Anthony Norris Groves

Anthony Norris Groves (February 1 1795 – May 20 1853), has been described as the "father of faith missions". He launched the first Protestant mission to Arabic-speaking Muslims, and settled in Baghdad, now the capital of Iraq, and later in southern India. His ideas influenced a circle of friends who became leaders in the Brethren or Plymouth Brethren. Among these were J. N. Darby, J. V. Parnell, (Lord Congleton), and George Müller, who had married Groves's sister Mary.

The significance of A. N. Groves lies in his desire to simplify the task of churches and missions by returning to the methods of Christ and his apostles described in the New Testament. As a missionary, his goal was to help indigenous converts form their own churches without dependence on foreign training, authorisation or finance. His ideas eventually found wide acceptance in evangelical circles.

Biography

Early life

Groves was born in Newton Valance, Hampshire, England. Having trained as a dentist in London, he set up practice in Plymouth, at the age of 19. Two years later he married his cousin Mary Bethia Thompson, and moved to Exeter.

Call to missionary work

In 1826, while continuing his dentistry in Exeter, he enrolled as an external student of theology at Trinity College, Dublin, with a view to ordination in the Church of England and appointment with the Church Missionary Society. His study of the New Testament led him to believe that the practices of the early church should be considered a model for every age and culture, and this caused him to withdraw from Trinity college, from the CMS, and from the Anglican communion. He met with other Christian believers in private houses for study of the apostles' doctrine, and for fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer, as was the custom of the early church (Acts 2:42), without requiring the presence of any ordained minister. It was here that he met J. N. Darby and others who were later to become prominent leaders in the Plymouth Brethren movement. He became increasingly concerned with the drift of the Plymouth Brethren [* [http://www.bruederbewegung.de/pdf/grovesdarby.pdf Groves' famous "prophetic letter" to Darby expressing his concerns that the "brethren" were turning into another Christian denomination] ] towards sectarianism under the leadership of Darby and aligned himself with George Muller when the brethren split in 1848 to form the Open Brethren and Exclusive Brethren.

Missionary to Baghdad

In 1829 Groves and his wife Mary set out for Baghdad, together with their two young sons, Henry and Frank, and accompanied by several Christian friends, one of whom was John Kitto. A second party set out to join them the following year, including Francis William Newman and John Vesey Parnell. In March 1831 Baghdad entered upon a year of intense misery, with civil war, plague, floods and famine, in which Groves suffered the death of his wife and a recently born baby daughter.

Missionary to India

At this time, a revised charter granted to the East India Company opened the way for unrestricted Christian missionary work in India. On invitation from Colonel Arthur Cotton, in 1833, Groves visited widely among missionaries in India, and found open doors for the gospel in many parts of the country. In 1834 he accompanied the Scottish missionary educator Alexander Duff from Calcutta to Scotland, nursing him slowly back to health. Duff probably owed his life to Groves's attentions, as indeed did Arthur Cotton on an earlier occasion.

During his time in Britain, Groves married for a second time. His wife was Harriet Baynes. The wedding took place on 25th April 1835 at St Mary's Church, Great Malvern. She accompanied Groves when he returned to India in 1836. Groves was accompanied by John Kitto, Edward Cronin and John V Parnel (2nd Baron Congleton). Rejoined by his sons and others from Baghdad, he established a missionary team in Madras supported largely through his dentistry, and later a farm and mission settlement in Chittoor. He recruited a number of missionaries to assist existing efforts in several parts of India, and to pioneer new ventures, notably in the Godavari Delta and Tamilnadu.

Groves advocated the adoption of the New Testament as a manual of missionary methods. As a primitivist among missiologists, he predated the more celebrated Roland Allen by eighty years. One of Groves's Indian disciples was John Arulappan who adopted his principles. As a full-time evangelist, Arulappan lived "by faith" and stimulated the creation of a network of indigenous Indian fellowships. Groves's ideas were later taken up in India by descendants of Arulappan associated with Bakht Singh, and, in a Chinese context, by Watchman Nee.

