Episode 11: Peter Meadows

Interview Date: 1 December 2020. Interviewer: Dr Jason Clark. Research and questions by Dr Simon Machin.

Few Christians have had as much influence upon the public presentation of Christianity in The United Kingdom over the last fifty years, often from behind the scenes, as Peter Meadows. An expert in communications, Peter Meadows brought his knowledge of printing techniques in the 1960s to help Musical Gospel Outreach develop into Buzz magazine, leading to a quiet revolution in the music deemed acceptable in the British churches and modernising its youth culture. Later in the decade, he helped a newly-formed NGO find its marketing pitch and name as Tearfund. Since then he has found "creative solutions to complex problems” in the development of Spring Harvest and in the political campaigning that paved the way for Premier Christian Radio. At the time of the interview in December 2020, Peter was Director of AfterWorkNet, which has been set up to help retirees make the most of the opportunities which lie ahead.

Peter Meadows - Timed Interview Summary

0:00 - 22:47

Family background, on mother’s side, a Jewish family of fur traders, moving from Germany to Canada to the port of Liverpool England, then to Plymouth where Peter’s grandfather married a Protestant woman, ran a successful business but went bankrupt. On father’s side, descended from unchurched publicans and sportsmen in the Surrey village of Bookham. Peter’s emotionally distant father, naturally gifted in many ways, dies of cancer aged 52. Family held together by ‘salt of the earth’ mother, who manages somehow to leave council housing and buy a property. Grows up as a child in an environment dominated by women, with no masculine mentors. Seeks affirmation at grammar school by being the class clown.  Potential is not spotted by teachers and he leaves with only an Art ‘O’ level.

22:48 - 30:55

Memories of being a teenager. London is still recovering from the Second World War with bombed-out buildings, housing shortages and rationing, but everyone makes the most of it. In Peter’s estimation the war was harder than Covid-19 has been. Father had been amongst the soldiers who liberated Belsen concentration camp. After the drabness of the Fifties, the Sixties were exciting with television opening eyes with the arrival of Skiffle, Elvis, the Beatles and fashion in Mary Quant. Old rules are broken.

30:56 – 42:58

Experience of church. Mother was personally devout, saying prayers at night, but the family was unchurched. Peter always believed in a Creator, but as to his shortcomings, believes he can talk God round. Goes on a caravan holiday with some mates and encountered a caravan of Christian girls. Sees a friend become a Christian overnight and his foul language disappears the following morning. Back home Peter starts to attend a very good youth group run by a family who have influenced the girls in the caravan. Becomes a Christian and starts to encounter strong, male mentors.

42:59 - 48:29

Work. Joins advertising agency at 16. Gets valuable training, absorbs the trade and realizes that although it was not detected at school, he has creative talent. With advertising campaigns, he learns the value of saying, “We can do better”.

48:30 - 1:13:39

Youth culture. Like other young Christian social entrepreneurs Joel Edwards and Steve Chalke, Peter faces a church culture stuck in the mould of the hymn-prayer sandwich. Despite a suspicion of secular rock music amongst older Christian leaders, at the grass roots, church music groups start to emerge as echoes of the Shadows and the Beatles. This leads to a large and still-unchronicled growth of coffee-bar evangelism. The emerging music groups learn of each other across the country and form networks. The Music Gospel Outreach starts as a newsletter to promote this network and somebody has the bright idea of turning it into a magazine which people will pay for. Buzz magazine is born. Peter and his associates are regarded as rebels, but they are really just exploring the culture that they have grown up in. Training days are held in London. A record company is formed. The group behind Buzz experiments and adds a theology cutout. Using a recent printing shift from typesetting to lithography, Buzz is typed with electronic ribbons. Drawings become affordable. A survey of Christian attitudes to sex proves controversial, even though it is mild by current standards. The magazine’s founders go their separate ways and Buzz is bought out of the MGO stable.

1:13:40 - 1:35:43

Marriage and fatherhood. Meets Rosie who is in Manchester, studying drama. Rosie does the make up for a Cliff Richard concert, she meets Peter, they fall in love, marry and have children. Enjoys fatherhood despite having no paternal experience to fall back to. Rosie is remarkably social. She and Peter make strong connections with unchurched families and pioneer community evangelism within their church communities. Rosie is diagnosed with thyroid cancer in her early thirties with only a 6-month prognosis. Suffers depression. Pastoral support from their church leaders is very poor, but Rosie and Peter understand that God does not change. They move to an Anglican church, where they are properly supported. Peter is burnt out from work and home and needs to switch off for a month. He writes a book about the experience.   

1:35:44 - 1:43:41

Tearfund. A growing social conscience and understanding of global poverty amongst evangelicals leads to donations being given to the Evangelical Alliance.  Its leaders realize that a separate relief fund needs to be set up.  Images of starving children on television from the Biafran war in Nigeria galvanize evangelical giving. Peter saves The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund from being called Earfund by utilizing the T of The. He also coins the slogan “You Can’t Eat Prayer” to the consternation of older supporters.   

