The author is Rector of St. James’, Piccadilly. On the face of it his is a remarkable success story. When he went to the church in 1980 it was threatened with closure, while today it is well filled every Sunday, and in this respect one is reminded of the late David Watson, although theologically the two men have little in common. He says of his book that it is ‘in part, autobiography, part reflection on a city-centre ministry, but mostly a plea to the churches … to move out of the shadows and to join those who are actively working for a safer world for their children and future generations.’ He wears his heart on his sleeve and is quite frank in what he says both about himself and others, so that the reader feels she (the author will approve of that!) has got to know the man during his journey though his book.
I read it just after completing for another journal a review of Oliver Barclay’s book, Evangelicalism in Britain: 1935–1995, and was struck by the great contrast between them.
Donald Reeves is certainly not an evangelical. In fact, he would regard such a description as anything but complimentary. His church would fit the old ‘Broad Church’ designation and find itself distinctly to the left even of that, for it has a ‘New Age’ reputation. Yet, for all that, despite many things that I could profoundly disagree with, I am thankful I have read this book.
Donald Reeves begins by telling the story of his life and his spiritual pilgrimage. Then he deals successively with knowing God, with the need for a ‘public’ society in which the church is prepared to participate, the inner life as the key to effective leadership, the proper function of ritual and of the Bible, the male/female issue, and the creation of ecologically active communities.
He had quite a turbulent spiritual pilgrimage, from a totally unreligious background through an unhelpful early encounter with Evangelicalism and an atheistic phase to a position not easy to classify, except perhaps as ‘open’, certainly Pluralist and with some tendencies towards a type of nature mysticism with New Age overtones.
He does have some things to say, however, that evangelicals need to hear. He says that the church should be concerned about the dispossessed, the mentally ill who are homeless, and threats to the environment; it must not confuse management with leadership and must give the supreme place to the inner life of the leader; it needs to give the Decalogue serious attention, to learn from the Jewish tradition and the Holocaust and to find a place for the Biblical passages of lamentation in its worship and its spirituality.
His chapter on Scripture is the most helpful, for he stresses the great importance of imaginative reading and listening that allows the text to penetrate us to the core of our being. He bemoans the fact that so few preachers have a real dedication, passion and love for the Bible. For years it had little place in his life and was most unattractive to him, but now, he says, ‘I have come to love the Bible’.
