wfn.org | Original Wesley pulpit returns home

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 8, 1999       News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-71BP{596}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this story.

By Kathleen LaCamera*

BRISTOL, England (UMNS) -- The original pulpit belonging to John Wesley,
founder of Methodism, is back in its original home at the New Room in
Bristol for the first time since 1825.

The tale of the 170-year absence of the simple pine pulpit from Methodism's
first meeting house includes a sea captain, a sloop called the Henrietta,
and numerous Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist and other Free Church
congregations throughout North Wales.

Eventually, the pulpit turned up in a corner of the Bethel Wesleyan Chapel
of Holyhead, where in recent years it has been used as a place to put coats
for a congregation short on space but aware of the pulpit's special "Wesley"
connection.

Mark Topping, director of the New Room, said he is delighted to have the
pulpit back in Bristol, especially because there are precious few items that
this church founder and famous traveling evangelist actually owned. 

"He used other people's things, which makes it hard if you are a museum,"
Topping explained. "We have his riding crop and a bed he used while in
Bristol, but actual possessions are few and far between, and we know about
most of them. We knew about this pulpit and that it was legitimately taken
away."  

A Welsh sea captain named Evan Lloyd worshiped at the New Room in 1829 and
sought permission to take Wesley's first pulpit back to Wales with him.

As part of an expansion of the original two-room New Room in 1748, a grander
pulpit had replaced the original. Seeing a use for pine pulpit -- which had
been sidelined by then for 90 years -- Evans packed it aboard his ship, the
Henrietta, and took it back to his small Calvinist Wesleyan congregation in
Penrhosfeilw (Pen-ross-veilou).

The congregation was meeting in a village schoolroom and needed a pulpit.
Evans later became a missionary, but the pulpit stayed until 1895.   

After that, the pulpit was passed from congregation to congregation
throughout the North Wales' Free Church communities; some were Methodist,
some were not. Topping and others think the physical and liturgical voyage
of the 260-year-old scruffy pine pulpit would have pleased Wesley himself,
because the preacher clearly  "liked being where the people are."  

For the last 16 years, the pulpit has been part of the Bethel Wesleyan
(Methodist) Chapel, overlooking the Irish Sea on Wale's northwest coast.
^From chapel windows, visitors can watch huge ferries set sail for Ireland
from the port of Holyhead.

In recent years, the pulpit found itself once again in a corner because of
renovations that left only enough room for one pulpit for the 36-member
congregation. The chapel's pastor, the Rev. Christine Jones, felt it was "a
pity" that the pulpit had become a resting place for coats and made the
inquiries that finally led to its return to the New Room. 

Parishioners, including chapel steward and church historian Victor Williams,
agreed. Williams said he didn't know all the details of the chapel's history
because he had "only been a member for 40 years." He said he was sorry to
see the pulpit go, but he admitted that the congregation had not made enough
use of it. He also remembered that at some point a church member had put "a
little 
varnish on it."  

Back at the New Room, Topping and his colleagues are just happy to have the
missing pulpit back -- varnish or no varnish.

"We're lucky, as poorly made as (this pulpit) is, that it was never used for
firewood...," he said. "That it was looked after so well for so long
reflects Wesley's powerful influence across the Christian tradition. There
is great respect for him."

News of the pulpit's return on Oct. 29 has received attention from national
television, radio and newspapers in Britain. An official "marking" of the
pulpit's return is planned on May 24, the annual Wesley Day celebration at
the New Room.

For more information, contact: The New Room, 36 The Horsefair, Bristol, BS 1
3JE, UK, or send an e-mail to director@charleswesley.freeserve.co.uk. 

# # #

* LaCamera is a UMNS correspondent based in England.

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United Methodist News Service
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