1:43:42 - 1:48:04

Lausanne Conference. A big international gathering of evangelical Christians takes place at the Lausanne Conference of World Evangelization. The evangelical hierarchy in the UK largely boycotts the conference, so what Peter refers to the “B team”, including himself, has the opportunity to attend. He encounters what he regards as revolutionary thinking about people groups, the “prayer, care and share” Gospel and understanding how to position the unchurched on the Engel Scale.

1:48:05 - 2:05:31

Spring Harvest and ecumenical networking. Visiting a small Christian holiday camp to deliver promotional material for a separate project, Peter spots the potential of using Butlins or similar establishments for a Christian Festival. He comes to realise that his essential gift is to find things that are not working very well and then discover how to make them work. The idea for Spring Harvest is born. The unsung heroes of the early festivals are the businessmen who mortgage their homes to provide funding. Spring Harvest takes off, grows and eventually is recognized by having BBC’s Songs of Praise visit to record a service. At its peak, over 80,000 people attend annually. The leadership team, including Peter Meadows and Clive Calver, deliberately create sessions which put together speakers with different theological approaches.  One speaker who stands out to Peter is Tony Campolo who preaches a form of social justice which emphasizes structural sin and corporate responsibility. There has been a sea change in evangelicals accepting their social responsibilities, and Peter likes to think that Spring Harvest was part of that wave. Spring Harvest also cross-pollinates worship styles across the churches and many songwriters and musicians feature. In particular, Clive Calver asks Graham Kendrick to write original songs linked to each festival’s theme. 

2:05:32 - 2:13:14

Reflections on 21st Century culture. During the days of Spring Harvest Peter believes that if you get increasing numbers attending big events, then the church nationally will grow. Looking back, he realizes that this is a modernist narrative. He now understands that the shift to post modernity is as big a jump as the move from a typographical to a televisual culture.  After a period of despondency, he has come to believe that a simpler Gospel built around praying, living, caring and doing will have an opportunity to influence the new culture. Alpha and Fresh Expressions are encouraging signs. He finds Mega Church discouraging. Instead the whole Body of Christ has to have an incremental impact. Covid-19 has taken away the church service. The development of Zoom meetings as a means of maintaining contact has provided the opportunity to develop the sort of genuine intimacy, which does not always follow from conversation at church. It’s really important to repeatedly ask fellow Christians the practical question, “How are you”?

2:13:15 - 2:25:33

Consultancy work, The Evangelical Alliance and the campaign to create a Christian radio station, Premier Radio. After Buzz, Peter works as a consultant on various projects, including being seconded to the Luis Palau Mission to London in the 1980s with the intention of ensuring that there is proper grassroots support in local churches as well as an effective media campaign. The Evangelical Alliance is one of his clients at the point at which the Conservative Government decides to deregulate radio to allow access by a wider community of interests, but excludes religious groups. Peter gets involved in lobbying and campaigning and, in the end, religious ownership is allowed.  Peter starts to ‘feel pregnant’ with something new and realizes that he has to give up some paying clients in his portfolio. Then comes to understand that what he wants to do is to set up a religious radio station for London. The first application is rejected, but Peter’s team is privately asked to reapply.  Succeeds on the second application, and Premier is now celebrating 25 years of service.  Peter leaves his management role with the organization after three months, and now realizes that he was ‘playing out of position’ in attempting to lead it.  He is delighted to see what a tremendous job Premier is doing.

2:25:34 - 2:30:30

Reflections on the role of mistakes in spiritual and organizational growth association. Peter has come to understand that everything starts with an individual’s DNA and working out what you are. Peter cannot do anything else but see opportunity and potential. He just has innate skills in marketing and communication, as a given. He is highly intuitive and has had to learn to help other people to ‘see’ possibilities with are obvious to him. But as a ‘thinker’ rather than a ‘feeler’ in the language of Myers-Briggs, he has had to learn how to give feedback diplomatically. He has also had to learn that he is a provisional thinker who can live with ambiguity while he develops his research understanding of a problem, when others may need more certainty.

2:30:31 - 2:39:29

Later career. After leaving Premier, Peter takes some time out and after 18 months he is approached by World Vision, an American relief and development agency. It turns out to be possibly the most rewarding period of his career. Although he dislikes formal education, he has already retained a great drive to continue to learn. He currently is Programme Director with AfterWorkNet, which exists to help actively retired Christians explore areas of service. The Baby Boomers broke the mould in attitudes to ageing. Peter believes that the church does a great job with Seniors, the generation which ‘never wore denim’, but is not so good with Baby Boomers, who mainly come to retirement with some financial provision and good health, and the capacity to start a new adventure.     

2:39:30 – 2:47:25

Advice to younger church leaders and final reflections. Everyone is dealt a hand of cards. Some get a strong hand, others get a weaker hand but it is our responsibility to play that hand as well as we can. Make Jesus the main thing. The Gospel stories are included in the Bible to tell us about Jesus. Build trusting relationships in which you are accountable, and be encouraging. Although he has continued to work and develop past retirement age, Peter is now at the point where he realizes that projects need to be in the hands of those who can run with them for some time. It is now about finishing well.