In ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, Kensington Temple’s Associate Minister Bruce Atkinson scans through all the major revivals of British history, giving the ‘big
picture’ of God’s work to keep the fire of faith burning. It’s a story that stretches back about 1,600 years, but the Pentecostal revival that gave birth to the Elim Movement was a comparatively recent event – beginning in the early
20th century, spearheaded by two brothers: George and Stephen Jeffreys. In this extract, Bruce looks back at those heady days...
The ‘foursquare’ foundation at the heart of Elim’s faith believing in Jesus as Saviour, Baptiser, Healer and Coming King, George Jeffreys led a revival that would put down roots and live on.
A new movement was being born. The new converts for the most part did not want to attend churches that were non- Pentecostal in experience – indeed they would not have been welcome in many, as vicious persecution faced the
fledgling ‘Tongues Movement’ worldwide. Churches were established out of the fruit of campaigns. George Jeffreys named this exploding movement ‘The Elim Foursquare Gospel Movement’, inspired by the Elim Oasis of refreshment.
In ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, Kensington Temple’s Associate Minister Bruce Atkinson scans through all the major revivals of British history, giving the ‘big
picture’ of God’s work to keep the fire of faith burning. It’s a story that stretches back about 1,600 years, but the Pentecostal revival that gave birth to the Elim Movement was a comparatively recent event – beginning in the early
20th century, spearheaded by two brothers: George and Stephen Jeffreys. In this extract, Bruce looks back at those heady days... The ‘foursquare’ foundation
at the heart of Elim’s faith Believing in Jesus as Saviour, Baptiser, Healer and Coming King.
George Jeffreys led a revival that would put down roots and live on
Exodus 15:27. The Elim Evangelistic Band was a revival group of men and women that George took to break open towns for the Gospel.
The Foursquare Gospel was preached: Jesus the Saviour, Jesus the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit, Jesus the Healer and Jesus the Coming King. George had no intention of the fruits of revival being lost, as in the Welsh revival, and raised
up leaders to pastor the new converts, ordaining ministers for the first time in 1917. Soon the tent was too small and George was packing town halls with
thousands of people. By 1920, George had birthed a powerful Pentecostal revival across Ulster, put in place ministers, evangelists and pastors, and now felt the leading to do the same in Wales and England. George went from city to city in England, holding miracle meetings until he broke through, and out of the hundreds of new converts he would start Elim churches.
A classic example of his ministry was his 1930 gospel campaign in Birmingham. George began the meetings in a small church with only a handful of people there. The next evening the ground floor was full, but no one was in the balcony. George invited people who needed prayer for healing to come to the front, and they literally rushed out of their seats to receive prayer. Five days later the church was full on one of the afternoon meetings and 88 new converts were made. Large queues would appear waiting to get a seat for each meeting. In one month the crowds meant that they had to hire a hall, which overflowed, and they moved to the Embassy Rink that had a seating capacity for 8,000 people. Even this became too small, and so they moved to the 15,000-seater Bingly Hall, which they crammed to capacity for 26 meetings. The total number of converts reached 10,000. All of this was accomplished without any local church support and was due to the powerful healing anointing that
was operating. Over 1,000 people testified to being healed at the meetings, and in three services they also baptised 1,000 people. Three churches were born initially of this revival, and this number multiplied to eleven in five years.
George opened hundreds of churches in Britain for the Elim Movement, but he also founded one as a basis for his personal ministry. He purchased Horbury Chapel in 1930, renamed it Kensington Temple (KT) and launched the church as his headquarters in 1931 with a two-week healing revival campaign. The seating capacity was increased to 1,100 and the crowds and new converts began to flock to the meetings. Miracles abounded and the Daily Express reported on the1st August: “Revival in a London street: Foursquare Church with tip-up seats”. Albert Edsor was a member of the George Jeffreys revival party and he told me about the type of meetings Jeffreys would hold at KT. He had a vision of going out to the lost and bringing them to the Temple to get saved. There was a marvellous atmosphere at the meetings. Sometimes, during the worship, Jeffreys would go right into the middle of the congregation, stand on a seat and lead meetings from there. Sometimes just as a new song was going to begin he would say ‘Just a minute!’ He sensed the presence of a holy atmosphere coming into the meeting; he knew the presence of the Lord was there to heal. KT became known as the ‘Church of the Great Physician’ due to the constant flow of miracles that took place. People from all over the world would send in their healing requests to be prayed over each day at KT. When George sensed a healing presence in a meeting he would often exclaim, ‘The Master is here’, and eyeballs would creatively appear in empty eye sockets, crippled legs would be straightened and tumours disappear. George was never the day-to-day pastor of KT, but he used the church as his apostolic base for travelling with the revival band, as well as his regular outreach centre to London. George also ministered in many other places in London. Most notable was his famous Royal Albert Hall Easter celebrations. In those days the Royal Albert Hall had a seating capacity for 10,000 people, and George booked it for the first time in 1927. The auditorium was filled and hundreds testified to being healed. The next year 1,000 people were baptised in water in a single service. Excerpts
from a national newspaper recorded by E C W Boulton show the kind of impact these meetings were having: “1,000 BAPTISED IN ALBERT HALL REMARKABLE ‘FAITH CURE’ SCENES PEOPLE WAIT IN QUEUE
FOR EIGHT HOURS All were smiling happily as they descended into the tank; some were singing, and some waved their hands to the congregation of 10,000, who shouted fervently all the time. There was no self-consciousness anywhere. That the people had been convinced by this young pastor there was no doubt.
Every member of his vast congregation last night was spellbound throughout his address, and when he had finished explaining the symbolism of baptism, no fewer than 53 people came forward demanding to be ‘saved’.” Morning Post, 7 April.
In 1928 Stephen Jeffreys was ministering in Sunderland to crowds of up to 3,000 people. A Sunderland newspaper witnessing the number of sick and afflicted people brought into the meetings said the hall was ‘resembling the scene in a waiting room of a large hospital’. On some individual days over 200 people were healed. On one occasion six people came who were wheelchair bound and all of them were healed sufficiently to push the chairs home themselves.
In one month 3,362 converts were made. He moved next to Spennymoor, making 1,362 converts in three weeks; on to Chesterfield with 1,554 converts in three weeks; Bury with 2,042 converts; Doncaster with 1,100 converts in two weeks and so on and so on. Both George and Stephen began to minister internationally to great effect. For example, 6,000 converts in a one-month campaign in Switzerland in 1934, including 1,800 converts in Geneva alone in three days.
Stephen Jeffreys died in 1943, having blazed a trail of uncompromising supernatural evangelism. He had taken the Welsh revival and brought it into the dimension of the miraculous. George died in 1962. This is how Pastor E C W Boulton summed up his ministry in 1928, but equally it could be extended to reflect George’s whole life: “George Jeffreys, with the rod of the inspired Word, fearlessly smote the waters of an incredulous and invasive modernism, opening up a passage by which many others might pass. He dared to breast the waves of popular religious opinion, thereby exposing himself to a
fierce cross-fire of criticism from most sections of the Christian Church. In the very face of this, God enabled him to achieve triumphs which must for all time adorn the annals of evangelical enterprise. His example should wield a wide influence and provide an abiding inspiration to many.”
Reproduced with Kind permission from ‘Land of Hope and Glory: British Revival through the Ages’, Bruce Atkinson, Dovewell Communications (hardback £11.99; paperback £7.99).
If you would like more detailed information why not purchase the book by James Robinson called Pentecostal Origins (see advert and website link on the bottom left hand side of the webpage).
