The Broadcast

Its a pleasure to kick off our first interview chatting to Hugh Bourne.  Thanks Hugh for taking the time to chat.

So tell us a bit about yourself?

Hello David. Well, I’m Hugh. I’m 22 years old. I spent the first 19 years of my life living in a small village called Riseley in North Bedfordshire, and since then have been studying in Brighton, while my parents moved to a town called Hailsham, just near Eastbourne. During my time at University I was very involved with the Christian Union, being part of a campus mission team, and stuck into UCCF, the CU national fellowship. I’ve just graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in Internet Computing, and in a few weeks will begin working as a church apprentice in Brighton. In my spare time I make a bit of cash making websites, play cricket reasonably well and of course I have my blog http://www.hughbourne.co.uk/.

Tell us a bit about your blog, why did you start blogging?

I started blogging back in 2006. Really this was simply because I was a bit bored at University and wanted to chronicle my mundane life! Fortunately most of the posts from this time got lost in a transfer. But at the same time I started blogging about Christian things too – a diary of a mission trip I was on in Bulgaria, thoughts on the Atonement debate, the ups and downs of CU stuff, and of course those big questions that go round! I enjoyed writing, and researching and soon had a few people read it! I’ve tried to keep a mix of personal stuff, as well as writing to inform and promote – sometimes the stuff I write isn’t really for general consumption, it’s just somewhere for me to record my weird thoughts!

What is on your i-pod?

My entire music collection! Plus loads of sermon podcasts (Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Alistair Begg, Mark Dever etc.), and it’s still not full! More recently, listening to the Looked Upon album by Na Band (Sovereign Grace), and for a while have been following the sermon series on Luke by Matt Chandler, Village Church.

What books are by your bed?

So there’s a few books that have been on the go recently; Tim Keller – Reason for God, John Bunyan – Grace Abounding, Don Carson – Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, and I hope there’s a Bible somewhere nearby! I’ve got a few books for men to review soon on the blog, and will be doing some structured reading as part of my training at church – good times!

Tell us a bit about your testimony?

I had what in hindsight (didn’t feel like it at the time) was the great privilege of being raised in a Christian family – I’m a Vicar’s kid, so always went to church. Until my teenage years I had no interest in being in church for any spiritual reason, but had a few friends there, we’d mess about at the back of church together! I started going on summer camps (CYFA) with my youth leader, and at about the age of 16, the gospel made sense! I was at Colwyn Bay, the teaching scheme was going through the points of ‘Two Ways to Live’ (http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/). It was clear teaching – I understood that I was a sinner, and I needed a saviour, so gave my sin to Jesus! I believe my conversion was a long process, and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things happened, but looking back to this camp, I can say for sure that at this point I knew and believed the gospel. A few weeks ago I was back at the camp – as a leader! 

Living as a Christian now is hard! The doctrine of total depravity is true – and it can only make me humble when I see how bad and incapable I am. My conversion may have been a long process – but the process of sanctification is even longer… Good thing I’ve got Jesus really and his gospel of grace!

What church do you go to, what is it like?

When I’m at home I go to my dad’s church, a quite traditional, medium-sized Anglican church. There are not many people my age there, but I know that what is taught will be good and Biblical. As a student, and now working there, I’ve been part of Bishop Hannington Memorial Church in Brighton, well Hove actually. It’s a Church of England church (on the GAFCON side of the debate), mixed in style – quite traditional style in the mornings, but quite contemporary in the evenings. The church has two big focuses; teaching the Bible clearly and relevantly (usually preaching through a book), and world mission – the church is founded in the memory of James Hannington, a Bishop martyred in Uganda. There’s a students & 20s group of around 20-30 people which I’m part of, and I also help out with an outreach ministry to the many international students studying in the area.

So being in the Anglican church have you had much experience of Newfrontiers?

The main town near me growing up was Bedford – a New Frontiers hotspot! I think there are 4 churches in the town, I had friends at school and teachers who were members of those churches. I visited a couple of them – one I thought was pretty good, the other in my view not so. That was my first experience of NFI, and I guess also of Charismatic theology in action! Being based in Brighton more recently I have been along to CCK a few times and know many students and those involved in leading that ministry at the church. There are some things I love about this church, and a few that grind with me occasionally. Most recently I went along to the Brighton Leaders conference.

