This year, Bunyan Meeting Church in Bedford is celebrating the 350th anniversary of settling on the present site, where the church still worships today. You can learn more from ‘Bunyan Meeting: a church planted in fertile soil, see one of the Bunyan Hidden Highlights (see Independent Church | Bedford | Bunyan Meeting).
By the 1670s (350 years ago), Bedford already had a strong tradition of Independence. The town was a parliamentary stronghold during the English Civil War: in fact, John Bunyan himself served in the Parliamentary army in nearby Newport Pagnell. As early as 1650, a nonconformist congregation gathered under the ministry of John Gifford, whom Bunyan depicts in the character of Evangelist in The Pilgrim’s Progress. In 1660, with King Charles II restored to the throne, it became illegal to worship, except in conformity to the Church of England.
Suddenly, the congregation found itself homeless and persecuted. They began meeting in the homes of church members or in the surrounding villages - always in fear of discovery. These secret church services were frequently broken up, and the members had to flee at a moment’s notice. John Bunyan, among others, was imprisoned. In all, Bunyan was held in Bedford gaol for twelve years, about a third of his adult life.
While in prison, he famously wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, which became an instant success. By the time he died in 1688, it had run into eleven editions, and had already been translated into French, and Dutch, with a Welsh translation soon to follow. The John Bunyan Museum and Library, housed in Bunyan Meeting in Bedford, holds some 400 foreign language editions of his writings, including 200 translations of The Pilgrim’s Progress.
About halfway through his time in gaol, he wrote his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. In it, rather chillingly, he comments: ‘Before I came to prison, I saw what was coming, and had especially two considerations warm upon my heart; the first was, how to be able to endure should my imprisonment be long and tedious; the second was, how to be able to encounter death should that be my portion.’ How many religious or political prisoners have echoed those thoughts in the generations since?
Reprieve came in 1672, with legislation permitting nonconformists to worship without fear of persecution. John Bunyan was released from prison and he and his fellow leaders lost no time in locating and purchasing an orchard with a barn in which they could worship. The barn was successfully licensed as a place of worship, and the church called John Bunyan to be its minister.
At last the church had its own home, on the site where the present congregation still worships and serves God among the community of Bedford, as it has done for 350 years. And this is what we are celebrating. The Archbishop of Canterbury will be preaching at a service this coming Sunday, and there is a whole series of events through this summer and autumn.
God of time and eternity,
We praise you for Christians whose true valour inspires us today;
we thank you for writers, whose words give constant strength
in the face of discouragement;
we pray for all those who are imprisoned or persecuted for their beliefs;
and we pray that, without fear of what others may say about us,
and with undaunted spirit,
each of your people may labour night and day,
to be a pilgrim.
(prayer based on words from John Bunyan’s poem, now a hymn: ‘Who would true valour see’).
Janet Wootton