In March of this year I parked a rental car outside a comfortably spacious house in the south of England. Two Swedish friends and I were met at the door by an elderly man, but one clearly still full of energy, who welcomed us in and for the next few hours answered dozens of questions, opening up his life and experiences to his guests, two of whom he’d never met before. My friends, both church leaders, left saying it was one of the great privileges of their lives.
Most pastors will lead only a few churches in their lifetime, some may end up leading large churches, some may plant a few churches either personally or as a result of their leadership. Very few pastors will have a legacy that started with one small church and end with over 5000 churches in over 80 nations around the world. It is therefore a story worth telling, both of the man and the movement he eventually came to lead. In Building God’s House1 Andy Johnston tells the story of the life of Terry Virgo, and that of Newfrontiers.
From Terry’s upbringing in post-war Brighton, to his conversion in the 1950s, and including his early years of backsliding and guilt, his experience of baptism in the Spirit and call to evangelism, his time at Bible College and the influence of Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones and then through his years as a pastor first in Seaford and then in Brighton we come to learn about a man who loves Jesus, His word and His Presence and one who depends utterly on prayer for guidance and faith.
We also track the journey of the movement that is not yet 50 years old (1980 would seem to be the start date) from one church to a few churches on the south coast of England, to a growing movement. That movement gathered momentum first through Bible weeks, then through church planting and then through multiplication and decentralizing of leadership and is today far more than Terry could ever, quite honestly, have dreamed of. I know because he said so over lunch.
Johnston is a pastor within Newfrontiers so this is a very friendly, warm and enthusiastic account of the story. Those are probably the source for some of its weaknesses too. If you are, as I am, familiar with Newfrontiers then this charts very familiar territory but doesn’t particularly offer that much which is new. I’m not sure how different it is from Terry’s own No Well Worn Paths. It does offer more detail on Terry’s childhood, and being published 25 years later, has obviously more on the recent developments of Newfrontiers.
If you’re not familiar with either Terry or Newfrontiers then a number of key things are assumed but not always well explained. Many times, the grace of God in life and not just the doctrines of grace, are explained as fundamental to Terry’s ministry and preaching. No dispute there, but grace as something lived out is never well explained or defined. The most thorough explanation of grace comes on p.138.
However, it was the decade pastoring in Seaford from 1968 to 1978 which had led to an outworking of grace in Terry’s experience. Understanding and living out Romans 6 to 8 was life-transforming. The new believer has been buried with Christ through baptism and now lives a new resurrection life. They should not be weighed down, therefore, by guilt and feelings of condemnation but should, instead, live by an overflow of joy through the Holy Spirit, confirming their adoption as sons and daughters.
The believer has died to the law, which was a demanding and exacting husband who had the added ‘virtue’ of being right about everything all the time. Instead, the believer is now married to Christ, the most perfect and kindest of spouses. They are now therefore free from all condemnation knowing a free and full justification, a being made righteous, by a holy God through all that Jesus has achieved on the cross.
To which I can only say Amen. But the story of those early days in Newfrontiers was primarily one of Christians being changed through this preaching and Johnston never adequately explores why this emphasis on grace seemed new, powerful or freeing. What was being taught in evangelical churches or in what way did grace cash out in the life of Newfrontiers churches that combined with a personal experience of the Holy Spirit to feel so different?
The same issue is seen when it comes to the use of the word apostle. RT Kendall opens his foreword with a moment at Westminster Chapel in 1983 where Terry was faced with a hostile audience asking him questions about whether he was claiming to be an apostle of equal authority to Paul. Johnston opens chapter 11 with this same episode but we don’t ever really get an insight into whether Terry himself wrestled with this or what persuaded him, or why the Newfrontiers view of an apostle should be commended. Given that this remains a controversial idea for many evangelicals, it would have been worth offering up some deeper insights into that process. We don’t even really get an insight into how Terry felt about being so harshly confronted by so many evangelical leaders. And I wish we had.
Johnston also frequently hops around in his comments, jumping from something that happened at, say, a Downs Bible Week in the 1980s to something that happened decades later, and this commentary is sometimes quite in-house. I get it, but if you’re not in Newfrontiers you might not. It also robs the narrative of some of its power because we keep getting spoilers ahead of time.
Lastly, moments of crisis or of difficulty are dealt with at a surface level only. Take for example the experience of Newfrontiers in India which led to a parting of ways with the leadership that had been appointed by Terry. We are told that Terry told leaders in the UK about it ‘with tears in his eyes’ but we don’t get any insights from either Virgo or Johnston as to how such a difficult time was navigated. How did the Lord help Terry through? How did he wrestle with what to do and how to do it? What shaped how he thought about how to handle such a complicated situation in a land far away? As a result there is a missed opportunity to open up some of the lessons that Terry might have learned about himself as a leader. More importantly it would have been good to read about what these trials might have taught Terry about God.
Now this might seem as if I’m down on this book. I’m not. I know and love Terry personally, as well as other members of his close family. I know, and honour, many of the people mentioned in this book. And I’m an elder in a Newfrontiers church, and grateful to be so. Few things have been as shaping to me as being a part of this family of churches. I’ve been present at many of the events mentioned here since 2000 and so in many ways this book puts into writing the story of what I’ve given myself to. In lots of ways, I consider it to be my story too. And it is a remarkable story of God’s faithfulness.
Terry has always sought to build God’s house, because God loves the bride He has chosen for His Son. His example of reliance on God through prayer and His desire to daily meet and encounter God through His Spirit is truly inspiring. But I wonder if there are greater depths to discover in this story than this enjoyable read is ultimately able to tell us.
Further Reading
- Book Review: The Spirit Filled Church
- David Devenish on when Mark Driscoll caught Newfrontiers by surprise
- Book Review: Fathering Leaders, Motivating Mission
- Sent: By apostles
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