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Terry Virgo

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Terry Virgo
Born (1940-02-20) February 20, 1940 (age 86)[citation needed]
EducationLondon Bible College
OccupationsChurch pastor, leader, preacher
Known forfounding of the New Frontiers International (Newfrontiers) church network
Spouse
Wendy Virgo
​
(m. 1968)​
[1]
Children5
ReligionChristianity, evangelical, neocharismatic
ChurchNewfrontiers network
WritingsRestoration in the Church (1985); Start: An Interactive Study Guide... (1999)
Congregations served
Evangelical Free Church, Seaford, East Sussex (1968-1979);[1] Church of Christ the King (CCK, now Emmanuel at The Clarendon Centre), in Brighton;[2][better source needed][when?] Newfrontiers' Kings Church, Kingston-upon-Thames.[3][better source needed]
Offices held
Pastor,[1] Apostle[4]
Websiteterryvirgo.org

Terry Virgo is the founder of the Newfrontiers family of neocharismatic evangelical churches. As of 2002 he was considered a prominent leader in the British New Church Movement, formerly known as the House Church Movement.[5][page needed]

Early life and education

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Terry Virgo was not brought up in a believing home, though he was sent to Sunday school at both a high Anglican church, and a low Presbyterian Church, where he "never heard the gospel."[6] When Virgo was 16, his sister became a believer, and through her, he too was touched by God and "got down on his knees and began to weep."[6] At first, he went to an Anglican Church, but then visited Holland Road Baptist Church, about which he said, "the moment I went through the door, I realised that these people had got what I had."[6]

Virgo studied at London Bible College.[1]

Career

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Pastoral positions

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In 1968, Virgo was invited to lead a new Evangelical Free Church in Seaford, East Sussex; he would remain in Seaford for the next eleven years (until 1979).[1]

Newfrontiers

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Virgo established Newfrontiers International, a network of British Reformed-Charismatic churches.[7] It began in 1980 as Coastlands and was renamed New Frontiers in 1986.[8] By the end of the 1990s, per scholarly report in 2005, Newfrontiers had become the largest group of Apostolic churches (New Churches) in the United Kingdom.[9] Newfrontiers used week-long conferences, known as "Bible weeks" as an important strategy for growth and the development of its identity; known originally as Downs Bible Weeks, and running for a decade from 1979, the program gathered up to 20,000 people at its height.[4]: p.18 [verification needed]

Views

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Virgo has been called "a sort of elder statesman of Calvinist continuationists".[10] Church historian Derryck Lovegrove has observed that Virgo has "enjoyed a powerful personal hegemony," referring to Virgo's influence both within his own movement, and the wider British New Church Movement.[11]

According to Restoring the Kingdom by Andrew Walker, "Virgo thinks that restoration of apostles is the most important and distinctive feature of Restoration."[4]: 32, 153 

Virgo holds to a complementarian view of gender roles.[12]

Personal life

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Virgo married his wife, Wendy, in 1968.[1] After marrying, the two established their home in Seaford, East Sussex, where they remained for the next eleven years (until 1979), after which they moved to Brighton and Hove, where, as of 2013, they still resided.[1]

Published works

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  1. Virgo, Terry (1985). Restoration in the Church. Cleveland, TN: Kingsway. ISBN 0860653870.
  2. —, — (2001). No Well Worn Paths. Cleveland, TN: Kingsway. ISBN 978-0854769902. [Virgo autobiography.]
  3. —, — (2007) [1999]. Start: An Interactive Study Guide to Help Christians Grow in Their Faith. Cleveland, TN: Kingsway. ISBN 9781842913703.

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Buckeridge, John (18 December 2013). "Terry Virgo: 'I Still Pray for Revival'". Premier Christianity (PremierChristianity.com). Retrieved 26 June 2026.
  2. ↑ Virgo, Terry & CCK Staff (24 July 2011). "Leadership". Church of Christ the King (CCK; CCK.org.uk). Brighton, England: CCK. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Virgo, Terry. "Moving to Kingston" (personal webpage). Terry Virgo website (TerryVirgo.org). Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 Walker, Andrew (1998) [1985]. Restoring the Kingdom (2nd ed.). London, England: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 034037280X. The first edition of this work was published in Guildford, England by Eagle, ISBN 034051406X.
  5. ↑ Hocken, P.D. (2002). "Terry Virgo". The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 9780-310224815.
  6. 1 2 3 Hewitt, Brian (1995). Doing a New Thing?. London, England: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 68–70. ISBN 0340630132.
  7. ↑ Kay, William; Dyer, Anne (20 September 2011). European Pentecostalism. Brill. p. 147. ISBN 978-90-04-21636-5.
  8. ↑ Jeffery, Sam; Kay, William K. (21 September 2018). "London's new churches: the example of the Newfrontiers network". In Goodhew, David; Cooper, Anthony-Paul (eds.). The Desecularisation of the City: London’s Churches, 1980 to the Present. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-16774-1.
  9. ↑ Kay, William K.; Dyer, Anne E. (2005). "Apostolic Networks in the UK: The Dynamics of Growth" (PDF). Journal of the European Pentecostal Association. 25: 25–38.
  10. ↑ McCracken, Brett (21 December 2017). "Rise of Reformed Charismatics". Christianity Today. Retrieved 22 June 2026. Newfrontiers, a network of global "apostolic spheres," has planted hundreds of churches over the last 30 years, many of which fit the Reformed charismatic mold. The movement's founder, Terry Virgo, a British pastor, serves as a sort of elder statesman of Calvinist continuationists and authored the book The Spirit-Filled Church.
  11. ↑ Lovegrove, Derryck W. (2002). The Rise of the Laity in Evangelical Protestantism. London: Routledge. p. 258. ISBN 0-415-27192-4.
  12. ↑ Storms, Sam (2012). "Women in Ministry in the Vineyard USA". The Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. 12 (2). Louisville, Ky.: The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW). Archived from the original on 22 February 2012..

Further reading

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  • Hocken, P. D. (2002). "Terry Virgo". The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 9780-310224815.
  • Kay, William K. (2007), Apostolic Networks in Britain: New Ways of Being Church, Milton Keynes, England: Paternoster, ISBN 9781842274095.
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