tudor building atauction and suddenly the College hadclassroom and student living space it couldcall its own. The Springdale Collegebuilding should be ready for occupation inearly 1986.Church Ministries Updates

At West Bromwich, near Birmingham,Pete and Jan (Killebrew) Bowen are workingas a team with Phil and Helen Walker. Phil isthe first Springdale College graduate to beplaced in a British church, paid by BritishChristians.

Roger Edrington, having completed hiswork at the Erdington (Birmingham) church,used most of 1985 to complete his doctoratedegree from the University of Birmingham.He is now weighing his options for futureministry, either in Britain or in the UnitedStates.

Janet Baines continues to work at theHinckley, Leicestershire, church. She alsois known as a reliable free hand to work inseveral other areas of national work.

Curt and Linda Nordhielm, Rita Ide andGall Burns have recently overseen therenovation of the Tunbridge Wells church'sbuilding, and continue to work towards theKent town's spiritual renewal.

Scott and Cindy Schade have beenministering in Selston, Nottinghamshire,since June 1980, and that old church hasgrown substantially, especially in the pastyear.

Bob and Sue Hartman moved to Englandat the same time, going to a new church inthe Wigston Magna district of Leicester.That church, formed after the break over theUnited Reformed Church, is one of thefastest growing Churches of Christ inBritain.

Jim and Melissa Dahlman arrived inFebruary 1982, to work with the Platt BridgeChurch of Christ in Wigan. In 1984, Jim wasgiven a three-year appointment as editor ofChristian Fellowship, the national magazinefor the Fellowship of Churches of Christ.

Three churches received Americanministers in 1983: Larry and Carol Dallycame to Birkenhead, across the RiverMersey from Liverpool. This is Larry's firstfull-time ministry after serving as an elder atthe Central Christian Church in Mesa,Arizona.

Dan and Amy Yamell arrived to work witha new church in Redditch, Worcestershire, afast-growing town near Birmingham.

Dale and Lee Ann Winters went north tothe Scottish fishing village of Buckle. Theywere later joined by Sam and AlathelaBurton to form a team ministry which alsofor a time worked with the nearbyPortknockie church.

In 1984, Curt and Esther Flood arrivedfrom Oregon to work with the church inBursiem, a historical section of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Dick and Yvonne Stitt from Phoenix,Arizona, worked with the new TamworthChristian Feiiowship from September 1984to December 1985. Because of fundamentaldifferences over the philosophy of ministrywith another leader, they will be going toanother church in Britain in 1986. They willthen be joining the Hartmans, Yarnelis,Dahimans, Bowens, Nordhielms, Rita Ide,Gail Burns, and Janet Bains in producingThe Epistle from England, a co-operativenewsletter which originated in the days ofthe 1970's team ministries.

Several churches have benefitted throughshort-term ministries lasting from onemonth to one year. Bill and Judy Norrlsfollowed Grace and Milton Johnstone atBurnley, Lancashire. Burton and KatherlneDoyle worked for a year at Liversedge andMappleweil in Yorkshire. Ron and SheilaKelley served in 1985's summer at Kirkby-in-Furness in the Lake District of Cumbria.Many others have lectured at SpringdaleCollege over the past five years.

This is not the full picture, but just asummary of activity focused mainly onworkers with the Fellowship of Churches ofChrist. The Fellowship, with thirty-fivechurches and almost 1000 members, is oneof several co-operatives among Britishchurches which lay claim to restorationideals. The overall picture in Britain todayshows that only ten percent of the adultpopulation attends any church on a givenSunday ~ but even that is an increase over adecade ago. Other signs suggest that thechurch is waking up from a long slumber tochallenge the nation with the Gospel in away not seen since the great revivals of theearly nineteenth century. The church's lightis still a pinprick in the darkness of asecularized and neo-pagan Britain ~ butone which is growing in intensity and sizeevery day.

Jim Dahlman is from Tampa, Florida, andgraduated from Milligan College in 1980. Hemarried Melissa Roy from Paxton, Illinoisthat same year. Their only child, Sarah, wasborn in Wigan in 1983. Jim worked in youthministries in Tampa, Toronto, Ohio, andErwin, Tennessee before moving toEngland, where he ministers with the PlattBridge (Wigan) Church of Christ and editsChristian Fellowship magazine.

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