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The is 90 years old this year, though that’s young compared with many other denominations. But it’s a good time to reflect on the development of Elim – its founding in 1915 and subsequent growth is an exciting story of faith. For both those new to Elim and long-time members who would like to know more about our past, Desmond Cartwright, the Movement’s official historian, takes us on a 90-year journey back to our roots…

‘They came to Elim’ Discovering the remarkable story of nine decades of Pentecostal witness

The man who under that they wanted more than George was also healed of a Above founded the Elim Pentecostal what some of the existing stammer and facial paralysis. Evan Roberts, the leader Church, (1889- churches were providing, and George, still in his early 20s, of the Welsh revival that brought the young 1962), was brought up in the they were not satisfied with the began doing a little preaching in George Jeffreys to faith Welsh Independent (Congrega- dry routine of orthodoxy or a some of the small mission halls tional) Church. He came to faith creeping liberalism. in around 1910. As he Main pic during the first period of the George and his older brother, began to develop in this, there Crystal Palace was packed Welsh Revival of 1904, when he Stephen, were first opposed to came increasing demands for his in 1936 as Pentecostals gathered for Elim’s ‘Coming was 15 years old. the Pentecostal manifestations ministry and this brought him of Age’ celebrations A few years later, after the into contact with the Pentecostal initial impact of the revival had The meetings continued Missionary Union (PMU). subsided, a new movement was for seven weeks and there Feeling the need for training, introduced into the Welsh valleys. were 130 converts as well he applied to the Council of the Though this was at first on a much as a number of people PMU who accepted him as a smaller scale, it contained some healed and baptised. candidate for missionary training of the features of the revival such at the Preston Bible School in as regular prayer meetings and when they were reported in November 1912. He was a times of seeking God – yet it still Wales in 1908. But when good student but only stayed for caused some controversy. Stephen’s son, Edward, spoke in a very short time – because he But this movement’s features tongues during a holiday in West left to help his brother. attracted the attention of some Wales, they were forced to Stephen, who was still of those who were known as examine the teaching more care- working as a miner, had been “the children of the revival”. fully and then both brothers were holding meetings near Swansea Many of these people discovered to share the same experience. over the Christmas and New

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Year holidays when a mini revival broke out. Quickly, he got in touch with George and asked for his help with the ministry. George willingly obliged. The meetings continued for seven weeks and there were 130 converts as well as a number of people healed and baptised in the . Soon, a Christian newspaper carried the headline, ‘Wales in the Dawn of Revival’. These were the first of a series of meetings that took George and Stephen to mid-Wales and Lon- don early in 1913. Stephen also held meetings in Llanelly, where he became pastor until 1920.

George Jeffreys met the group on 7th January 1915 in Knox’s Temper- ance Hotel… The Elim Movement was launched.

George, meanwhile, was in- vited to preach at the Pentecostal Convention in . It was a great honour because he was, at 24, by far the youngest speaker in such distinguished company. And it was as a result of these meetings that he was invited to the north of Ireland by two of the Gillespie brothers – George and William. They sent him three ten shil- they sought to reach out with the Nearly 15,000 tight at times and this could ling notes (£1.50) that paid his “Full Gospel on Pentecostal frustrate their work. Sometimes fare. The brothers together with lines”. Soon, meetings were held Elim people George was hard pressed to a group of young men had in various places and these met find money to reply to letters in booked a hall in Monoghan in with a measure of success. gathered for which he was invited to speak which they were planning to Then, with the growing num- at meetings in distant parts of the hold Pentecostal meetings. But bers following a tent mission in the day at country. sadly, when it became known North Road, Monaghan, other Crystal Palace Then, suddenly and unex- that they were Pentecostals, the Christian workers began to join pectedly, news was received that booking was cancelled! the group. So a somewhat in 1936. George had been made the chief After George had spoken at dilapidated hall was acquired in beneficiary of what was said to meetings in , he met the Hunter Street, Belfast, and this be a sizeable estate left to him group of young men in Monaghan became the first ‘Elim’ church – by a lady who had died in north on 7th January 1915 in Knox’s named Elim Christ Church. Wales in November 1917. Temperance Hotel. This was the George Jeffreys became pastor. Unfortunately, the will was meeting from which the Elim The growing group of men contested, so George was advised Movement was launched. There and women adopted the name by his friend, John Leech KC, to were seven men, including of the ‘Elim Evangelistic Band’ in register his Elim Evangelistic Band Robert Ernest Darragh from 1916, and by the end of Decem- under the name of the Elim Bangor who had also been a stu- ber 1920 there were 21 workers Pentecostal Alliance. This legal dent at the Preston Bible School. in 15 churches in Ireland. registration gave the group official The group invited George to Many of those who joined recognition as a denomination and take up permanent evangelistic were very able ministers of the would also save George from work in Ireland and declared that Gospel – but money was very having to pay tax on the legacy.

