Alan Bartlett shares his thoughts on Humane Christianity

To download the WORD version of the notes from Alan Bartlett's talk on Humane Christianity click on the link below:

HUMANE CHRISTIANITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.30 p.m. on Monday 24 January at the Parkmore Hotel & Leisure Centre [map], 636 Yarm Rd, Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees.

Dave Tomlinson grew up in Liverpool, where he was part of a Brethren assembly.  In his mid teens he was taken to a charismatic group in Liverpool where he had what he describes as his first real spiritual experience – which led to the Brethren church asking him to leave.  He then became involved with the newly emerging 'house church’ movement, and met Pat to whom he was married in 1968.  Together they planted a church in Ripon, Yorkshire, and during the 1970’s Dave became a national leader among the house churches.

In 1975 he and Pat and their three children moved to Middlesbrough where they brought together three independent groups to form what is now Saint Aidan’s Fellowship.  During their nine years on Teesside Dave also developed a team of men and women, operating under the title of ‘Teamwork’, who ended up caring for around fifty churches in different parts of the country.

In 1984 the Tomlinsons and four other families headed south to set up a multi-racial church in Brixton.  Around the same time Dave joined forces with John Noble, Gerald Coates and Peter Fenwick to set up ‘Festival’, an annual event drawing together several thousand people, with the intention of encouraging greater socio-political involvement among the house churches.

Then, in 1988, after approximately twenty years of involvement with the house church movement, Dave and Pat felt it was time to step out and do something different.  So they set up ‘Holy Joe’s’, an unconventional Christian group meeting in a pub on Tuesday evenings.  The group drew together a mixture of the ‘un-churched’ and the ‘de-churched’.  Dave led Holy Joe’s for ten years, during which time many hundreds of people passed through the group.  Many of them found it to be a stepping-stone to a more positive relationship with the wider church.

In 1993, Dave studied for a Master’s Degree in Biblical Hermeneutics.  Then, reflecting on his own journey and listening to the concerns and experiences of others, in 1995 he published The Post-Evangelical which led to numerous public debates with evangelical leaders, and evoked hundreds of letters of appreciation from people who drew encouragement from Dave’s perspectives.

In 1997, after several conversations with the Bishop of London, and a short spell at Westcott House, an Anglican College in Cambridge, Dave was ordained in St Paul’s Cathedral. After a short spell of working as a chaplain at Mildmay Hospital (which treats people with HIV/AIDS), he was offered the incumbency at St Luke’s Church in Holloway, the church where the Greenbelt Festival was based.  St Luke’s is a growing community, and Dave says that he has never been happier or more content in his ministry.

Dave will share his journey to date, and answer questions.