AMAZING CONVERSIONS
John Ashworth and his strange tales
Tentmaker Publications. 311 pages. £13.95
ISBN 978 1 901 670 905
Today the evangelical church in Britain wrings its hands over its failure to reach the working classes and the poorer members of society. This was not the case in previous centuries and John Ashworth (1813-1872) sets us a wonderful example of how it’s done.
He set up a ‘Chapel for the Destitute’ in 19th-century industrial Rochdale. Walking the rough and dreary back streets, he would seek out the lonely, the needy and the notorious and invite them to come to church. He preached to them and did what he could, often at his own expense, to care for them.
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