George Jeffreys' Crusades in Liverpool 1926 part 3

The Everton Crusade

Used with the kind permission of
www.liverpoolrevival.org.uk

With grateful thanks.




Liverpool was very much blessed by having a return visit of George Jeffreys in July 1926. This time a large tent was erected in Lower Breck Road in Everton. It was not long before the tent was packed with crowds of people unable to gain admittance and it was therefore necessary for the sides of the tent to be lifted to enable those outside to take part in the service. The people of the neighbourhood were drawn by the enthusiastic singing of the congregation and many passers-by stopped to listen to the burst of praise coming from the tent. The following photos gives an idea of how well attended the meetings where.

The crusade commenced on Wednesday 14th July 1926 and was scheduled to last for a week. At one of the first meetings there was a time of testimony at which many people told of how they were healed and blessed during the previous crusade. On the Friday 16th July the Liverpool Post and Mercury carried the following report:

"Considerable enthusiasm prevails in the neighbourhood of Lower Breck Road, where Pastor Jeffreys is conducting a revival and healing campaign, which commenced on Wednesday, and is to continue for seven days. The tent in which the meetings are held has a seating capacity for something like 1,000, and is fully occupied, while hundreds unable to get in take part in the singing and can both see and hear the speaker. Invalids in bathchairs are placed where they can hear what is going on. Speaking yesterday of his own personal experience, Pastor Jeffreys said he was never expected to live when in his teens, but came in touch with the Divine, and had been so ever since. Remarkable scenes were witnessed when several who desired prayer fell prostate the moment Pastor Jeffreys laid his hands upon them. Mrs Matthews, suffering from neuritis and rheumatism, declared she was healed, and Miss Gee said she was cured of swollen feet and ankles. Both were at last night's meeting, and appeared remarkably well. Among those who were healed in the earlier part of the year were Miss Phyllis Law, who had suffered from paralysis, Mrs Parry, and Eva Kidd, aged seven all of who expressed gratitude for restoration to health. Mrs Parry claims that her sight was restored after having to be led about for twelve years."

The following is an account of the crusade meetings taken from the Elim Evangel dated 16th August 1926. It occupied the front page with the heading 'Soul Stirring Scenes of Revival & Healing.'

"Faithful prayer warriors for weeks past had been pulling the bell ropes of Heaven, and when Pastor Jeffreys arrived, faces were upturned in expectation for the answer - and down it came. Everton was hit by a revival of soul saving and healing power. From the first meeting the atmosphere was charged, and one would not have been surprised at anything happening. The large tent was packed each meeting and the sides had to be lowered to let the outside congregation take part in the service. How the people sang. At the close of each meeting hands were raised all over the tent, as well as outside by those who were receiving Jesus as their Saviour. During the meetings people were weeping, laughing, praying and praising God as they witnessed the Lord Jesus destroying the work of the devil. People were being healed of a huge number of ailments including blindness, deafness, double rupture, high blood pressure, diabetes, skin disease, ulcers, bladder trouble, kidney disease, liver trouble, and hip joint disease. The enthusiastic send off on the closing night will never be forgotten. Outside the tent as the Pastor and workers endeavoured and struggled to get to the waiting car, the crowd swayed to and fro like the billows of an ocean and it was a strange scene that was witnessed as the police took control."

It appears that this crusade must have been extended because in the same edition of the Elim Evangel there was a report of a dedication service for another church in Coulsdon at which Pastor Jeffreys was to have been present but it stated that he had been detained 'at the Liverpool revival.'

The church in Windsor Street continued in much blessing after that, with numbers of people being saved and healed; with remarkable testimonies of people being healed of blindness, neuritis, skin disease and a tumour. Thirty-six people were baptised in one meeting the following month and a further 40 people after that. God's blessing continued in that church with a report of 34 people being baptised a year later.

The church building in Windsor Street is no longer there but the Elim movement is today still strong in Merseyside with several churches on both sides of the water.