Rood Lane Methodist Chapel

A few years ago, the circuit received an enquiry from a man who was both the great grandson of John Hopkins and the great great grandson of John Norris, two of the four founders of the original Rood Lane Sunday School, built around 1860.  Mr John Norris Hopkins lives in the USA,  where his grandfather emigrated in 1896.  Following up Mr Hopkins's enquiry, we were given the following eyebrow-raising story from Doris Tagell of the current Rood Lane Chapel.

By today's standards, it seems that the four founders were decidedly zealous about their faith and about their wish to improve the lot of the many poor children in that part of town.  It seems that they were also faced with apathy, if not antipathy, from those they wished to save.  

So, our four heroes formed a posse.  One of their number would stay in the Sunday school to act as a guard.  The other three would roam the neighbourhood and collar as many needy souls as they could find. They would escort back the youngsters to the guardian at the church, where the Christian message and Christian charity would be dispensed.

The active missionary approach seems to have worked.  There were 100 or more Sundays scholars until the 1930s.  Is there something we can learn from this?!