So what made you decide to go to the Together On A Mission Conference?

Very simply because Mark Driscoll was speaking.  I’d been following Driscoll since 2006 when he spoke at the Desiring God conference – I spent my days at Uni walking around Brighton listening to every Mark Driscoll sermon ever preached – sad I know. 

Tell us a bit about your Brighton Conference experience?

Generally I loved it. Here are the thoughts… (http://www.hughbourne.co.uk/2008/07/11/terry-virgo-acts-8-philip/).  Excellent music (lots of home grown song writers) and passionate congregational singing, made me happy. It was a genuine international movement - Christians from 52 nations! I enjoyed long preaching - conference preaches are usually longer anyway, but my experience is that NF guys will generally be 45mins+. I was excited by your vision to plant 1000 churches – soon, and see that a group of 4000 people produced an offering of over £1M to support that vision!

Did you attend any of the seminars?

I went to the Mark Driscoll seminars on Planting Radical Churches. Technically I wasn’t supposed to be at this one (Elders only), but I’d come to hear Driscoll so booked in! Most of what Mark said I’d heard before, but it was great to have a long time for Q&A. I think at times Driscoll struggled in realistically applying some of his thoughts to the UK situation, but he was great – honest, personal, and willing to say tough things! 

What was the most memorable moment of the conference?

I think it has to be Mark’s final talk addressing New Frontiers as a movement, honoring your founder and your future. Essentially he said – Terry Virgo’s getting old, you need a new leader and you need to plant more churches. Now I’m not a member of New Frontiers, but even I felt a little bit emotional hearing this and seeing the reaction in the auditorium.

Was there a moment you would rather forget?

I guess I had some skeptical thoughts about one of the main sessions and also some genuine questions on the use of spiritual gifts. I blogged rather negatively about a preach by David Stroud. I appreciate that he was giving a fairly topical conference message, but nevertheless I felt that he fell into the classic trap of misinterpreting and wrongly applying Old Testament narrative. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good speaker, encouraging, but I expected a better handling of the Bible from the man in-charge of the Newfrontiers UK team. 

As for spiritual gifts I suppose I’m a bit hung up on prophecy. I can remember two ‘prophecies’ given – the first was from PJ Smyth, he basically delivered a monologue from the Father speaking about the Son, it was beautiful, timely and saturated with scriptural references. I’m not sure I’d actually call this prophecy, but whatever it was, do more of this! The second one was from a Canadian guy, from a similar church network. Essentially he was delivering a prosperity message! Things are going to be great, you will receive favour and blessing from God (in the context of New Frontiers movement). How do we test such a word against scripture? I don’t know, and the fact that the word was so vague and speculative it’s hard to know where to start. I believe that God speaks today, through his word, by his Spirit, and that can be mediated in a number of ways and contexts – surely when God speaks it is not vague and speculative, but it comes with clarity and precision. I believe we see prophecy in action when the Bible is explained and applied to God’s people, that should be every week in the pulpit!

But the thing I really want to forget is the American couple behind me who were in ‘Holy Laughter’ throughout most of worship time, it’s just distracting!

Did any of those things hinder you being able to engage in the conference?

I guess I felt a bit left out not being part of the family, not knowing everyone, but that was also quite refreshing. The other big conference I go to is (New) Word Alive, and have done for the last 12 years, I seem to know every other person I walk past there, so it’s encouraging that the body of Christ is bigger and more diverse than ‘my circle’. But even within this big ‘family gathering’ there was loads of diversity, so I felt I could still join in as a guest.

Are you planning to come next year?

Entirely depends on who’s speaking. I hear Tim Keller is due to speak at a leaders event in February, I’d come and listen to him. Other recent conference speakers I would be less enthusiastic to hear!

You’ve got a soapbox and 100 words-preach to us.

I think Driscoll did that job! But…………..

• Don’t emphasise your distinctives, be Humble, emphasise the Gospel.
• Work with others, not all Anglicans are bad, some parachurch groups (UCCF – Christian Unions) are essential.
• Show the rest of the Church that you are genuinely Reformed and “Charismatic, with a seatbelt”.

Thanks Hugh.  We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

Some links from Hugh:

Bishop Hannington Church  -  http://www.bhmc.org.uk

UCCF  -  http://www.uccf.org.uk

Christian Union  -  http://www.uscu.org.uk