David Littlewood

Pray God will raise up more people like Jeffreys

Church historian David Littlewood reviews Maldwyn Jones’ first volume of the official history of the Elim Movement, ‘And they Came to Elim’.

There is an old saying that ‘great oaks from small acorns grow’.

It appears that in the case of the Elim Movement in Britain, the small ‘acorn’ was three ‘ten bob’ notes given to a young evangelist in 1914, as payment for his fare, together with an invitation to visit Ireland.

The young evangelist was George Jeffreys and the invitation, given by a couple of brothers named Gillespie, turned out to be the gateway to the foundation of a Movement that has spread throughout the world.

This is just one of many details contained in Maldwyn Jones’ official history of the Elim Pentecostal Movement in the UK, ‘And they came to Elim’, which charts the growth of Elim from its inception at a campaign at Monaghan in 1915, to George Jeffreys’ sad departure in 1940.

Jones makes the point that Monaghan was chosen for no other reason than it was the area where most of the supporters for a new Movement were found.

There appears to be no particular divine revelation or ‘Macedonian call’.

Yet out of this small seed grew the Movement called Elim, which was to make an extraordinary impact on the nation in terms of supernatural church planting.

So, we may ask, what contributed to the remarkable growth of Elim?

The answer lies in the fact that in ‘Principal’ George Jeffreys they were led by a man, converted in the Welsh revival, who was supremely gifted as an apostolic evangelist – one who preached the full gospel with signs following.

What’s more, at least in the beginning, he was assisted by his brother, Stephen, another fiery evangelist, who saw miraculous signs and wonders, to an extent perhaps not seen since the days of the apostles.

Interestingly, in a day when the church as a whole was losing its influence with the majority of the population due to the rise of modernistic and liberal theology, George Jeffreys preached a gospel that was Bible-based in exposition and supernatural in practice.

Rather than trying to accommodate the gospel to modern, secular thought, Jeffreys preached a message that could have come straight from the New Testament, replete with signs and wonders.

Jones notes that one of Jeffreys’ greatest crusades, held in Birmingham in 1930, came in the face of opposition from (you guessed it) the clergy, led by the then Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, EW Barnes, a rank modernist who denied many fundamental Christian doctrines such as the virgin birth and the physical resurrection of Christ.

Undaunted, Jeffreys set out to combat unbelief with signs following.

Beginning in a church with a small number of people, the crowds gradually gathered until the church was packed and the town hall, which seated 2,000 people, had to be hired.

This was soon packed out and the meetings transferred to the 8,000-seater ice rink.

This angered Barnes, who even organised a march of clergy through the city against the Jeffreys’ campaign, to little or no effect.

The move of God continued and when eventually the Birmingham campaign was over the total number of converts was more than 10,000; 1,100 of whom were baptised by Jeffreys himself before he left.

Significantly, in the aftermath of the campaign, three Elim churches were opened in the city.

Unlike many evangelists, Jeffreys was not content to gather a crowd and record converts – his aim was to establish churches across the nation where people could be taught and grow in the Pentecostal faith. 

As did other Pentecostal pioneers, Jeffreys developed a ‘Foursquare’ theology of Jesus as Saviour, Healer, Baptiser [in the Holy Spirit] and Coming King.

This foursquare gospel can be found in books written by Jeffreys, and also in the ministry of the Elim Church today.

Around 100 churches were planted by Jeffreys during his lifetime, an astonishing testimony both to the power and to the truly apostolic nature of his ministry.

Besides Jeffreys, however, the Movement had another hero, and maybe its saviour, in EJ Phillips.

A very different man to Jeffreys, Phillips was a gifted administrator and sought to keep the growing Elim Movement on an even keel, both legally and financially.

It was he who drew up the constitution of churches and made sure (sometimes with great difficulty) that Jeffreys’ faith and zeal did not overreach itself.

It was also Phillips, whose reasoned arguments turned the tide when Jeffreys appeared intent on adopting the curious doctrine of ‘British Israelism’ within Elim.

It is a puzzle to many just how such a gifted and anointed man as Jeffreys could have fallen under the spell of what appears today as an irrelevance. But it must be remembered that Jeffreys was a man of his time and those were the heady days of the British Empire.

The other matter in which Jeffreys clashed with Phillips and with Elim, and which Jones deals with in detail, is over the matter of church administration.

This appears to have become a battle over who was in control as the Movement grew. Jeffreys was a gifted leader, and when he felt his control slipping away he left Elim to found another movement.

Of course, only God can judge the motives of the heart, but history reveals that whereas Elim went from strength to strength, the ‘Bible Pattern’ churches subsequently formed by Jeffreys have diminished into very few.

The sad conflict between Phillips and Jeffreys has been portrayed by some of Jeffreys’ biographers as the conflict between a bureaucrat and a gift man. This, however, is not how Jones sees it.

As he points out, Phillips was a spiritual man, well versed in the Scriptures and, in opposing British Israelism he was opposing an unbiblical teaching that was current at the time.

And in matters of administration he was defending the constitution set up by Jeffreys himself.

Of course, it should be pointed out that, without the ministry of George Jeffreys, EJ Phillips would have had no Movement to defend. Which makes it a double tragedy that the two parted company.

In reading of history we can learn that just as a high-powered engine needs a brake, a gifted ministry needs people with their feet firmly on the ground to steady them.

In George Jeffreys God raised up one of the most gifted and anointed men of the 20th century.

Tragically he died in relative obscurity, but his great legacy – the Elim Movement – goes on from strength to strength.

We can only hope that in reading Maldwyn Jones’ book we might be inspired to pray the Lord will raise up more people with the anointing of George Jeffreys.
 

Maldwyn Jones book 'And They Came To Elim' is available to order online here.

First published in the February 2022 issue of Direction, Elim’s monthly magazine. Subscribe now to get Direction delivered to your home.

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