1872 - Anthony Norris Groves

Ottoman Empire (in present day Iraq) and India
1829 to 1852

Anthony Norris Groves and his wife, Mary, felt called to mission. He started training at Trinity College, Dublin, but began to question the Anglican understanding of Scriptures and withdrew. Still intent on becoming a missionary, Anthony, with his family, left for Baghdad in 1829, without the backing of a mission society. He is now known as the father of ‘faith mission’. The city of Baghdad was spiritually against the gospel, and civil war, famine, and plague were rife. These conditions resulted in the death of his wife, Mary, and their daughter. In 1833 he moved with his remaining two children to India, where he would serve until 1852. Anthony was an avid evangelist for mission. Through his encouragement, Mr and Mrs George Beer and Mr and Mrs William Bowden joined him in India.

This was the context in which Henry Groves, Anthony’s son grew up a child of a missionary who had experienced suffering, cost and isolation. Henry knew what it was to go out in faith, and he became, alongside John Maclean, one of the first editors of Echoes. From the desire to communicate the work of God overseas, and for the British Christian community to respond in support, the Missionary Echo magazine was born. Published in January 1872, the Missionary Echo was first issued to assemblies and individuals, often featuring letters from the Bowdens and Beers in India. The magazine in 1885 changed its name to Echoes of Service, and most recently to Echoes International following the merger with Interlink.

Anthony was an avid evangelist for mission