Cotswold Terrace at the University of Bath UK

Almost every story or revival is the story of a place that has been changed by divine activity. As I reflect on God’s love for places I think of locations I have encountered through the years that in some way appear to have been impacted by the presence of a community of faith and prayer – to such an extent that people can feel the influence and a sense of divine presence, simply by entering the location.

I remember reading the account of a Fleet Street journalist sent to report on the 1904 Welsh Revival. He said that as soon as the train crossed the border into the Principality of Wales the atmosphere shifted. He wrote: “It was like entering a haunted house!” Perhaps that’s not the feeling we would expect to associate with a place of Christian revival, but it echoed the descriptions of the feeling of being on the Hebrides during the Hebrides revival.

Maybe more familiar is the feeling of warmth and peace that people often report when they enter a prayerful home or a place of worship. In my own life I have witnessed the power of that peace in a room, in a house, at an agricultural college which mysteriously sent people into Christian ministry. If you see me, ask me, andI will be delightd to tell you these stories. But my first awareness that God might sanctify a place for a particular purpose was at the University of Bath.

Ffald Y Brenin – a retreat centre in Wales. A story worth
knowing. Read about it in the book “The Grace Outpouring”.

I spent my first year at Bath University living in a humble shoebox of a room in a hall of residence on campus, 93, Cotswold Terrace! At the end of the year some friends came and helped me pack up my room and cart my stuff back home for the summer recess. Surveying the empty room we were all gripped with an idea that was quite novel to us. We felt that we needed to bless the room and “give it back to God.” This wasn’t part of our theology and we didn’t really have any language for it. We just knew that under my stewardship the room had been a place of warmth, hospitality, and intentional ministry to others. We simply prayed that that would continue; that the room would continue to be at the Lord’s disposal that way. “And,” we said, “If the person who get’s the room next year isn’t a believer, may your presence here turn their thoughts to you and send people to the room to share the Gospel with them and bring them to a knowledge  and assurance of your love. Then use the room again for your wonderful purposes. Amen.” That was the gist of it.

I didn’t think any more of it until a year later I was visiting the Christian Union at Bath Uni one Friday evening. I got chatting to a young student by the name of Owen – Owen Griffith. I soon realized that he was a fairly new believer. “When did you become a believer?” I asked him. “Oh it was just after I moved onto campus really,” he said.

“Yes,” he continued. “I moved into my room and just began thinking about God. Then after a week some people visited the room and asked if I wanted to come to the Christian Union to find out about God. So I said yes. I came along and they introduced me to a church where I found believers who I could tell had something real. That was how I became a follower of Jesus, and that’s how I came to know God.”

“And which room was that?” I asked him.

“93, Cotswold Terrace.”

Of course I lit up and told him, “Owen, there’s a reason all that happened!”

And so I relayed the story.

“Well, we have to go back and do it again!” said Owen.

I felt this might be pushing our luck but I didn’t want to dampen the enthusiasm of a new convert. So we went back to the room and repeated the prayer of a year before.

A corner of the University of Nottingham – the Trent Building
Home to the Theology Faculty

I didn’t think any more of it until a full five years later. At that time I was studying at the other end of the country in the city of Nottingham. I was studying at St John’s Theological College in Bramcote, but to balance my social life I had adopted a hall of residence at the campus of the University that was home to our degree faculty. There I befriended Donald. One evening I was enjoying an evening beer with Donald –  my friend – and with an out of town friend of my friend and a friend of the friend of my friend. And I shared the story I just shared with you.

When I concluded, the friend of the friend of my friend said, “And the person who had the room after Owen? He found God too?”

He seemed to be willing me onto the next episode of the adventure.

“Oh I don’t know,” I told him. “That’s as far as my knowledge extends.”

That’s when he blew my mind.

“No,” he said. “I am telling you. The person who had the room after Owen also found God. I know because that’s who introduced me to Jesus!”

My mind was blown, only that the Spirit or presnece of God could impact a place in such an amazing way, but by the improbability of somany synchronicities leading a friend of a friend of a friend travelling all this way, unkowingly to tell me the  me the end of this amazing story!! Since that time I have always made a point of dedicating the places where I live and work  – the land and the buildings – and I have seen wonderful fruit from the practice. I have so many stories!

How then to theologize it?? Perhaps it is simply a story of the power of God responding to prayer. Maybe it is just a micro-example of the phenomenon of revival – bearing in mind that almost every revival appears – at one level – to be the story of a place altered by the present activity of the Spirit of God.

My experience with 93 Cotswold Terrace has given me an awe for places and their power to enter into human stories like this one. I have seen even more amazing things since. If you see me, ask me about the Green Room in Southsea, Omega House in Somers Town, Knoke Avenue in Gordon, Benton Road in Healesville and the Healing of Waters in Location X and I will be happy to tell you. (Click here for the story of the Healing of Waters in Location X)

Owen & me – catching up after a 31 year gap
September 2016

In September 2016 it was a great joy to catch up again with Owen and tell each other the story that connects our respective journeys of faith. He was 19 when we last met face to face. When we met again he was 50. Who can tell what other stories may have flowed from that moment back on campus at the University of Bath?! One day we must meet up with the friend of a friend of my friend and maybe we will learn a little more of the wonderful ways of the Divine Presence, the Spirit of God.