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Faculty and students of the Elim Bible College, Christmas, 1927

But, as it turned out, they had to Publishing Company. The church proclaimed Christ as wait until well on into 1925 prospered and the congregation Elim’s full Saviour, Healer, Baptiser in the before the money arrived. It grew to some 500. name summed Holy Spirit and Coming King. amounted to less than £1,000 – Then in June 1924 George In 1925, George and Stephen but this was still a substantial sum Jeffreys sailed across the Atlantic up the gave up their pastoral responsi- in those days. for what was to be his first and bilities to begin a period of Meanwhile progress in pio- only visit to North America. His doctrines that extensive evangelism. They began neering the Movement was re- brother Stephen and three proclaimed in Barking in in January with stricted to Ireland until after the others, Robert Darragh, James just a small group. But, following close of World War I, but in the McWhirter and Ernest Boulton, Jesus Christ a number of outstanding healings, next few years there was to be a accompanied him. They began soon large crowds filled the hired rapid expansion on the mainland. ministering in Canada, where as Saviour, halls. Within less than ten years George continued preaching George preached at the Confer- Healer, and Elim had established 36 churches wherever he could in , ence of the Pentecostal Assem- in the area. even during the war, but he blies of Canada. Afterwards, they Baptiser in the A small Bible School was never established any churches. split and went different ways so started in the minor hall of the But in 1921 he was asked by that they could cover more Holy Spirit and Clapham Church in 1925. And butcher George Kingston to ground while preaching in lead- when a former convent came hold meetings in Leigh-on-Sea, ing assemblies – before eventu- Coming King. onto the market in Clarence Essex. Thus the first Elim work ally reuniting in Los Angeles, the Road in Clapham this was ac- in England was established. cradle of modern Pentecost. quired and re-opened in January There they visited Aimee 1926 as the Elim Bible College. The group went different McPherson’s Angelus Temple, The offices were built next door ways so that they could where they saw the word ‘Four- and the four-acre site became a cover more ground while square’ used in the name of the centre of activity for the next 40 preaching – before church that was founded by years. reuniting in Los Angeles. Aimee. Even today, it is an im- In that same year, Elim hired pressive sight for any visitor. The the prestigious Royal Albert Hall In 1922, George moved to British visitors were so impressed The vast tent used for the for a series of meetings over the London where he pioneered a that, not long after their return Monaghan mission in 1915 Easter Holiday. This was a rather church in Clapham. They were to England in October, they de- hurried decision because the able to acquire a disused former cided to incorporate the name meetings had to coincide with a Methodist Free Church in Park into the title of their own work. short stopover visit of the Crescent and the headquarters Thus the full name became the dynamic and flamboyant Aimee was transferred from Belfast. The Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, McPherson. There was a wide- first offices were in the minor hall which remains the legal name of spread interest in her visit but of the church, and then a two- the Elim Pentecostal Church later Elim and George Jeffreys storey building was added for today. Very fittingly, it summed up alone would fill the 5,000-plus the newly established Elim the fundamental doctrines that seats every Easter until 1939.

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George Jeffreys baptises a woman at one of the great Easter meetings in the Royal Albert Hall, 1928 Crowds gather in 1932 at the Movement’s first church, in Hunter Street, Belfast – founded in 1915

The initial success of the of the stock market and the Great In September 1936, Elim London meetings set a pattern Elim, previously Depression. Yet through it all they hired the massive Crystal Palace of evangelistic style meetings ignored or went on pioneering churches, for its ‘coming of age’, having that were conducted by George buying up redundant churches existed for 21 years, and nearly Jeffreys and a group of three rejected by and filling them with newly born- 15,000 people gathered for other men who became known again people. The small group the day. Elim had first met as the Revival Party. They were the religious that formed the Elim Evangelistic there in 1930 but it was to be Robert Darragh as song leader, establishment, Band was to grow into the the last time that they would use James McWhirter as organiser, ministerial session of the annual that venue – because it was and from 1928 Albert Edsor as began to find conference held from 1934. destroyed by fire not long after- pianist. George did most of the In 1934 the constitution was wards. preaching. a wider revised and a Deed Poll agreed Sadly, the disagreements di- They went from town to acceptance to, and an Executive Council of verted attention from what was town throughout Britain establish- nine men was appointed to the Movement’s raison d’etre ing churches – following a series within the govern the Movement. George and a period of stagnation en- of meetings that continued with Jeffreys and E J Phillips remained sued. And it became increasingly increasing momentum for several Evangelical in office while George Jeffreys, clear that there was the strong weeks. The first meetings were as the founder and addressed possibility of serious fracture as almost always small but, time and Alliance. as Principal, was allowed three the founder and a small number again, gradually the largest hall nominees. The ministers elected of ministers sought to introduce would be packed, hundreds pro- four others. dramatic changes into the work. fessed salvation and many were Following a visit to Switzer- healed. Then the party would land in 1933, George formed the Time and again, gradually move on to the next place – World Revival Crusade that the largest hall would often hundreds of miles away funded his evangelistic work. He be packed, hundreds – and similar scenes would be had further successful meetings professed salvation and witnessed. And so such evange- in Switzerland in 1935 – at a time many were healed. list success continued for ten years. when he was beginning to dis- The small beginning in 1915 continue his major pioneering During the years 1935-38 had grown to a much larger body work in Britain. At the same time there were protracted discus- of churches that numbered more he began to disagree with many sions, especially at the annual than 200 within 20 years. Some of the other leaders over the conference. In an attempt to of these had regular congrega- vexed question of church gov- reach a conclusion that would tions of several hundred on a ernment and a theological belief satisfy all, discussions continued Sunday evening. called British Israelism. These for two weeks but not long after It needs to be remembered disagreements would eventually the end of the November 1939 that this was the period in lead to the unfortunate loss of conference, George Jeffreys re- British history that witnessed the George as the Principal of the signed as a minister. It could not General Strike and the collapse Movement he founded. have come at a worse time.

