Strangers & Aliens

Closing off yesterday's EMA, Vaughan Roberts spoke a little about Charles Simeon - this year marks 250 years since his birth (isn't 2009 a great year for anniversaries?). Free churchmen don't know enough about Charles Simeon IMHO. I asked a few worthies afterwards why they thought this was. Some interesting answers:

Dick Lucas: "because he was an Anglican eccentric as well as a great preacher and it's sometimes difficult to get beyond this..."
Vaughan Roberts: "because his writings [mainly his 21 volume horae homileticae, recently published electronically by Logos] are not particularly accessible..."

Nevertheless, there are other Anglicans who have similar difficulties that free churchmen still get on with - one thinks in particular about some of the Puritans. Vaughan made the following points about Simeon, using modern language to describe his position (and richly illustrating from his writings and life). He suggested Simeon would say:

Let the Bible speak
Get your message across
Expect opposition
Think strategically
Have a global vision
Be Bible Christians not party men
Stick at it

Good stuff. I have blogged before (a few years ago) on the Simeon Silhouettes, but they are worth mentioning again. They capture the kind of preacher Simeon was (and, for his time, something of a radical to use so much expression). Mark Meynell has got a few posted on his blog. Best place to see them is in Handley Moule's bio of Simeon. I hear Derek Prime is currently researching and writing another. Perhaps that will raise his profile this side of Establishment?