Oxford Group

rdf:langString Oxford Group

rdf:langString The Oxford Group was a Christian organization (first known as First Century Christian Fellowship) founded by the American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. Further, Buchman believed that the solution to living with fear and selfishness was to "surrender one's life over to God's plan". Buchman had had a conversion experience in an evangelical chapel in Keswick, England, when he attended a decisive sermon by Jessie Penn-Lewis in the course of the 1908 Keswick Convention. Later, but to him as result of that experience, he would, when resigning a part-time post at Hartford Seminary in 1921, found a movement called First Century Christian Fellowship. By 1928 the Fellowship had come to be known as The Oxford Group or Oxford Groups. The Oxford Group enjoyed wide popularity and success in the 1930s. In 1932 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, in summing up a discussion of The Oxford Groups with his Diocesan Bishops, said, "There is a gift here of which the church is manifestly in need." Two years later the Archbishop of York, William Temple paid tribute to The Oxford Groups "which are being used to demonstrate the power of God to change lives and give to personal witness its place in true discipleship". The tenets and practices of an American Oxford Group greatly influenced the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. While not the only alcoholic to get sober in an Oxford Group, Ebby Thacher’s sobriety led to Bill Wilson’s. Eventually, Bill Wilson's efforts to carry the "spiritual solution" of the Group to suffering alcoholics led to Dr. Bob’s sobriety in 1935. Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob shortly after founded Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). In 1938, Buchman proclaimed a need for "moral re-armament" and that expression became the Oxford Groups movement's new name. Buchman headed the Moral Re-Armament for 23 years until his retirement in 1961. In 2001 the movement was renamed Initiatives of Change.