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conferences in Southport, and reports on the doctrine of the Church and the ministry of women were also adopted. The changing times needed a fresh and more dynamic ap- proach. The one-year college training period that had prevailed from the early days was replaced first by a two-year and then a three-year course. The college itself was moved to Capel near Dorking in 1965 where it re- mained until moving to its present Elim Ministerial Conference of September 1936 site in Nantwich in 1987. Today, more than 90 churches have more than one minister, War had been declared on 3rd College reopened and a new and many have a much greater September and ministers and optimism returned. Kensington involvement in their local com- churches were occupied with As the country began to Temple has munity than in the past. more urgent matters than re- recover economically from war- Some areas have seen dra- writing the constitution. time restrictions, the Movement grown to a total matic changes over the years, John Dyke, a leading minis- began its own recovery and the and nowhere has seen greater ter commenting on that time, said number of churches continued congregation change than London. It is in the that ‘the tide had gone out’, and to grow from 220 in 1948 to of around capital that Elim has seen its 20 churches – including Clapham 300 in 1962. In those years, as greatest growth as, under the – were destroyed or damaged Britain’s standard of living im- 17,000. successive ministries of Eldin owing to enemy action. proved, there were increasing Corsie, Wynne Lewis and Colin challenges to previously accepted Other churches Dye, Kensington Temple has Brewster got a new era moral and ethical standards. So in the London grown to a total congregation of going with a tent in Wigan. in response to change, a special around 14,000. Other churches During seven weeks at the prayer conference was held in area also in the London area also continue site of an old coal shaft, Birmingham in 1961 and it gave to enjoy sustained growth. hundreds came to faith. new impetus to many. continue Other forces were also at to enjoy This is not just a time to But as the war drew to a work on the religious scene. Elim, look back... we must face close, Elim began to recover its previously ignored or rejected by sustained the challenge of reaching confidence and a new evange- the religious establishment, began the next generation with listic strategy was planned. to find a wider acceptance within growth. the unchanging Gospel. Among the prominent members the Evangelical Alliance and of this group were Percy Brewster, similar groups – where some Larger regions, each with minister of Cardiff City Temple, Elim ministers were to make an their own full-time Superintend- and John Woodhead. important contribution. ent supported by a team, have Brewster, who had begun Pentecostal experiences replaced the structure of district on his own initiative in Neath began to occur among presbyteries. And ministers and ten years earlier, got a new era groups within the mainstream churches are now in closer going with a tent in Wigan in July churches – generally labelled as contact locally, though the 1945. During seven weeks of restorationists – who began to central administration remains in meetings at the site of an old form what were labelled ‘house Cheltenham, where it has been coal shaft, hundreds of people churches’. Many within Elim had located since 1969. came to faith. to look again at their ideas as to Elim has come a long way in A few months later they what the Church was intended 90 years. But this is not just a time were able to purchase the old to be. The older and somewhat to look back, we must also look Methodist Central Hall for their rigid form of government that forward to face the challenge of new church. This was the first had proved successful for the reaching the next generation step on the road to recovery early years of Elim’s establish- with the unchanging Gospel. and, over the next few years, in ment was being questioned. As spite of the austerity of those a response, such things as to the To learn more about Elim today, early post-war years, the work nature of the Church and its lead- see www.newlifepublishing.co.uk/ began to grow again. The Bible ership were discussed in special elimguide and www.elim.org.uk

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