Groves continued preaching and teaching in India until ill health forced him back to England in 1852. He passed into the presence of his Master in May 1853 in the home of his sister's husband George Müller. He considered his life a failure, and did not live long enough to see the worldwide impact of his ideas and example on a new generation of "faith missions" springing from the 1859-60 Revivals.

Influence

Author

In 1825, Groves wrote a small booklet Christian Devotedness, expounding Jesus's teaching concerning stewardship of material possessions. He exhorted all Christians to live economically, trusting God to supply their needs, and devoting their income to the cause of the Gospel. This booklet had a major impact upon George Müller, and through him on James Hudson Taylor (who soon after conversion attended the Kennington meeting where Edward Cronin was local) and many other significant Christian leaders.

Groves's early journals "Journal of a Residence in Baghdad" were edited by A.J. Scott and published by J.Nisbet, London in 1831 & 1832. After his death, his memoirs were published in 1856 by his widow Harriet Groves, under the title "Memoir of the late A.N. Groves, containing Extracts from his Letters and Journals".

Letters

Throughout his life, Groves corresponded with several prominent leaders of the early Brethren movement. His letters are a notable primary source for historians of the Plymouth Brethren.

Father of faith missions

The biography by R. B. Dann shows that Anthony Norris Groves may be rightly regarded as the "father of faith missions". By his example, he challenged much of previous thinking about the missionary task through his journeys to Persia and India which he undertook without the backing of the State or Church. Instead, he put into practice the Biblical principle of trusting God alone to supply his needs.

References

* Dann, Robert Bernard, "Father of Faith Missions : The Life and Times of Anthony Norris Groves", (Authentic Media, 2004), ISBN 1-884543-90-1
* Dann, Robert Bernard, "The Legacy of Anthony Norris Groves", (International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol.29, No.4, Oct. 2005)
* Dann, Robert Bernard, "The Primitivist Ecclesiology of Anthony Norris Groves: A radical influence on the nineteenth-century Protestant church in Britain", Trafford Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1-4251-0374-X
* Dann, Robert Bernard, "The Primitivist Missiology of Anthony Norris Groves: A radical influence on nineteenth-century Protestant mission" PhD thesis, University of Liverpool, 2006; Trafford Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1-4251-1001-0
* Groves, A. N., "Christian Devotedness" [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/d.haslam/groves/Anthony%20Norris%20Groves.htm] Lang, G. H., "Anthony Norris Groves: A Combined Study of a Man of God and of the Principles and Practice of the Brethren", reprint, 1988, [http://www.schoettlepublishing.com/catalog/lang.htm Schoettle Publishing Company]
* Groves, Harriet, "Memoir of the Late Anthony Norris Groves", ISBN 0-9656519-4-0
* Lang, G.H., "The History and Diaries of An Indian Christian: J.C.Aroolappen", U.S.A., Schoettle Publishing Co., Inc., 1988, [http://www.schoettlepublishing.com/catalog/lang.htm Schoettle Publishing Company]

Video

* "Anthony Norris Groves - the Quiet Trailblazer" [http://www.cta.uk.com/shop.asp?pid=164] , (2004), [http://www.cta.uk.com Christian Television Association] for [http://www.echoes.org.uk/ Echoes of Service]

External links

* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/d.haslam/groves/Anthony%20Norris%20Groves.htm "Christian Devotedness"] — transcribed from chapter V of "Anthony Norris Groves, Saint & Pioneer" by G.H. Lang. London, Thynne & Co. Ltd. 1939.
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/d.haslam/groves/AboutANG.htm Anthony Norris Groves (1795-1853)] — has some brief biographical data plus a bibliography relating to A. N. Groves, that includes a modern reprint of his "Memoirs".
* [http://www.bruederbewegung.de/pdf/grovesdarby.pdf Groves' famous "prophetic letter" to Darby showing his concerns that the "brethren" were becoming another Christian denomination]