new church life: jan uary/february 2015
to fill the post and promote Purley’s active use. Many ex-students, including
W. H. Acton’s children, undertook to give seven-year deeds of covenant to
ensure financial stability.
Within a couple of years Purley was ready for use and the Sunday School
teachers Summer School ran two sessions each summer. The young people
in the Midlands started a weekend school. It must be remembered that car
ownership was still quite low in Britain in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but by the ‘70s it
was common, and happily the first motorways all led toward Purley so people
could come from all over the country.
Philip Johnson died, but his wife and children launched a Family School
and W. H. Acton’s daughters helped launch the Autumn Studies for the retired.
By the ‘80s Purley was fully booked throughout the summer with all manner
of institutions, more or less promoting “Academy Ideals.”
So, indirectly Alfred Johnson’s seed did germinate through his son and
grandsons. Today his great-grandchildren participate in family schools, and
his great-great-grandchildren thoroughly enjoy them too. Alfred Johnson’s
seed turned out to be a hardy perennial.
Although Purley Chase was owned by Conference, they were very happy
to welcome its use by the General Church British Academy, now one of the
most regular bookings. That would certainly please Rudolf Tafel’s bipartisan
feelings, but the school that would please him most would be the annual
Ministers’ School, which is attended not only by Conference and General
Church ministers, but also by men from the Continent where Tafel was born
and had his roots.
He would love to attend such a school and, if invited, he would no doubt
be delighted to offer them a lecture: The Authority of the Writings.
Patrick L. Johnson was born in South Africa when his father
was Superintendent of the Conference Mission in Johannesburg.
Although raised in Conference, his family interacted with the
General Church through the Swedenborg Society and the Acton
family. He is a member of Conference in England but says,
“Somehow I got baptized into the General Church in Durban.”
He worked as an architect, specializing in historic buildings and
monuments. In retirement he edited the Conference magazine,
Lifeline, and later launched and still edits the Swedenborg
Society’s newsletter, Things Heard and Seen. He also compiled The Five Ages – Swedenborg’s
view of spiritual history. Mr. Johnson is married and has four children.
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