Southport 1981: The conference that saved Elim from a second schism

In 1981, the Elim Pentecostal Church faced a deep crisis of identity, influence and decline. The Southport Conference united leaders, confronted hard truths, and sparked renewal – averting a major split and reshaping the movement’s future, writes Maldwyn Jones

Elim encountered significant challenges in 1981. Indeed, at the end of the Special Conference held in Southport in October of that year, Wesley Gilpin, one of Elim’s greatest statesmen compared the difficulties confronting Elim to those of the period from 1936-1940. Students of Elim history will be aware that Gilpin was referring to the schism that occurred within the Movement which resulted in the resignation of Elim’s Founder and Leader, George Jeffreys.

They were perilous times for the young British Pentecostal denomination. Approximately 40 ministers and 30 congregations left Elim to join George Jeffreys and the Bible Pattern organisation. They were dark and difficult times for a movement that was barely 25 years old. The final parting of the way between George Jeffreys and the movement that he had founded occurred when Britain was involved in probably the greatest war in her entire history.

For such a highly esteemed former Bible College principal as Wesley Gilpin to compare the events and times leading up to October 1981 with the difficulties that Elim encountered in the late 30s reveals something of the nature of the problems facing Elim in the early 80s.

There was a strong feeling among many Elim ministers and their congregations that as a Pentecostal movement, we had lost our way. The freedom of worship that many Elim people had encountered in the Dales and Downs Bible weeks, combined with teaching that was relevant to the times in which they were living was very attractive and captured the thinking of large numbers of Elim people. In the two years leading up to the Southport Conference, Elim had lost four pastors along with their congregations to what was becoming known as the Restoration Movement.

The first part of my third volume on the history of Elim details the challenges faced by our Movement at the time. It was not only in the gathering of huge numbers to the various Bible Weeks that attracted Elim people and churches, but the teaching on discipleship, the five-fold ministries of Ephesians 4 and the role of elders in the local church that caught the imagination of many Elim pastors and churches. The sheer joy experienced in sung worship at the Bible Weeks was also a huge attraction to many Elim people.

Andrew Walker was at the Dales Bible Week in August 1982 where he was preparing a report for the BBC’s Radio 4 programme, ‘Sunday’. He described the sheer joy and excitement that he encountered in his visit: “Everywhere I went, people were only too eager to tell me how they had been healed, delivered from demons, or simply blessed.” Walker mentioned the leisure activities, and also entering a tent and seeing 100 or so teenagers with raised hands singing in tongues and praising God.

Walker was brought up in Elim. His father, Victor John Lacey-Walker was an Elim minister and pastor of our Barking Church for some six years after the Second World War. By the time he wrote his book ‘Restoring the Kingdom’, Andrew had become a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, growing up in an Elim family and attending an Elim church where his father was the pastor, he would have been conversant with the types of services held in Elim churches. The fact that he was obviously quite startled at what he saw at the Dales Bible Week at Harrogate in 1982 clearly shows that he had not encountered this kind of worship in Elim churches.

This was the problem and challenge that faced Elim at that time. Our services had become stale and uninspiring. Whilst we continued to believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit and divine healing, there is no doubt that we had departed from the vibrant worship and evangelism of previous years.

Walker’s description of the evening service is worth noting in full:

“In the evening, a huge wave of some 5,000 (maybe even 7,000) people surged into the giant hall of the Great Yorkshire Showground. The rousing songs and choruses reflected the language of majesty and kingship that I had been hearing throughout the day. ‘All Hail, King Jesus’ was one song, I remember. Another was ‘Jesus, we enthrone you, we proclaim you our king.’

“This language of sovereignty and glory was matched by a corresponding sense of being kingdom people: soldiers of the King. The praise in the showground was joyful and loud. Much of it was accompanied by leaping, dancing, clapping, and even some high kicks.

“These mainly young people were geared for war – rattling their spiritual shields, they were defying the devil himself. The whole scene, though in a Christianised form, resembled some massive tribal war dance in preparation for an imminent battle.”

At the 1981 Elim Conference, it became obvious that Elim was facing its second great epistemological crisis. The decision was taken to convene a special Conference of ministers later in the year at a place chosen by the Executive Council.

The place chosen was Southport and the re-convened Ministerial Session of the 1981 Elim Conference was held in the Southport Elim Church. A Steering Committee was appointed by the Executive Council to arrange the subject matter and the speakers for the conference. The author was by far the youngest member of the Committee chosen by the Executive Council.

The Conference commenced with a masterly keynote address from the then Field Superintendent, John C Smyth. He set out in clear terms the challenges facing Elim at the time. Following this, those present were divided into sub-groups that were chaired by members of the Steering Committee.

Papers were given on the subjects that were a challenge to Elim at the time. There were twelve groups with up to 20 in each one. There were two papers given at each group and then discussion ensued under the direction of an appointed chairman, and the reports were then given and discussed further at a plenary meeting on the last day of the Conference. The chairmen were each responsible for two groups.

It was agreed that the subjects covered would seek to address the burning issues of the day. The papers given and the reports made, show the huge depth that the speakers and participators went to in addressing the various subjects.

One of the main issues closely considered at Southport was that of small groups or ‘house-groups’. Elim had always been wary of such groups because it was felt that they could be divisive. But in many Elim churches, the regular mid-week prayer meetings and Bible Studies had become stale. The members longed for an opportunity to meet in a non-ecclesiastical building where they could relax and pray together and study the Scriptures at a more intimate level than they were used to in the normal Sunday services.

No stone was left unturned. In the writer’s opinion, Southport 1981 was Elim’s finest hour. The papers were carefully and studiously prepared. Discussion was amicable and yet, enquiring and seeking.

At the end of our three days together, the delegates requested that a communion service be held. This was not on the agenda but was readily agreed to. Those of us who were present will not forget the tremendous visitation of the Holy Spirit in that hastily arranged communion service. Eldin Corsie, Principal of Elim Bible College was the preacher. The service concluded with a prophetic word given by Eldin’s illustrious predecessor, Wesley Gilpin.

There is not the slightest doubt in the mind of this writer that those three days, when more than 200 Elim ministers gathered together to face up to the challenges facing us as a movement, spared Elim from suffering a second and far larger schism in its history.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.