A year ago, on October 19th 2024, we held a launch event for Bunyan 400 in Bunyan Meeting Church and Hall, Bedford. We had set up a steering committee at the beginning of the year, and started to map out some ideas (well, in fact, about 150 ideas!), and plan for a launch event. To be honest, we didn’t know if anyone would be interested. Who would care about a seventeenth-century preacher? Who even knows who he is today?
In the event, we were overwhelmed by the response! The launch was a huge success, with representatives from Bedford Town and Borough, and a whole host of community organisations, plus immediate interest from national and global organisations. Many of those first responders are now listed as supporters of the Project on our new website, Bunyan 400 – Inform Inspire Engage, and there are more expressing interest every day!
Our thanks go to all those who have helped develop the Project since that amazing launch. Our Steering Committee has provided inspiration and wonderful expertise, plus a great deal of hard work. The launch itself drew on brilliant networkers and organisers, and was run by a whole army of capable volunteers. We have benefited from effective support at all levels, all the right skills at the right times, and overwhelming enthusiasm!
The last year has passed in a whirlwind of activity, setting up systems and structures of course, but also building up a whole network of people who are enthusiastic about celebrating the 400th anniversary of John Bunyan’s birth, not to forget the 350th anniversary of the publication of his most famous book, The Pilgrim’s Progress.
On the website, you can find the beginnings of a small number of projects and ideas, which are already taking off, even this far ahead of the anniversary year. Over the years, we have been recording hidden highlights of Bunyan’s life, as told in the John Bunyan Museum and Library in Bedford, all viewable on the website.
At the launch, you could already listen to the first paragraph of The Pilgrim’s Progress read in Burmese and Mara (the official language of Myanmar, and one of the many indigenous languages), and also in Czech, Greek, Flemish and Welsh.
That leaves a further 290+ languages which we know have translations of Bunyan’s major work! This is now an ongoing project, which we hope will undergird further research into language and translation. Here is a real opportunity to get involved. If you are interested in language or translation, please let us know. If you know anyone who would be willing to read that first paragraph in their own language, please get in touch with us.
Keep an eye on the website and newsletter to see when new languages are introduced. We have masses of plans for events leading up to, and during 2028: working with local schools, possibly a major community music event, a documentary (already under way), competitions – to write a hymn like ‘Who would true valour see’, or a story, like The Pilgrim’s Progress.
The Pilgrim’s Progress, of course tells the story of a journey of developing faith, from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City, through a landscape filled with dangers and temptations. We are also planning to build on existing tours in Bedford and the surrounding countryside, where people can look at the places that are thought to have inspired the story, and also trace Bunyan’s own life story. His story spreads far beyond the locality, and there are Bunyan trails around the country.
Lots of people are telling us about stained glass windows in chapels and churches, even Westminster Abbey, so we are talking to the Stained Glass Museum in Ely, whose curator (as it happens!) has just written a chapter on the subject in a forthcoming book: Global Bunyan and Visual Art. (London: Bloomsbury, autumn 2025).
And there is much, much more! We hope you will enjoy reading the first issue of our newsletter, and may want to get involved. You can do this by completing the form below or by visiting the Bunyan 400 website.
And please, tell all your friends!