Christian Action Front

The History of Christian Action Front 1972-1977.

Christian Action Front was founded in 1972 by Michael Foster, Graham Timmins, David Shepherd and Roger Leitch. It resulted from a shared desire to evangelise amongst the teenagers of the town of Rugby. The Market Place Methodist Church allowed the group to use their School Rooms to provide a full time headquarters, which was staffed a good part of the week. The four founders were joined by others such as Andrew Kennedy and Thomas Watkins, who stepped into leadership positions vacated by David Shepherd and Roger Leitch. Still more joined but never took up a significant role in leadership. It was in effect a lay religious Community.

The members of the group came from a variety of Churches; Brethren, Church of England (Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical), Congregational, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Methodist, and Free Evangelical. The group would meet for prayer and tract distribution in the town centre. A weekly Coffee Bar was run on one evening and local teenagers invited to this. A variety of activities of attractions took place during the coffee bar; Christian Gospel Groups, Christian Films, and local Clergy as speakers. Which ever Christian befriended any of those who visited the coffee bar and took an interest was invited to go along to the hosts Church. The manned centre in the School Rooms open all ours of the night, would see visitors in those twighlight hours, especially those who had been on drugs who went on to become Christians.

It led to new members joining local Churches. As well as the dozens of non-christians attending the coffee-bar sessions, at least 100 + young Christians at one point or another had joined the group. The suggestion given by some Free Church Christian leaders was that the group should become a Church in its own rights. This was resisted by the main leaders of the group, two of which were loyal Anglicans. Other Church leaders discussed how they could take over the group.
The growth of the group stopped down due to a split over the issue of the Baptism of the Spirit, losing half its members to a new sect which had formed in the town, and which sought to mimic the groups success. The Rugby Chapel Fellowship, led by Iain Reynolds using a redundant building not many yards from the CAF Centre did not last more than a few years. Christian Action Front settled down to become the junior wing of the Rugby Council of Churches. Career moves by many of its members saw the remaining group disappear. By 1976, the formal group had ended, with Thomas Watkins as the last leader. Tom went on to become a Policeman in Birmingham, and had married Sue Height another member of the group.

It is stated that a religious Order, remains in being until the death of its last member. Many of the members still carry the great vision of what had been achieved within them, and through them, in what was a remarkable work, blessed by God, and in their own way, and in their own Churches, they continue that evangelistic work.

One member went on to become a Minister, and some of this work is reflected in his career as a Priest in the Church of England.